Little Dipper and the Cupcake

We are notoriously late for celebrating birthdays around here. Little Dipper turned two the end of December and for whatever reason we did not get to it until before we left for Florida in either the end of January or February. I think it’s fair to say that he did not mind the delay and thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cupcake, no matter the month! The Dane snapped these for us to always remember his delight 🙂 ❤

Was not 100% sure what to do.

Gave it a good shot and it worked!

Got his hands on it….

dove right in…

and it disappeared right quick!

Happy Birthday to Grammy’s Punkin’ Pie!

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Back to the Sunshine State For a Bit

The last post from Florida had us doing a little home improvement. Here is the newly painted den, sporting its new color, Malabar. The whole time I was painting the white walls I was thinking, oh, it’s going to be toooooo dark. I have no idea what my problem was! I like it very much. Still no cutey-cute bedding, but it does have sheets and covers for now. Oh well, even Rome wasn’t built in a day. The room was ready to host CMB’s daughter Courtney, and that was a good thing ❤

We also switched the previous queen bed out for a king. After a flurry of texting with Capri P, Mousey and The Dane, who evidently have a form of foam mattress, we decided on this one from Sam’s Club.

 

There was a lot of packaging and it had all the air sucked right out of it!

Starting to floof.

Fully floofed! I have to be honest, it was a little lower than I expected, but I did sleep on it and it seemed quite comfortable. CMB said it was firm, and I can get on board with that assessment. She also liked the pillows we also purchased at the Sam’s Club, they were called Bellagio, which sounds faincy!

I found this set at Homegoods and I very much liked the color. I’m so glad we didn’t wait to purchase it until Mousey arrived because we never saw another like it!

Still need some art work and maybe a few more pillows, but it was also up and running to host CMB!

The last few times we rented, before purchasing our place in Estero, were spent renting in Cape Coral from VRBO. We rented from a very nice woman named Becky Burroughs and her equally nice husband, whose name I cannot recall. Honey mostly dealt with Becky through texting and I mailed her the checks, so her name was in my brain. Becky and her husband had been buying homes and redoing them to use as rentals, and she told us that we were usually the first renters in a new listing, it just worked out that way! There were many things I appreciated about renting from Becky, and a few were full soap dispensers in the bathrooms and kitchen, also dish washer pods, cleaning spray and toilet paper! You would think that would be a given, but you would be mistaken. I find it extremely annoying when you have to go to the store on your first day in a rental to buy toilet paper. VERY chintzy! She actually had a closet that held all sorts of things that people actually stock in their own homes, which was helpful. Because when we make a mess, I would like to have the wherewithal to clean up said mess.

One of the things our family really liked about Becky’s houses were the SNACK BASKETS! In all of their houses, they had a basket full of yummy snacks and there was never much left when we left to go home! So when we were expecting our first guests at our new place, who happened to be Mrs Schmenkman and Mr C, Honey said we HAD to make a snack basket!! I present our Becky Burrough’s Snack Basket! I think they liked it 🙂

I also wanted to have a little somethn’ somethin’ to snack on, but our oven was having an emotional breakdown of sorts. Honey bought several parts to right it, but it resisted being helped. The cook top worked, but no oven. One day I saw our sweet neighbor Jean, who has a delightful British accent, and was telling her of our oven dilemma and she suggested I could use hers. I totally took her up on that! She said she never uses it anymore and she seemed thrilled to help me out, we are now bonded for life 🙂 I paid her with a couple slices of Mrs Davis’ pound cake, our family cake, and she now tells me that she feels like we have been friends forever ❤

In the new acrylic cake holder that The Ab-Cat and Mousey gave me for Christmas! I love it!

