A List For Your Monday Viewing

I have a variety of unrelated things to share. Sounds like a list.

The Girls and I went on a girl outing. To the eye doctor and then over to Sears to pick out some new frames. We are super fun.

Mousey has decided to get contacts, but she still needed some glasses because she is basically driving around town like Mrs. Magoo. Pure road hazard.

The Ab-Cat chose a cute new pair for everyday and also a super cute new pair of sunglasses! There was another cute option that she discarded because they were the Kardashian brand. She said in no way was she supporting them. I get that.

I always need other people to come with me when I get new spectacles. It’s hard to choose wisely when you can’t see what you are doing.

I think I chose a flattering pair, but it has been my experience that I never like the new pair when I get them home. There is great angst and gnashing of teeth and severe doubt about how I could have picked so poorly, so I resort to wearing my old pair until they break and then I am forced to wear the new pair. 

It’s a complicated process. I have been doing it for over 40 years now.

We gals also had a Friday Night Lights marathon. Honey asked me how I could enjoy  watching what I had already seen? I told him it has been a couple years since I had been immersed in Dillon, Texas, and I had forgotten entire story lines! So it was basically almost all brand new!

Had a loverly Skype session with Mrs. Schmenkman yesterday afternoon. I like her face.

We were discussing our annual Memorial Day Extravaganza visit. I moved it last year because we had a family wedding. She needs to move it this year because she has a family wedding and will be here in The Mitten!!! We may move it to later in the summer.

Two years of not having The Memorial Day Hootenanny on Memorial Day. We are so flexible I don’t even know who we are anymore.

Just so long as we gather, that’s our new motto.

We thought The Boy’s new steroid was helping, but then it wasn’t. He had IVIG last week and is in the throes of some very bad side effects. Prayers are welcome.

Oh my goodness. Those cats are fighting down the hall like junior high school girls.

Seymour is a punk.

When I picked up some cat food I also purchased a new laser pointer. They think it’s the BOMB!!! Even the elder ladies are getting a workout!

Have a productive Monday.

Why is it?

Why is it you wake up at 4 when you don’t need to get up, and on days when you really need to get up you sleep until the alarm?

Why is it when I have time to read blobs in the morning, no one has posted?

Why is it the worst things happen to the nicest people?

Why is it I need to run errands on the coldest, bluster-iest days?

Why is it our three old lady cats are so….hefty, when they don’t eat NEAR as much as the new catten Sy?

Why is it our back counter in the laundry room is always a disaster? It’s an honest question.

Why is it I can overlook such disasters for a long time before I really see them?

Why is it some people are so much more likeable than other people? I could talk and laugh with some all the live long day, and others? Like pulling teeth. Awkward and painful. Awkward is a weird word if you look at it too long.

Why is it you can wear an outfit for a good long time, feel comfortable and confident, and then all the sudden you hate it and think you look awful in it and CAN’T BELIEVE YOU EVER WORE IT???? What changed? Seriously, I need to know?

Why is it I am so much more critical of the sins I see in others, yet so complacent with my own? In our BSF lesson this week we saw that God struck down Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu on the very first day of their service as consecrated priests of the Lord because they offered “unauthorized fire”. The VERY FIRST DAY. They basically did not do things “as the Lord commanded”. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and toasted them. I am pretty sure if not for the permanent sacrifice of Jesus Christ covering all my many sins I would be toasted daily. Crispy. God cares about how we do things.

Why is it when my neck feels better, my lower back is of the devil? Can’t we all just get along?

Why is it I had FIVE servings of chocolate yesterday? I know better than that.

Why is it when I want to pet and cuddle with Sy he is all spicy?

Why is it that I look so completely different in pictures than I feel I look in my everyday life? Do I really LOOK that bad? Really, we are friends, you would tell me, right? Good Grief!

Why is it when I have really good letters for Words With Friends there is no place to put them?

How about you guys?

The Shell Game

I believe I mentioned that I focused my laser like attention on finding heart shaped shells/rocks while on vacation last fall in Florida. I was surprised by how many I found!

