Almost sunny

Lost time due to bad weather. Now today the weather is sunny, yet cold. Seventeen degrees this morning. As long as it's not snow or ice. Sunny weather is nice! Now onto the rest of the day. Have a Canasta card game later on tonight. Sitting around playing cards and shooting the breeze. Pretzels right out of the oven and peach iced tea. Life is good .

20 days away

It is finally the month of December. I am always surprised at this. You think by April 1st this would be the day or month of surprises. Yet for me it's the month of December.

What did I get done this year? What has yet to be done. Looking to start fresh tomorrow. Sometimes it's starting fresh in the next hour. I know what I got done this year was getting a library card. What I have yet to do is read more books.

I need to exercise more. Need to do more research on recipes. Trying out a few. Cheeseburgers with onion rings are a favorite. So are ice cream recipes. Now about that exercise schedule.

Books are a favorite of mine. I love visiting our library. So many choices. So many books. Now I need to write down the books we don't have at our library, see if they have them digitally. Have to get more reading done. So I will end here. Looking forward to that new book or recipe.

Last Friday of November 2018

Thanksgiving done. Black Friday sales done. Cyber Monday sales done. Out of these three the only one I was interested in, Thanksgiving. The people in our family all get together and cook. Take turns at gathering at one home.

We each take turns hosting the dinner. Everybody says what they will bring. So we are all not bringing the same thing. All turkey with no sides or desserts, wouldn't be too well received. So we all get together to find out who is bringing what. I have made the turkey. Roasted it a variety of ways over the years. The Reynolds Cooking Bags are great. I have never made a fried turkey though.

So now Christmas is upon us. We might only get together for dessert. Have just dinner at our own homes. Then again, just keep up the family tradition. And host it at one another's home. I just hope that we get some more macaroni and cheese again, homemade this time, with breadcrumbs on top.

It's snowing now?

One of the biggest blizzards. It passed quickly though. Didn't hang around. Now we get some sunshine to help melt the snow. Had the snow hanging off my car like a ski ledge. At least I could brush it off. Lots of people went sledding in town.

Soon it will be Christmas. Wonder if it will be snow at Christmas. Here's hoping it will be. So many things have happened. Snow, rain, fires, floods and this is just the weather.

Baking is on the list. Just getting the time to get it done. Then I was told to let the grocery store do the baking. Why go through that when it's easy to just buy a pie. I like doing my own baking, thank you.

Of all the (blank).........

Fill in the blank.

This is what I have been doing my entire life. Of all the ..... reasons, questions, ideas, answers, thoughts, the list goes on and on.

Not just filling in the blank. The follow up that happens AFTER you fill in the blank.

Food for thought. Now it requires an action.

Cleaning break

It’s the middle of the night, and I woke up a couple of hours ago. Started cleaning the house and found a T-shirt I had misplaced. I also found my glasses, a book I bought a month ago, also a recipe I wrote down on. 3x5 card. So after 2 hours of cleaning I am taking a break. I got to smiling when I found that recipe.  I am going to look up side dishes to serve with it. Look up some sewing patterns for my crockpot.

I love to sew and have a few patterns. I have sewn my kids clothes when they were little. Halloween costumes. Prom dress. My kitchen curtains. A quilt for my grandpa. Now I have to decide what Halloween costume I will be sewing for next month. That or resort to buying a T-shirt that says, ‘this is my Halloween costume.’

Some new things in my life is a DVD player for my little 25 year old television. My husband was with me and very strongly insisted that he buys it for me as an early Christmas present. He still wants to throw out the old one. All it needed was a new remote. Also went to the thrift store and bought a lite cookbook. We have a couple of these cookbooks that this author has written. So this is what is happening, cooking more at home.

So now it’s time to get back to finish the housework. I will start vacuuming when the rest of the household is awake. To surprise my husband in the morning. I will make mocha hot cocoa.

Life somewhere

Having a good Sunday. Had a great day yesterday on Saturday. Went out for BBQ with friends. After that we went to Sonics for dessert. Then went to the mom and pop bowling alley called Arrowhead. Bowled a couple of games then went home.

Got home and there greeting us, was our dog. Got his leash on him. Put him in the car and drove around town. Especially drove past the restaurants, smell-o-vision for him, then came back home. I was asked before, why do I take my dog for a car ride. Which I replied, “we had a good time going out for the day. Our dog would like to go out too. So a car ride and a walk in the park is great day for him also.” We just  love our dog.

End of summer

I am still working on the list of things I wanted to do this summer. I went and took a couple of hours at the library. It was nice to see all the new books there. I only took three this time, and quite a few older books. I didn’t take The Book Page. It’s a library newspaper that shows all the new books. I will wait until I finished reading the books I checked out before I pick up that newspaper. So many books there that I cannot wait to read them soon. I love visiting our local public library!

Princesses and castles

Now it’s one more day till Friday. I cannot wait. For that Friday night movie will be Princess Bride. A true love  story for the ages. I try and match the food to the movie. We don’t have mutton, so I will have to roast a turkey instead. Then when the turkey is out of the oven, I will bake a cake worthy of a princess.