Back to The Mitten

We have been home from Florida a little over a week now and The Mitten has been fairly hospitable, weather wise anyway! Sunny and 50s, 60s and 70s, the trees are considering popping out leaves and I have seen proof of life photos from friends on Facebook and Instagram of their spring flowers ❤

Other things that have been popping up have been Covid-19 cases. Our last couple weeks in Florida I was texting quite a bit with my brother, Beeve and his wife Stacey, because they, along with Medium Goomba had succumbed after an entire year of carefull-ness! Goomba recovered quickly, but his folks had a much harder time of it and are still not 100%. We are praying that they do not have long term fallout from their health struggles.

Driving home I got a text from Keelyody, my walking buddy, saying that her husband and 2 sisters were down with it as well. They are on the mend now. She has since tested positive but other than a loss of taste and smell, and a runny nose, does not have symptoms.

And finally,on  Monday The Usher, who resides in OUR BASEMENT, came home from work after being tested. They called a few hours later with his positive diagnosis. He had a fever, headache, runny nose and was extremely tired and not hungry, so you know he was sick. But by today, Thursday, his fever had been gone for 24 hours and he has popped back up like a daisy. This morning Mousey texted that she now has a fever. I guess we are about to find out if Honey and I really had The ‘Rona during Christmas of 2019 like we thought. To be honest, unless we have it seriously bad, I will be relieved to have it over and done with. We should know within a few days, because for the 2 days before The Usher’s diagnosis, I had sat on the couch with Mousey binge watching Stranger Things. That is 8 hours of non social distancing and should have done it.

The last we spoke, we were tackling some home improvements at our winter home in Estero,. We were there for about 6 weeks, and we think that is the longest we’ve ever been there! We met a LOT of neighbors and had good conversations and we are hopeful we will actually remember some names when we go back! We had company twice, my friend CMB and her daughter came for a weekend and then Mousey popped down for about 5 days. Always love company!!

While Mousey was down she helped us make use of the fitness center down by our clubhouse. I am proud to say we kept it up after she left, and incorporated it into our heavy schedule of hanging out at the pools, walking and eating dinners out 🙂

I read a GREAT book! Highly recommend it. I bought it at The Goodwill the last time we were there and left it on the nightstand. I planned to get a card at the local library on arrival, so I came down with sparse reading material. When I saw it lying there I had forgotten all about it, BOY, was it good. It was her first book, based on a true story about her grandfather’s family. I am hoping that she gathered enough research information to have another book in her.

We had a lovely trip and have certainly came back to reality with a thud, but ahhhhh, this is a beautiful thing to gaze at.

 

Observations

Well, our country has had quite a week. I am once again having a hard time blogging about my usual nonsense when our world is in such disarray. My only solutions have been to pray and try and educate myself on the current events. I have found there is always more than meets the eye, or the ear, or what the media tells. I don’t think I am being dramatic to suggest our country is at a crossroad. I will continue to acknowledge that God is in control of all things, and remember that He works all things together for my good, no matter what that looks like in the day to day. His will be done, and I ask that He helps me to finish strong, no matter what is going on in these certainly not United States of America..

Would you now care to observe some non controversial nonsense with me?

The Ab-Cat gave me a new 11×14 aluminum cookie sheet for Christmas, I needed one to use when I make two chicken pot pies. My previous sheets could not support the burden of two glass pie dishes, size wise. Since receiving it, I can see that it will be a useful engine to make cookies, or Sinful Saltines, or most anything else I desire. I like options. But I have heard of the dangers of baking directly on aluminum, something about causing Alzheimer’s. Abby had previously given me some other sizes of aluminum cookie pans along with silicone sheets. I decided I needed an 11X14 silicone sheet as well. so I ordered from Amazon. More on Amazon in a minute.

It arrived last week in this largish box stuffed with brown paper.

 

WOW. someone is not a volume control expert.

Pretty sure it could have been in a bubble envelope!

We have been watching these Little Furlings several days a week lately. This week was all about getting safely to the “ship” for a trip to Boston, or Denmark, or Mexico! The “ship” has been the foyer rug, (bigger, more passengers 🙂 ) and also this smaller boat ❤  We were trying to figure our where the ship/Boston idea originated until Honey remembered they had read a story about Dumbo and the other circus animals trying to secure passage after their circus train broke down. And they were trying to get to Boston! Love those little monkeys!