They needed a vehicle to attractively display them in all their glory. Enter Little Nemo.

I first saw Nemo at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Phyllis’ new place in Naples. They had him on a little table on their lanai, full of colorful shells they have picked up on their beach wanderings. He was so stinkin’ cute!

Over the holidays I was in Homegoods and lo and behold, there was Nemo! I brought him home and told Honey I had purchased our first item for retirement! I knew just what to put in him, the heart shell/rocks!

Mia likes fish. In a chrome atmosphere. Was not aware the iPad had such capabilities.

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Sy was also a fan. Glad to see he is assimilating like the other felines, everyone wants to be in the picture.

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Still debating if I should spray paint some in silver or some other color so they will not look so…rock-y. What do Y’All think?

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I heart them. And Little Nemo.

A List, A Problem and a Word of Wisdom

It’s Friday, I have a list. You knew that.

The schools in our area and BSF were cancelled because it was FREEZING yesterday. I did not hear the official temp on the news, but our thermometer said -8 with wind chills of Arctic Blast.

We were supposed to have our BSF Administration Christmas get together after class. We decided to meet at Chip and Dip anyway.

Have I mentioned that I love those gals? If I haven’t, I LOVE THOSE GALS.

Because the weather was frightful, that meant I had 4 errands I had to run. Murphy’s Law.

I managed to get them all done before lunch in about 35 minutes. It would not have been possible pre Christmas or even on a fully activated school day. Because the weather was polar bear friendly, people stayed home and there was no traffic and no return lines. God loves me best!

I have a little blog situation. I discussed it with Capri Deb yesterday and came to a conclusion. I will be starting a new blob.

I have used 99% of the space on this blob and I am living in fear that I will be cut off any second.

That was why I decided not to do a Pinterest post yesterday. I think pictures take up more space than words.

Since I can no longer access my blog on our dinosaur computer and Honey has not yet hooked up the new Christmas present computer, for multiple, good reasons, I could not figure out if anything could be done about this. Capri Deb did some investigating and said I could buy a little more space for $20 a year. It’s not so much the $20 dollars, it’s that I don’t want to have to do that every year for the rest of my born days.

It would seem that the best solution would be to create another blob, link to it from this one and have you all join me at the new address. It has taken me 7 years to use up that 99%, so I figure I will get a little more than that with the new one because I don’t post every day like I used to.

That’s the plan anyway. Hopefully that 1% of computer space will last until Honey recovers from The Sickness.

Yes, Honey has been suffering from the flu. Body aches, fever and now a terrible cold and cough. I am praying he makes a speedy recovery. And contains his contamination.

The Boy and The Dane went back to Chicago yesterday. I guess The Windy City is having worse weather than The Mitten is. He sent a couple pictures and said their windows were all frosty and icy. Welcome home.

Speaking of The Boy, he came home to Michigan in the middle of December with a new steroid and a platelet count of 16,000, fully expecting to have to visit his old friend, the University of Michigan, for an infusion of IVIG.

The next time he had his blood drawn, his counts had risen to 20,000, and the next time he was at 50,000!!!!! This new steroid, made for difficult folks like him, is helping him maintain a safer count! I don’t know how long he will be on it, because he can’t be on it forever, but it’s a nice change for him!

They arrived in Chicago and had to locate and move their belongings into their new on campus apartment. Home Sweet Apartment. Hello Moody, goodbye 40 something minute commute!

yuhnnju7yhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

That was Sy. He used the keyboard as a stepping stone.

He came to sit on my lap a minute because Mama Mia just thrashed him good. It’s like he was telling on her. I don’t blame her, I know he deserved it. I just listened sympathetically and offered him some wisdom; LEAVE HER ALONE!

I think he tried to get her out of the cat bed so he could get in it. Son, that is just not done.

Ok, I guess that’s enough for today. That 1% and all.

Try and stay warm this weekend and don’t try and kick your elder out of bed. I can’t fix that kind of stupid.

