Thursday Thirteen

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We’re due for some snow tonight, but to tell you the truth we still have green grass! I told Hubby he would have to mow it again…soon! Okay, here are this weeks random thoughts.

  1. Although my back is getting better, it is still sore. So, I am really doing a lot of stretching and no lifting.
  2. Weight Watchers was a great class today. They debuted their new 2012 program! It isn’t a total reboot of the system. Just many little tweaks.
  3. Upon getting home, the rain seemed to get heavier and the fog cooler and more chilling, so I decided not to go grocery shopping today.
  4. Of course this was a mistake because tomorrow we are due for 5 inches of snow, which will mean I won’t really feel like driving out in that, either!
  5. I made a new dish. WW chicken enchiladas. They were so good and very different!
  6. I think the one thing that happens to people after being on a healthy eating plan is, you get really tired of the same foods, meals, over and over again.
  7. So I am trying to shake it up and make “new” things.
  8. I really need to start working on my Christmas shopping. Although I am in the spirit, I just feel uninspired to shop.
  9. Perhaps next Wednesday after class I will go to a few places to shop.
  10. I wish Mandy was available to just kick around with, but she is busy with work.
  11. We are planning a lunch really soon.
  12. I simply love shopping with her. Mandy and I have such fun!
  13. Best of all, yesterday Mandy had her second ultra-sound. Here is her baby. Head to the left, you can see the spine and the hand, as it tries to find it’s thumb.

Baby December 7

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Will you be hosting any house guests between now and the end of December? Does that thought make you happy or crazy? Do you do anything special for your guests to make them feel at home? How long should a house guest stay?

Mandy and Matt will be coming up and I am hoping that I can get my house sitter and hr husband over for dinner.

2. Walter Elias Disney was born this week (December 5) back in 1905 …what’s your all time favorite Disney movie? Here’s a list in case you’re struggling…and yes, you have to pick one.

The original Fantasia, and the original The Santa Clause. But really, so many of them I really like. Good clean family fun.

3. What was the last thing you purchased that you realized was a mistake after the fact?

In the last few years I try very hard not to purchase things carelessly. We just do not have the money to waste.

4. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done online?

About 5%. I really need to step it up and get it done!

5. Amaryllis-snowdrop-poinsettia…your favorite winter blossom?

Poinsettia. I remember going to Bermuda with my parents and going to the gardens there full of beautiful poinsettia plants!

6. What is one thing on your personal Christmas wish list? I think we all want peace on earth so let’s make this answer an actual item.

Just a healthy and happy grandbaby!

7. If you could only use one word today what would it be?

Blessed!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

First, I had my retinal exam today on both eyes. Things are okay and no surgery is needed at this time. Yay!

Second I want to thank my cousin Janet, Dave and Hubby for buying me a Kindle Fire for my birthday. It took me three weeks to decide what I really wanted and today I placed the order. Thanks you three!!

Better

Monday was a good day. I slept in, and when I did get up, had a nice breakfast of cereal, bananas and milk! Do not ask me why, but somehow this thrilled me! Later we went to the doctors, where we then passed our physicals with flying colors. I also actually feel better and my back is not nearly as painful. Yes, life is good.

Hubby and I also went out after our physicals and shopped. It felt good to stretch my legs, and walk around. I really enjoyed seeing the decorations in the stores and although we only bought avocados and bread, we enjoyed walking through the new grocery store in the next town.

Dinner was easy as can be. Leftover pork loin roast, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and our own apple sauce, that I thawed, from our freezer. I was glad it was so easy as today, well, I just wasn’t in the mood to cook.

As Hubby and I drove home from the shops, it was getting dark, and there were beautiful Christmas lights shining on homes along the way. It made me feel all happy and warm.

Oh, how I love Christmas!

What I Did Last Weekend

Miss Marple 2

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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I’ve decided that I am a total wimp, and that systematically, I am also falling apart! I spent most of Sunday with my feet up and the heating pad firmly pressed against my back. Yes, that’s what I did, and it hasn’t helped all that much.

Okay let’s back up. Friday I decided to decorate the shelves in the house. I lifted 4 heavy boxes from the attic, down the stairs and into our formal living room. (Also known as the living room, that we never use!)