They had great fun fishing off the boat with dangly cat toys and staying warm when the freezing waves crashed over the side, plus spent a LOT of time industriously “packing” for their trip. Oh. the things they packed!

About that Amazon.I read that 2020 was a banner year year for them, continuing a probably stellar decade in their favor. They have become one of the most successful companies in our country, based on the very American service of supply and demand. Good on them.  Pandemics can cause people to really want to shop from home, and I can certainly understand that. It was a blessing to many folks in our country to not have to risk their health to purchase what they needed. But Amazon has shown their hand on what they think of a large percentage of their customers. Their interference in the affairs of our country and their uncheritableness to those they disagree with politically emanates mean spiritedness. And my children will tell you that I not like that quality. In people, or at businesses where I spend money..

Honey and I do not have an account but have occasionally benefitted from using Mousey’s, in ordering and also watching Amazon Prime. If I had one, I would cancel it in protest for the shenanigans they have recently pulled. I don’t feel that they should be put out of business, but it seems like the only way we can effectively show our disapproval of a company’s actions has been to take our business elsewhere. I lived a great many years without having things delivered to my doorstep in a timely fashion, and I am quite sure I can do it again. I wont’ be shopping there anymore, or watching their streaming. I’m positive they will not be concerned about my personal decision, but I know of others who have made the same choice for themselves. Free speech Y’All, it’s the American way.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Unexpected Treasure

Honey and I have been discussing a move for a few years now. We would like to put the home we have lived in for the last 22 years on the market and move to a condo or ranch that has less square footage and MUCH less yard work. I have been fairly faithfully consulting Zillow for homes for us, The Ab-Cat, as well as Mousey and The Usher. Mousey also looks and we have been known to text listings to each other. If we found something we liked, we would buy it, even if we were not quite ready to vacate our current home. Someone in the family could probably keep it warm for us until we were ready for it 🙂

As you can imagine, we have about 35 years of accumulated belongings stored on both floors. We have begun the arduous task of going through, purging, setting aside for someone, throwing away, and reusing Amazon Prime boxes to take many, many things to the Salvation Army. I will say that Mousey seems to have about a houseful of stuff down in our basement, and we hope to be pleasantly surprised by how little of our junk is left when she leaves! Could be wishful thinking or a stone cold fact!

The Usher has been helping Honey list some things on a site that sells to local folks, and last weekend a gentleman from a neighboring town came and picked up a stand alone, Queen Anne style jewelry box that I have not used in years. It’s been in a closet in the guest room for over a decade, and no I do not know why I kept it because I don’t really use much jewelry anymore and it never matched our bedroom furniture. I used the drawers more than anything because I am a sentimental gal and tend to pack rat personal correspondence and apparently memorabilia. I decided to check the drawers one last time before sending it to its new home to hopefully be well used once more. I’m so glad I did! There was nothing in any compartment, but 3 things had fallen back behind and I had to remove the drawer to get them out. The first gem was a ticket stub from Pine Knob for the first ever concert The Ab-Cat and The Boy ever attended! It was their favorite childrens singer, Raffi, and we still fondly remember that day and continue to sing his sweet, gentle songs, now to Moonpie and Little Dipper 🙂  This is a treasure to no one but me ❤

The second gem was a personal note from my dear friend Rae-Babe. I loved reading it and I’m so glad I kept it ❤

The third gem was a hug from heaven. I don’t know how clear it is, but at the top is a line written by my Grandma Georgia, “I liked this very much”. She sent it the year after I married. I’m sure I loved it then, but I love it so much more now. Her handwriting is so familiar and beloved, the fact that she thought of me and decided to mail it, and the sure, comforting knowledge that she prayed for me after reading it. A kiss on the cheek from God. ❤

Pure gold.