The Christmas Photo

It is always my dearest desire to get a decent picture of my family. We are not often all together, dressed appropriately, smiling in synch, or not giving obscene hand gestures. It’s a challenge people.

I gave guidelines, restricted certain behaviors we have had in the past, and maybe begged a little.

Awesome Autumn did the honors this year. Bless her heart and patience.

We decided to try some new poses, it seems we are always in front of our fireplace. Let the photo shoot begin.

I am sad to say I was the ruiner for all these shots. At our house we call these goiter necks.

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Oh good, I finally put my head down a little.

I did like this one. Someone didn’t. Oh, it was Mousey, she said they were too white.

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Not quite ready for our close-up.

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The stair pose. I have seen others do this. It had its flaws.

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Namely a plethora of knees. Exposed knees and knees in backs. What up with those girls down front?

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This personnel change fit better. Autumn was great to take many, many shots. She has no idea how few were useable. And she KNOWS us!

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This pose had the obligatory finger in the nose shot and another had Honey doing a rude gesture I won’t show you on the internet. He and The Boy have a disease. A disease involving a certain digit.

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I quite liked the next two. Both were vetoed by others in the group. Others who don’t appreciate the stair pose.

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See? Not so bad!

I have to ask, does my hair always look that puffy? I feel like my hair is very puffy.

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We had a short cat break after the stair shot. Grandmother and Grandcat. My hair doesn’t look as puffy here. What is going on?

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Poor little nipper. It must be hard to be so unloved and untouched.

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And here we are, back in front of the fireplace. I liked this picture, but I don’t feel the need to showcase our mantle so prominently.

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I would have used this one. Mousey used her veto.

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So it’s between these 2. Picture 42.

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Or picture 45. Both in front of the fireplace. What the heck?

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The last time we took Christmas card photos these two were not hitched!

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A big fat thank you to Awesome Autumn, she deserves some sort of prize for dealing with us.

So there you have it, The Christmas Photo Shoot of 2014.

Happy New Year List!

Happy New Year!

How about the first list of the year?? I am sure there will be many more to follow. Maybe I should change the name of the blob to LIST.

2015, sounds science fiction-y, doesn’t it? The Ab Cat told me that Back To The Future 2 was set in 2015. Where is my hoverboard?

We had a very nice holiday and I will be glad to stop washing  a multitude of dishes EVERY DAY.

As you may have expected, I took no pictures. That is the downside of hosting.

We had a delightful Christmas Eve with my Dad and our Dear Friends The Hostler’s! Nurse Lauren had to work Sad smile.

This was my favorite picture of them.

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They might like this one better, knowing it is on the world wide inter-web.

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Awesome Autumn took our Christmas picture. I am saving those pictures for tomorrows post. I know, you can’t wait. You are welcome.

We played a fun game called Ticket to Ride! Honey and I were partners because we are married and have to do everything together. I have to give photo credit to The Dane. She was stealthy, I didn’t even know she was on the job.

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I don’t know if we won but we had the most completed routes!!!!!

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We were orange.

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People seemed pleased with their gifts, there has been very little return-age.

One of the casualties was this beautimous bracelet I had pinned on Pinterest from The Boy and The Dane. I love it!!!!

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Unfortunately, it was not strung in such a way that one could actually wear it. The crimping tube did not do its job and the toggle came off in my hands. The Dane has been in contact with the maker and it seems as if this will be taken care of easily, which makes me very happy because I would LOVE to WEAR  it!!!!!!!

Mousey received an iPhone. Her life is now complete. Apparently she is the last living 20 something person in the entire world to acquire one. She is now one of those people. And you know what I am talking about and you know who you are.

Elyk stayed with us over the holidays. He is liking his new job as youth director for a church in Moline, Illinois! He was happy to get a kitty fix while here. He used to have a kitty. Her name was Weezie and she was a devil cat. He does not miss her, just the idea of a kitty. Sy is particularly fond of Elyk and likes to jump in his lap. You can imagine how Elyk hates this. Not.