I unpacked my much loved decorations, and put them out on the shelves. The next morning, I started to pick up a heavy laundry basket and BAM!

My back felt tired, but it hit me.

PAIN!

Saturday morning I woke to a frozen back, with a lot of pain. I took the day to settle down and use some heat to relax everything. I did that on Sunday too, but so far I have not succeeded in relaxing anything.

At least on Monday I will be seeing my doctor for a routine physical. I can have him check me out. I know everything is okay.

I’m just getting old!

Movies

Saturday I took out some ground venison that my dear friend/cousin, Dave gave to me. I wasn’t too sure how to make it, but he suggested that I use half venison and half pork. So I worked chopping up vegetables, and then took off my rings and dove in and mixed it all up with my fingers. Then I patted it into a loaf pan and tucked it into the oven.

I stood peeling potatoes and carrots and put them on to cook, and then sat down to sip some lemonade while it all cooked. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did, although, I have had venison before and enjoyed it, but I have not had ground venison to make meatloaf with.

It was so good!

Anyway, yesterday I went up in my attic and took down four boxes of decorations. I should have waited for Hubby, but I didn’t and on Saturday my back was killing me. Add to that picking up a very full laundry basket and that was it!

So, since I was a bit immobilized, I took out my television’s manual, and hooked my TV to Amazon Prime, where I can now watch unlimited movies for free for being an Amazon Prime customer! This was so exciting. When Hubby came in from raking leaves, we watched a wonderful movie called “Then She Found Me”. It is a dear character study, and although I enjoyed it more than Hubby, I think this was because I’m a woman, (you know the same way I don’t get “The Dirty Dozen” because I am a woman and he is guy!), it was a good movie none the less.

Saturday night we watched another movie “The Adjustment Bureau” with Matt Damon, and found it puzzling. I usually like Matt Damon, but this movie is a little strange.

I sure hope my back is better in the morning. I really want to finish decorating as I have a busy week ahead, plus, the New England Patriots are playing at one o’clock!

It Never Really Ends

I haven’t written about my struggle at Weight Watchers recently, because I have really been battling it. You know, for those of us with life long weight issues, I have finally come to the conclusion, that they never really end. It will be four years in January since I started my quest with Weight Watchers, and I imagine that I will need my meetings and support for the rest of my life.

In fact when I reached my goal, I felt under tremendous pressure. How could I maintain my weight? What would happen if I gained it all back? Trust me, you get a little bit nutty.

I started to play the denial game, and not weigh in, and not be honest with myself and slowly the pounds started to creep back on. So at my first meeting after Thanksgiving, I got back on track, bought a normal membership and began journaling.

Now on Christmas Day, I will have a couple of things I enjoy, but I will make a lovely meal for Hubby and I to have that is mainly Weight Watchers friendly. The same will be said on New Years.

Since Hubby and I are going on that cruise in March, I sure want to look good in my bathing suit! I also want to feel good, so we can walk all around and enjoy the beaches of Roatan, Belize, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We have two great sea days built in, and I just want to be able to swim and sun and enjoy.

So now, I must eat right, exercise and give myself pep talks.

It never really ends, just gets manageable.

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill Ins

1. One of my favorite things about December The birth of Christ and the birthday of my daughter, Mandy.

2. Christmas ornament(s)!

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3. This is what I’m hoping for today/tonight: peace, love and joy.

4. Don’t you think that most Rap music is just noise?

5. Ooh, a baby!.

6. Sleigh bells ringing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to cooking Hubby a steak, tomorrow my plans include laundry and a little Christmas shopping locally and Sunday, I want to cook a nice meal for Hubby and watch the Patriots!

Thursday Thirteen

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Happy December First! Can you believe that we are starting the last month of the year, and that there are only 24 days until Christmas? Next week I need to get out and do some serious shopping so I can finish up my Christmas errands and then mail everything! For this week’s Thursday Thirteen, I’m going to share some of the things I do each year that makes Christmastime warm and bright.