August feativals

Soon the festivals in August will start. All those blue ribbon judging. All those jams and jellies and pies that is only some of the food. Mike and I cannot wait till we can get to the festivals again.

Here it is almost Christmas. Half way there at least, and what are we watching on television? The movie Home Alone again. Mike likes the winter scenes. I like the fact it was filmed in New York. Breathing and just relaxing before work. Thank you for the movie.

Movies and popcorn

What is it about popcorn at the movies that makes it taste so good? It’s a Monday and I am already thinking of the popcorn I will be getting at the movies this weekend. It use to come in a small box. Now they have it in barrels to share with others. No matter what size it comes in barrel, bucket, box or cup, I love getting popcorn at the movies. Buying some candy and pop to go with it is nice also.

Spring?

I realize that we have four seasons. I’m just wondering what happened to Spring. After a long, long drawn out winter, cooler weather in Spring would be nice. I like spring, all the different flowers, the cool breezes. Being able to go for a early evening walk without the humidity. Seems like we have summer already. Spring where are you?

Spring weather

Spring weather makes me smile. Seeing the flowers dancing in the wind is a joy! How blessed am I to see this. I have a list I have written down of all the flower gardens I would like to see.

Puzzling weather

Another day of puzzling weather. It’s supposed to be going into the 80’s. I like it when it is in the 70’s. At least there isn’t any more snow for us.

That one time

Trying to sleep. Working a different shift from the regular 9 to 5 time. That one time I did get enough sleep and was happy. Other than this one time, okay 4 times, this year, sleep happens. Not in the way I had hoped. Almost time for a vacation!

Blankets

Another winter day. Beautiful blue skies yet so cold. Any other reason to wear a blanket like a jacket, this is one of those days.

More than one post

Sitting here, having a vlog view of someone’s tiny apartment. I like some of the decor. My window to the world lies here on the web. I read other peoples posts. See how they are living and thriving.

So far I have been looking up tiny apartments and tiny homes. I need the expanse of open spaces even if they are tiny places. I listen to boats creaking sails. It helps me dream of sailing on the open seas. I look how some of the boats are set up. The tiniest boats help to prepare for life in a houseboat. I also love to look at houseboats. Dream of living on a houseboat. So happy to do this, so happy to dream.

Right now, I could use a snack. So I am going to make some popcorn. I am glad I live in an agricultural state. Bring on the popcorn!

Sleep difficultly

Woke up, I feel as tired as I was, when I went to bed. It has been a year since I started the midnight shift. Still trying to have a set sleep pattern. How people do this after years and years on the night shift, is pretty amazing. I need to get more organized when it comes to getting enough sleep. Right now I have to get ready for another night of work. I am researching polyphasic sleep. Since this is my sleep pattern for this last year.

February cold

Here it is another month has gone. In the home stretch for spring weather to come. Hoping for light rains in spring. Last year we had such heavy rains it hurt my plants. I want to plant more flowers. Some plants in hanging baskets also. So even though we are supposedly to have six more weeks of winter, hurry up spring!

Jigsaw puzzles

To say I like jigsaw puzzles is an understatement. I like how the stores put more of them out on display. I like how I take the time to pick the right one as a Christmas present for someone. I haven't gotten many puzzles for myself recently. I have quite a few (about 8 of them are my favorites) that I have looked over and wondered what it would be like to live in that puzzle world. One jigsaw puzzle was a cartoon city. One was a county kitchen, and the view out that window was fantastic. I recently picked up a puzzle that had a waiter on it bringing some food. I wonder what that restaurant would be like to dine there.

I have bought gift cards. I take the ones I get, if they are not food related, just store  related in general. I head to the toy section and check out the puzzles. So many jigsaw puzzles to put together. I like the scenes of towns and such. Food ones like a restaurant are great. I remember buying my mom a puzzle that was white popcorn and that was it. She took it with her on vacation. Took four days and still didn't get the border put together. She boxed it up. Then she brought it back home, for my daughter to put together. I ended up putting it together. Mom didn't believe that I had finished the jigsaw puzzle. So I showed her a picture I took of it with the box lid beside it. She was impressed.

I try to get one difficult jigsaw puzzle every year. This Christmas of 2017 I bought one that had license plates from different states with a rounded out set of plates in the center on top of these plates with pictures of three cars scattered on top. I haven't mailed it to mom. Yet I know what her reaction would be. She would want a picture of a nice vase of flowers.  Until then this puzzle will be the one she gets. I know if I mail it my brother would help her put it together.

I take pictures of the puzzle in three stages. Border is done with a couple of pieces put together with it. Half finished and then some small patches of them put together on the side. Then the finished puzzle. I donate the ones we had done to the senior citizen center and the nursing homes. I also donate new puzzles, nothing over 500 pieces.

So to read this blog post, you know jigsaw puzzle are one of my favorite relaxing pastimes. I have been putting them together since I was in elementary school. I just wish I could find some on the ones I had when I was a teenager. Now to head to work, so I can buy another  jigsaw puzzle this weekend. the first one of the new year.