Christmas Day Revisited

We had a very fine Christmas ❤  Considering that last year we had a house full of coughing sick people, that we now suspect was COVID-19! I really do. The main reason for my suspicion was I remember thinking that I could not taste Christmas dinner! I recollect at one point The Boy commenting that he did not think 2 minutes went by all day without someone hacking. When I returned to BSF leaders meeting after the 2 week holiday break, many, many of the ladies said they had also been sick the entire break. No one was sick this year!

What a lot of change this year has brought to our family. We could not have predicted the twists and turns the year had in store for us but that seems like another post for another day.

I love these pictures of Papa and his Furlings ❤  He brings so much love and fun to their lives. Reading is a favorite part time. They bring him stacks and stacks of books!

Often he will unexpectedly say, “Let’s pretend we are sleeping!”, and they drop like stones 🙂

Big Yawn!

A nice time to be quiet and snuggle.

Beeve was also roped into the reading.

Teenage Goomba is a favorite playmate!

We have been doctoring our kitty Halle Berry at home for the past year or so. we give her a shot of her medicine in a plastic syringe, and because she loves it so, another with just water. It’s a good thing she likes it, it has extended her life considerably. Had it been Lucy, she would have already crossed over the rainbow bridge. Every time you pick her up she acts as if you intend to skin her alive.

After her meds we always tell her what a good girl she is and love her up, and this is Little Dipper praising our elderly feline. Moonpie says Halle is the “nice, good kitty”. Unlike Seymour, who can be sassy and also spicy.

Moonpie got glasses last month! She said “Grammy, don’t I look so, so cute?!” Here she is twinning with her Aunt Ab-Cat ❤

Great Grandpa also was enjoying his little Furlings ❤

I try and take pictures of us every year and I was able to get these before he left for his next stop to see his best friend, Mrs. H.  I’m pretty sure they were the only pictures I took all day!

The Dane used her actual camera to take this one.

It was a good day of good food, good fun, and as Beeve texted later, even better company 🙂

First Get Together

On this first day of October I am travelling back to June! I wanted to get these pictures on the blog before the grandkids graduated from elementary school, sheesh!!!

We had been locked down pretty tight during quarantine, I was the only one going out, to protect Honey and his compromised immune system. We missed our grandbabies, but discovered that FaceTime is a really good fix when you are missing sweet little faces ❤ We decided in June that we would throw caution to the wind and get together with The Boy, The Dane, MoonPie and Little Dipper, and it was a WONDERFUL day!!!!

I’m pretty sure MoonPie’s first word upon arriving was “BOOKS!” And so we read 🙂

The big pool wasn’t open yet so Honey got our old kids pool out and filled it the day before so it would be warm.

They had a grand time!

It was wonderful to be outside with sunshine and Beebees!

We missed our people!

I think they missed us too ❤

She missed her Papa SO much ❤ Lots of hearts in this post <3<3<3

We read,

and read,

and loved on little people! Thank you Lord that the stay at home order was lifted!!!! ❤

Happy Grammy 🙂 ❤

The 411 after the 911

Wow, a lot has gone on since i last posted. And on many other days, not a lot. We have had an unusual lockdown. I started out thinking I would use this opportunity to get myself into the blogging habit again, but at the end of March Honey and his weakened immune system developed shingles, and then the worst bout of gout he had ever experienced. It was enormously painful for him. As he was finally making some improvement there was a horrific domestic violence incident next door that spilled over into our house and ended with an arrest after a chase and 2 victims being taken to the hospital. After the neighbor children, their uncle and grandma and about 6-8 police officers left with the written statements of our recollections, I asked the Lord to please clean our previously socially distanced home of any possible Covid-19 germs. We talked of the episode endlessly among ourselves over the next couple of weeks and there is still some lingering PTSD within our walls. Do you know what is not good for shingles? Stress. Honey’s shingles returned with a vengeance, none of the blisters, but all of the pain. He is still not 100%. As I have experienced in the past, it’s hard to blog about my usual nonsense when all is not right in our world. I do feel better getting this all off my chest. I’m sorry to have to unload it onto yours.