  1. I set up my Christmas tree. Although I have not done that yet. I’m a little late, (usually the day after Thanksgiving) because I have been REALLY busy!
  2. I sit down and hand address my Christmas cards. It’s an act of love because I have arthritis in my hands. So forgive me if the envelope is a bit unreadable. I really do try.
  3. I go to Christmas Fairs and enjoy the music, decorations and smiling faces.
  4. Baking. I used to bake for my family, for myself. Now I tend to bake and then give it away.
  5. I pick out a toy and then I donate it to the Marine Corps. They do the Toys for Tots.
  6. I keep a little wallet in my purse with dollar bills. Then whenever I pass a Salvation Army Bucket, I pop in a dollar and wish the volunteer Merry Christmas!
  7. I start listening to the “Holly” channel on XM Radio.
  8. I start planning Christmas dinner. Not sure what we’re having.
  9. I help out at The Festival of Trees, which is a charity event, benefiting those in need in our town.
  10. Watching my favorite Christmas movies. My absolute favorite? “It’s A Wonderful Life”.
  11. I also make a simple jello salad, that reminds me of my grandmother. Make lime jello, pour into a dish you have put pear halves and maraschino cherries (in the pear half). Chill and serve with either mayonnaise or whipped creme.
  12. Hubby and I have German Stollen Bread Christmas morning and we also enjoy Lebkuchen cookies.
  13. I even buy gifts for the dogs! Best of all, they know how to open them!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Do you send Christmas cards? If so about how many will you send this year? How do you display the cards you receive? Or don’t you? (gasp!)

We send cards every year. At this point, we’re paring down to about 75. Mostly to those we hear from, and a few shut-ins we keep in touch with.

2. When do kids become adults?

I remember thinking when Mandy got into her 20’s that I simply said to myself, step back and allow your girl to make her own way! Oh, it is hard, but you really need to allow them the respect to be their own person!

3. Does your ‘beauty regimen’ change with the seasons?

No. It’s simple. Moisturize!!!

4. What’s something you like to eat that might cause another person to turn up their nose?

Yes. Lima Beans!!! I love them with butter and salt and pepper. Most people do not!!!

5. Gloves or mittens?

Gloves. I have a pair of leather gloves lined with sherpa, and they are wonderfully warm!!!

6. What’s the longest queue you’ve ever been in? Was it worth it? Queue=line but doesn’t queue sound nicer?

I guess at the airport. And yes, it was worth it. Mostly though, I do not like crowds, so if I see a long line, I go the other way.

7. Besides Christmas, what is one thing you are looking forward to in the month of December?

Celebrating Mandy’s Birthday! I know it is hard for her being born 5 days before Christmas, but I will tell you, she was the best gift I ever got!!!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I think about life now and how next year at Christmas, I will be celebrating my grandchild’s first Christmas! What a blessed event that will be!

Love

I did a 24 hour turn a round trip to Connecticut to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of my sister, Melodie and her husband, Ron.

They met at summer camp when they were thirteen years old. We lived on Cape Cod and Ron lived in Arlington, Massachusetts. Back then, there was no Internet, no cell phones, no easy way to stay in touch, except for hand writing letters, and occasionally talking on the phone. Very rarely, actually because phone rates were very high.

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So these two wild, and crazy kids wrote letters. I remember Ron sent Mel yellow roses and they were really beautiful! I was only eight years old and already a hopeless romantic!

Ron would come to Cape Cod to visit us, and Melodie and I would go to Arlington, where he lived. I’d visit with our grandparents while she visited at Ron’s.

Over the years, Ron became a brother to me. Oh yes, at times I drove him nuts, being the pesky little sister, and at times he made me nuts too. But isn’t that what siblings are for?

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After High School they got married and started their family. They have two grown sons now and a beautiful daughter. Their sons are married to really special women. Their daughter has a really sweet and warm boyfriend. And I am really crazy about Mel and Ron’s Grandchildren, two boys and a girl! In fact, they all got together and posed for a picture for their gift.

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So, when many people like Kim Kardashian have 72 day marriages, doesn’t it warm your heart to hear of two people who really fell in love, and have been together all these years. Through thick and thin, the two of them. I call them Frick and Frack. I simply cannot think of either one of them without the other!

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Happy Anniversary, guys! Love you!!!

PS: Love to my cousin Janet, who drove me most of the way down and back! Thanks!