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You all remember The Subject? The Boy’s friend he went to Moody with? Well that knucklehead got himself engaged over Christmas!!!!! Here he is with his bride to be Carly!

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On New Years Eve we had my Father and his wife over to celebrate their birthdays. My Father likes to tease Marilyn from December 28th until January 28th, because she is older than he is for ONE MONTH. This is a BIG birthday for them both. I would totally out my Father, but it’s not nice to out a lady!

Once again, I have no decent picture, save this one we took to prove that The Boy was taller. Yeah, it’s a sparkling beauty. By the way, we cut The Boy’s hair the other day. Badger be gone.

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Here is a loverly picture of the birthday kids from last December. Their new baby Teddy was just a puppy and we all could not keep our mitts off him. So they looked like this, plus one year.

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Anyway, we had fondue, which the birthday couple said they had not had in decades. They lived through the last groovy decade of fondue. My Father said he is always glad to eat over here because Honey is such a good cook. His personal favorite? Halibut. Oh YEAH. Maybe next time Smile.

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On New Years Day I was determined to do one thing productive. I tackled this disaster, sporting what I like to call Holiday Dump.

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This is the big, main pantry in the laundry room. I cleaned each shelf, wiped it down, threw away expired stuff and rearranged things to be with their neighbors.

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To the right, to the right. The third shelf is the card bucket. Overflowing and many decks of cards unable to actually fit in the card bucket. Because it is necessary that we actually have 4000 decks of cards. Essentially necessary for some very good reasons. I blame our family game Peanuts, where everyone has to have their own deck. Some like decks that are new. Some like cards that are broken in. Some have to use the same deck EVERY time or their groove is thrown. The Santa deck, the puppy deck, the Iraq deck, the aqua Harrah deck. You know who you are.

There were also some decks missing a card or two. It has been my experience that the moment I toss a deck, the lone lost card surfaces from between the sofa cushion, or somewhere. I was actually able to put my favorite deck BACK TOGETHER by scavenging a card from its sister deck!!! Welcome back to the card table Chester Cheetah!!!

So you know I am now never going to throw those broken decks out.

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It may not look better to you, but it is much better for me.

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Plus, The Ab-Cat can now actually reach the popcorn maker, WINNING!

Look at that card bucket, LOOK AT IT!!!!!!! I felt so…..accomplished!

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There was a lot of watching this little dollop of precious.

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He alternates between being the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and a complete little stinker.

That’s what I call him, Little Stinky.

I guess that is enough words for now. Enjoy the first Monday of the new year! I’m going to pay some bills, YEE HAW.

The Weekly Sy

What cha got?

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Nachos? Do I like nachos? I do, I DO like nachos!

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Cheese coma.

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Last Monday of the Year

Really BIG sighhhhhhhhhhh.  Oh my, I have washed a LOT of dishes since we have last spoken!

We had a fine Christmas! Good company, good food, good presents. I am sure I will have more to say on the events as they come to mind.

I have an all over the place list for your reading pleasure. Many of you have sworn you like them and apparently I live to oblige.

I had fallen into the habit of staying up way past my normal bedtime and sleeping way past my usual wake up time. I knew the jig was up when I awoke this morning at 4:15, Christmas is over.

The Puzzlers completed the We Are The World puzzle and it was back in the box by Christmas Eve. We have another option waiting patiently for its turn. We can set up shop in the dining room now and leave it indefinitely, always a bonus.

We did more than usual shopping on line this year. I am a fan. A HUGE fan.

We played Peanuts on Christmas and on Saturday night. My game is….slipping. I have been routinely trounced for the last couple years. I did redeem myself in the last game of cards. Thank heaven, I thought I may have suffered the same “stroke” that Honey and my Uncle Bob claim!

Speaking of Uncle Bob, he and his son-in-law Rob B. each received the same sweater for Christmas. How cute is that?

