No Whining Allowed

A List, A Problem and a Word of Wisdom

January 9, 2015 at 10:24 AM (Around Our House, Cats and Dog, Confessions, Family Life, Friends, Honey, Lists, Our Boy)

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.

5 Comments

The Christmas Photo

January 6, 2015 at 9:47 AM (Around Our House, Cats and Dog, Confessions, Family Life, Friends, Honey, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)

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.

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.

Not quite ready for our close-up.

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

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

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!

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.

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

See? Not so bad!

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

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?

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

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.

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

So it’s between these 2. Picture 42.

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

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

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.

3 Comments

Happy New Year List!

January 5, 2015 at 10:48 AM (Around Our House, Cats and Dog, Confessions, Family Life, Friends, Honey, Lists, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)

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.

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

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.

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

We were orange.

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!!!!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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 .

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

1 Comment

Potent Quotable

January 4, 2015 at 9:05 AM (Potent Quotable)

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran

The Weekly Sy

January 3, 2015 at 8:49 AM (Cats and Dog, Muggins Q. Mouse, The Weekly Sy)

What cha got?

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

Cheese coma.

Last Wednesday Hodgepodge of 2014!

December 31, 2014 at 12:28 PM (Around Our House, Friends, From the Heart, Honey, Mr. Linky Things)

I had hoped to get my post ready last night, but a late night cookie frosting/decorating session with the kids knocked my train off its tracks. When I awoke I thought I probably wouldn’t participate. But then I went over and read our hostess Joyce’s answers and I got all nostalgic and thought I should do it anyway. And here we are. Special, special thanks to Joyce for herding us cats all year long, but especially this year when she has her daughters WEDDING next week!!! She has a lot going on right now, if she can post, I can post!

1. Share a favorite moment from your Christmas holiday celebration.

It was nice having all of our People under one roof. I know not everyone can say that so I am thankful.

2. What would you say has been the biggest news event during your life so far?

I would say 9/11 because it was the biggest national tragedy I have lived through in my lifetime, but also because the media coverage was so much better than say Pearl Harbor or the Great Depression or the sinking of the Titanic. Can you imagine if all of the first space stuff was on TV now? They would have to have their own channel!

9/11 was so huge and right in our living rooms. We had much more information so much faster than any tragedy in previous years. It changed our country.

3. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2015 is Marsala. What say you-like or no like? Would I find this color anywhere in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade to either?

I L.O.V.E. this color!!!!!!! It is well represented in our home AND in my wardrobe. It’s a perfect warm shade and goes so well with the gold, greens, varying shades of browns, the darker brick red color that could be it’s bolder, older sister, and a spicy autumnal pumpkin-y sort of color already featured in the majority of our rooms. It also pairs nicely with black, grey and some favorite blue jeans. It’s a winner.

4. Would you rather meet your ancestors or your great grandchildren? Explain why.

Both sound intriguing, but I am going to go with ancestors because genealogy has always interested me so much. I think it’s because there is nothing known about our heritage on my Mother’s side. My Father’s side was unknown to me when I was younger, though it has now been traced back to the Mennonite folks who first arrived in America. When I was growing up, it seemed people could immediately say where their people were from. Like Honey, his Father is from Belgium, his Mother’s people are directly from Italy. He is half and half, easy peasy. I guess I kind of longed to have a connection to something beyond our southern heritage.

5. Share one life lesson learned in 2014?

I will say it has been relearned. “We could all be 5 minutes from disaster”, to quote Honey many years ago, describing our life changing car accident.

I heard from Jip the Farm Dog that one of the leaders in our Bible study circle lost her husband on Monday. Completely unexpected. She is a lovely, funny, faithful Christian gal, not too much older than we are. Her husband had not yet retired. I could tell by the way she spoke of him that they were very close. That might sound strange because married people are supposed to be close, but some are more in synch. You know the kind, the peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, bread and butter, chai and cream kind.

We are heartbroken for her. I can’t stop thinking about how when we all said our fond goodbyes after the BSF luncheon, she had no idea what she was walking into, how upside down her world was going to become, how her 2015 has started as a nightmare she can’t wake up from.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, she knows she will see him again. It’s the rest of her life here, without her soul mate, that is the really difficult part. The most unimaginable, gut wrenching, unfathomable, heartbreaking part. A life lesson I don’t want to learn. I have been through trials in my life, but WITH Honey. I can’t imagine going through that kind of loss without him

“We could all be 5 minutes from disaster”, live your life accordingly.

6. What was your best or favorite purchase made in 2014?

Well, Honey brought me a NEW COMPUTER for Christmas so WOO TO THE HOOTY HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s not hooked up yet, but seeing as I have waited years to replace our ancient nag, a little while longer is doable! Have I mentioned that the Old Grey Mare won’t even allow me to access the blob anymore? Or other blogs, or Amazon? That’s how it rolls, both random and vindictive.

7. What is one thing you’re looking forward to in the new year?

See the above answer Smile

We are going to Florida with the Girls in February, that is exciting to think about since The Mitten just got a little frigid.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Since 2014 is going out on a sad note, I find myself pensive. Just like Mary K was not aware of the fork in her road, we don’t know what our future holds. I am once again reminded that I want to finish strong, where ever my finish line might be. The Lord has given us a blueprint of how to live and I am thankful for the reminder.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Happy New Year Friends.

4 Comments

Mouse on Mouse

December 30, 2014 at 10:04 AM (Muggins Q. Mouse)

Mousey’s new ‘”swippers”.

1 Comment

Last Monday of the Year

December 29, 2014 at 6:32 AM (Around Our House, Cats and Dog, Confessions, Family Life, Friends, From the Heart, Lists)

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?

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.

2 Comments