Add to this the continuing saga of the virus and Michigan’s near total shutdown, a loved ones diagnosis of cancer, the postponement of Mousey and The Usher’s wedding, the loss of Mousey’s job, the drama of several in the household to try and connect with the ever elusive unemployment office, some dear friends lost loved ones, and then our beloved Capri P’s house burned to the ground. There have been a lot of prayers to the Lord asking Him to comfort His children. And to protect our frontline workers and give those who govern us wisdom.

In between the heartache there has been the stuff of everyday life, purging closets, reading, the working of puzzles, finishing my 20th year of BSF online with Zoom, the every day conversation of what do you want for dinner, my unfortunately regular trips to pick up Honey’s many prescriptions, weeding, talk, talk, talking 🙂 organizing our pictures by year, along with our heavy schedule of news and Love It Or List It. It’s been a full several months. And yet, we still wonder how we have been filling our days and marveling how time goes by so quickly. Things that happened in January, February and even early March seem like a lifetime ago. It’s a strange conundrum.

On the lighter side, I can’t tell you how much joy Facetime brings! We miss our little people SO MUCH!! ❤  Honey and I have been recording ourselves reading books to them, they seem to think it’s grand 🙂 The Little Dipper has been using his quarantine time to grow his hair and practice saying Grammy!!! Oh my ❤  Moonpie continues to amaze us with her expanding vocabulary 🙂 Miss smooching their sweet cheeks. And we miss their parents too 😉

Still think the memes have been hilarious, and we have needed some humor around here. I leave you with some of my faves. Hope to see you soon. Literally and blog-ally. I miss people and I miss blogging.

 

Thoughts From First Week of Lockdown

We made it a week! Since my marathon shopping excursions a week ago Thursday and Friday, and a trip to the lab with Honey last Monday, we have not been anywhere. We are being very careful because Honey has been taking some medication that has him immune compromised at the moment. For the most part, we have been fine. I am so enormously grateful for the ability to shelter in place in peace and comfort, I know there are others who are facing uncertainty and even fear. We have food, a warm home, plenty to do and most thankfully, we have each other. The girls are with us to ward off isolation. And we are still good on the toilet paper front, although I am below my comfort zone in the butter department. 😦

On a lighter note, Guys, the memes have been on FIRE! 🙂 We need the funny right now, it makes things more bearable.

We are in full on comfort mode over here.

🙂

Oh dear!

Now this is funny!

Needed perspective.

Mousey and I finished #2. Took a little longer than the first one, but we persevered.

Found a bag that had a couple of my Mother’s photo albums while cleaning out a closet. I posted this on the Facebook page of the church I grew up in. This was a singing group called The Choralaires. My Mom is in the top row, 5th from the left, standing next to her good friend Nancy. I was glad I posted it, there was quite a bit of conversation generated from the folks who remembered this time. I have some more to post from a church Memorial Day picnic in 1952.

I am feeling sorry for these 2 😦 Because of Honey’s health situation and the fact that The Usher has still been required to work, he has not been able to come into the house. It was his birthday on Sunday, so he came over to go on a walk with Miss Mouse, in the street and adhering to the 6 feet away rule of course. Afterward they sat on the patio and visited for the first time in a week.

Socially distant dating is hard. Mousey made him chocolate chip bars for a birthday treat and he brought us a box of butter and a couple packages of English muffins. He’s so good to us ❤ Mousey sent him on his way with a pulled pork sandwich and salad on a paper plate with a plastic fork, to head home to his lonely basement apartment.

I could do more purging, I could organize our pictures, I have more cupboards, drawers and closets that could stand to be organized and rearranged, we could all go through our books and donate the ones we will most likely never read again.

There is much praying to be done, for our family, our world, our president, our state and local leaders, our AWESOME healthcare workers, farmers, truckers, warehouse workers, and anyone else doing their part to keep things from descending into chaos, the sick, the lonely and scared, those who have heard even more unimaginable bad news regarding health and employment, and the list goes on and on.