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Nothing packs up faster than the Christmas spirit and folks getting out of Michigan. Both Bob and Phyllis and Girl Cousin Lindsay and Rob B have left the state. Lindsay and Robbie because they actually live in Florida and Bob and Phyllis because they live in Florida when it’s beastly in Michigan.

Although compared to last year, it has not been too beastly. No white Christmas here, just a brown, rainy one.

We had already had a ton of winter last year at this time. Bitter cold and mountains of snow. They say it’s coming. I hope they are wrong.

We were remembering last New Year when The Dane’s parents had to drive back to Chicago to catch their flight to Denmark in some of the most inhospitable weather we could offer.

It is quite a bit colder this morning. We discovered it was 19 degrees when Elyk left to meet a friend for coffee in Ann Arbor and had to come back in to get his coat! It has been in the 40s most of the week.

Awesome Autumn took our family Christmas picture on Christmas Eve. Thanks A.A.!!!!!

The ONE has not been chosen so therefore the ONE has not been sent to Sam’s to develop yet.

I wrote our Christmas card letter yesterday. It is not printed.

At this rate you might be receiving our Christmas/New Year card the first week of January. I am good with that.

I don’t really have an excuse, just not Johnny on the spot about a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g.

We managed to have a successful Christmas with the little ceramic Christmas tree!!!

I’m not going to lie, it was weird. A couple of times I had the thought to go downstairs and haul the dang artificial tree up and just decorate the thing.

And here I am on the 29th of December, looking forward to NOT taking down a fully lit and decorated tree!!!!

I adapted.

I just had to go break up a screaming match between 2 old lady cats and 1 persistently annoying catten. I don’t know who was screaming, but I saw the elders high tail it out of the laundry room with Lucy and her skittering toenails leading the way.

It’s hard to tell who does the screaming, they are all drama. Too much drama for 5:45 A.M.

Sy’s tail was straight up, which leads me to believe he was the aggressor.

Sassy tail up means he was the bully, tail down signals he was taken to the woodshed.

His tail seems to be equally high and low. That’s good for him. Both ego inflating and deflating.

He wants to be the boss of them in the worst way. For the most part they avoid him like the plague. Then they thrash him when they can’t tolerate him one more second.

I can’t believe another Asian plane was lost!

I was pleased to see expert Mary Schiavo on CNN again. I like listening to her. She is so knowledgeable and her voice is calming. Monotone, but calming.

I saw this quote in Our Daily Bread online today.

Waiting for God’s timing may also give us a greater miracle than we had hoped for. —Marion Stroud

I like it. I need a couple miracles right now. How about a few, that’s more than a couple. And like a Genie wish, the last one is a wish for a 100 more. OK? Thanks.

I need to find some more blogs to read. My folder is getting a little slim. Sometimes I don’t even get my morning cup of chai finished before I get done reading.

Some people just flat out don’t blog any more. Some are just more sporadic. Some have been jettisoned over the past year.

Anybody have some good ones they can pass along? I am eclectic in my tastes, Just no math blogs.

We Capri’s have remained faithful to our commitment to post every day until the end of the year. Or at least I think I did. I might have missed one. It can happen in the hustle and bustle.

That’s enough nonsense for one day.

Don’t forget to pass along your favorite blog suggestions, others may need to read them as well. Consider it a public service announcement!

Have a swell last Monday of the year.

The Weekly Sy

Reunion

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Wednesday Hodgepodge

I am really late to the party today. My apologies!

We are getting down to the Christmas wire aren’t we?  An extra special thank you to Joyce who has MUCH on her plate, in addition to the Wednesday Hodgepodge AND Christmas, her daughter is getting married right after New Years, it’s getting very hectic I’m sure!

1. Time magazine has selected The Ebola Fighters as their person of the year for 2014. Do you agree, and if so who would you say is a close second? If you disagree with their choice, who do you think should have been chosen?

Why is it when asked these type of questions I cannot remember a single thing that happened the entire previous year? I will read some of the other Hodpodge answers and say, oh yes, they were great, but for the moment it’s a big old …blank.

I can’t fault the winners here. They give an extraordinary effort in a seriously dangerous situation. The front lines, as we began to see, were not in a safe place directing the show. It was in the trenches, caring for the sick and dying in sometimes primitive conditions while wearing a lot of life saving protective gear.

When most ran from the death, they remained and tried to help, sometimes at great cost to themselves.

I watched several interviews by the American doctors and nurses who risked their lives for the people of these countries. Talk about loving your neighbor as yourself! They deserve to be the People of the Year.

2. This question comes to you courtesy of Susan who blogs over at Stew Mama Says. She knows we have a wedding happening any minute now, and she asks, ‘What’s your favorite-something old? something new? something borrowed? something blue in your home?  Be sure you hop over and say hi to Susan today!

My favorite something old would be HONEY! HA! Ok, I will say I am liking having my Mother’s china. I have used it 2 or 3 times since I brought it home the summer before last.

New. I am enjoying the new purse I bought this summer in South Haven with the gals from Caregroup. I love the color and it usually goes well with the majority of my clothing. What I was thinking, as I shopped a goodish amount yesterday, is that it is SO light!! Didn’t weigh me down at all.

Borrowed. Just yesterday I had the thought to give my brother Beeve the set of the DVR Blueray Indiana Jones series for Christmas. I texted my SIL Stacey to see if he already had them, because our children borrowed their Uncle Beeve’s boxed set of VCR tapes several decades ago and wore them SLAP OUT. Unfortunately, he already had them, except for the last Crystal Skull one (which was not so good in my opinion) and the store didn’t have that one. Of course. So the Indiana Jones VCR trilogy was favoritely borrowed.

Blue. This color is severely under represented in our home. Besides the obvious blue jeans, the only thing I could find as I perused the house was this painting by the Ab-Cat in 1996 when she was 7. I love it.

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3. Fudge-yay or nay? Your favorite flavor? Do you make it yourself? With nuts or without? 

YAY!!! I have a great recipe for peanut butter fudge that my friend Shari Erdmann gave me years ago. I do make it and have given a lot away over the years. You can go either way with the nuts, but I think I usually do add some pecans.

4. December 17th is Wright Brothers Day, commemorating the first successful flights made by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  How old were you when you made your first flight? Do you like to fly? Have you ever been to Kitty Hawk or other parts of the North Carolina Outer Banks?

There is a certificate in my baby book that says Welcome to the Sky Cradle Club! I was born in September and I am guessing my parents flew from California to Michigan for Christmas to introduce me to the family. I remember my Mother always telling me that I was only a couple months old the first time I flew.

I don’t mind flying, I feel I have gotten it down to a science. I know the rules and have only been tripped up once, years ago.

I haven’t been to those parts of North Carolina. Just to see Mrs. Schmenkman when she lived in Greensboro, many years ago.

5. Do the people in your family tend to follow a particular career path, and if so what’s the path?

No, we are equal opportunity career folk. I will say that my Father was a barber before entering the police force. So I guess I did follow there, but he didn’t barber in my lifetime. I have cut his hair, he gave me a thumbs up.
6. What is one thing you absolutely, positively must accomplish today?

There is not one thing that HAS to be done today. I would like to start the thing I am making and today seems the likely day. Would like to do a little more wrapping, it helps me see where I might need to fill in a little. I REALLY need to get my hair colored but today is Mousey’s  long day guarding lives, so that’s not happening. Might go pick up the turkey.  I am flexible.
7. This Christmas I hope___________________________________.

…I can show the love of God’s Son Jesus to whomever I interact with, loved one and stranger alike.

I also hope these dang cats can begin to like/love/accept each other. Smile

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Little Sy got an early Christmas present from his new adopted Mama. His very own cat tree, or aka, his very own naughty spot!!!!!

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He wasted no time making himself at home.

Since we won’t be Hodgepodging next week because of the holidays, have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you accomplish that one thing on your list that you MUST accomplish today!

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