I’m thankful for God’s Word and His promises.

An ever-present help in trouble, that’s comforting. I am thankful for that.  Our best to all of you ❤

Social Distancing

Well, I guess can’t say I don’t have time to blog anymore. This is unprecedented, in my lifetime at least. The Chinese –Wuhan- Corona virus- Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 has caused all of our lives to come to a screeching halt. Or as introverts would say, BEST MONTH EVER!!!!!

There were a lot of rumors swirling last week, The Ab-Cat said they were predicting closings at her elementary school. The college where The Usher works said they were going online. I began to think about food, as I do in all crises. On Thursday I went to Sam’s, along with a good percentage of our town. I had a list. I had heard that toilet paper was scarcer than hens teeth, but I wasn’t in the market for TP, Beeve gets us the jumbo pack from Costco because we like their brand better. I was however not expecting the meat cases to be nigh unto empty. No rice, hardly any bread, no tissues and no eggs, but I managed to get the rest of my necessities, such as half and half, butter, and tortilla chips, among other things. As I waited in line I chit chatted with the people around me, as you do, and we were wondering why people were buying so much bottled water? There was a limit of 2, are people expecting a breakdown in our water system? I could see sewer problems because if folks run out of toilet paper they are going to be flushing who knows what down!!

On Friday morning Honey called to tell me that a local grocery was having a really good meat sale that he felt I should participate in. I went up around 8:30 and bought steaks and baby back ribs to go with the ground beef and chicken I finally found before leaving Sam’s the day before. I decided to hit up the library because I had just finished my book and CMB had told me about a book she had just read that was one of the best she’d read in a looooong time. Found that and about 5 others before heading on down the road to grocery #2. That’s when things got a little surreal. Lots of empty shelves and people and really full carts making checkout an exercise in endurance. God used the time in line to show me the perspective of one young mom waiting along side me. She was talking to her little boy and said lovingly “what are we going to do with you?” I said he will have lots of fun playing and doing puzzles and she said she was a nurse and had to find childcare. Wow, that is a real problem! I thanked her for her service. The healthcare community are our heroes ❤

On a lighter note, I had an informative conversation with a little, older, accented English speaking woman ahead of me who was talking with everyone around her. Not sure how the topic came up, but she mentioned window cleaning, and cleaning our French door windows is a task I loathe, I asked her what she used and she said vinegar and water, I asked the ratio. You should have seen the look on her face, she said I don’t know, I just pour a little bit and it smells like vinegar. Very scientific. She also stressed the importance of using 100% cotton cloths to wipe. She mentioned that she also cleaned her floors AND her produce with vinegar and water. She even came back to the checkout to tell me that last little tidbit, I thanked her for her wisdom!

I was going to hit up one more grocery on my way home to get chicken breasts and some cheese we like, but after the marathon wait in the Meijer line, I opted against it and went home. I knew I would be going out again because Mousey was scheduled to have LASIK surgery on her eyeballs that afternoon. She said she needed to pick up some special eyedrops, so we then proceeded to hit up the Kroger. They had no chicken, but did have the cheese and lunchmeat. In all of my wanderings I saw nary an egg. I found out later that day the library shut its doors for a month.

Things went well on the LASIK front, although Mousey would tell you it hurt, A LOT. But even walking out and looking through her tears, she said she could see leaves on the trees!!! So fashionable 🙂

Her big ole eyeball. They let me watch behind the glass, a very interesting field trip!

She is doing well and can see clearer every day!

First completed puzzle. Onto number 2.

The memes have been SO funny. I posted these on social media. Told the kids we have been training for this their whole lives!!!

So far I have cleaned out 2 closets, although my go to donation place, The Salvation Army, is closed, watched a couple movies, chemically straightened Abby’s hair, shaved Honey’s, made banana bread and peanut butter cookies. Have been on 2 walks, one with Keelyody and one with The Peanuts Champ. Have not been bored yet, thank you Lord! ❤