HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026

 Hello, everyone!  Happy 2026 to you.  I am going to give this yet another try.  I think my posts will be short and that should help me get you all caught up.

I hope things are going well with all of you.  We have been having a time here with sickness.  On October 22 Joe and I went down the shore to church.  Our pastor friend was celebrating 10 years of being at his church.  I wasn't feeling all that great, but went anyway.  Here are a few pictures from that time.

They gave us a great meal.  Everyone brought something.  We brought artisan breads because we had to drive so far and didn't want to bring a main dish.  There was so much food and everyone went home with left overs.

But the next day I felt even worse.  By Wednesday I was coughing like I'd never stop, couldn't breathe, didn't have a voice, and had a fever.  Was it the flu?  Was it pneumonia?  I went to Urgent Care and the only thing they could tell me was that it was viral.

I tried to sit outside on Halloween to hand out candy.  And I did for a little while.  But then I started choking and had to blow my nose all the time so I went inside.

For the next 12 weeks (yes 12!) I was sick.  Very sick.  So sick I thought I was going to die.  And worst of all no one could give me anything except decongestant and cough medicine because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.  I even had x-rays but nothing showed up.  I truly thought I was going to die.

So the entire fall, my favorite time of year, was spent being sick.  It has only been about 10 days since I started feeling entirely well again.  You don't appreciate your health until you don't have it.

Thanksgiving was very low key.  We spent it alone.  I got a turkey breast for free by spending enough money at the supermarket (with the help of my sister).  We had that with all the fixings.  And I did decorate the house a little bit.  Let me show you a few pictures.

As you can see I did make a pumpkin pie from my great-grandmother's recipe.  In fact, it was so good that later when I felt better I made two more.

I didn't get much done for Christmas with either gifts or decor.  I didn't even get a card sent.  But I did get to spend the day with my sister.  Still blowing my nose, though.

But I will save that story for another day.

Have a wonderful day everyone and I will hopefully see you soon.

Kathy

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

 Hello, friends!  I know I've been missing for a while now.  Let me tell you why.  In the beginning of June my computer crashed.  I lost everything.  Pictures, posts, and access to this and my YouTube channel.  It's been quite a time getting everything set up again.  I had close to 550 subscribers on YouTube and now I am down to 15.  But I am so glad to have those 15!  I still haven't recovered all my pictures.  If you were a subscriber (or know someone who was), please tell them the name of my new YouTube channel is Kathy's Happy Home 2.

In any case, I am glad to be back here.  So much is going on.  I am busy all the time.

We finally emptied out our storage unit from when we moved and got rid of that bill.  We expected to have it for two months tops and ended up with 18 months!  Unfortunately, now the house is full again with all the cartons and bags we had to bring in.  I'm working through them one at a time.

Yay we got rid of a bill.  But...

I had to get the car inspected.  We found out we needed an oil change, new rotors, and four new tires.  It never ends, does it?  But now that is all taken care of and we are broke again.  2026 is going to be better.

I saw a new to me cardiologist.  I like him better than the one I had been seeing.  But he wants me to have all kinds of tests and perhaps a surgery or two (or three).  And see some specialists.  *sigh*

One good thing is since my sister retired this year, I've been able to see more of her, and we talk almost every day.  This is good!

I have to show you a cute picture I took tonight.  I had salmon for dinner with broccoli and macaroni salad.  George must have smelled the fish, because he jumped right up in Joe's chair and it looked as if he was waiting for his dinner too.  So cute!

I know this is kind of short, but it's late and I still have things to do before I get ready for bed.  I'll be back soon to continue with telling you about June, July, August, etc.

Kathy

MAY

Hello, friends!  I'm back with the catch-up from May.  May was a busy month but full of good food.

We got these wonderful strawberries from Lidl.  I ate mine with some Cool Whip and they were so good!

Another day we got hoagies from Wawa.  I love ham hoagies.  Joe likes Italian.

Joe outgrew his tie-dyed shirt so I took it.  It's so nice even though it's very old.

We decorated our front porch for Memorial Day.  Well, Joe did.  I think he did a good job.

I got a tomato plant and since we don't have a yard anymore, I put it in the big pot on the front porch.  It did really well for awhile, but then something ate it.  *sigh*

One of our neighbors had his porch decorated so beautifully.  I just had to take a picture of it.

The end of the month was Joe's birthday.  We went back and forth on what to do to celebrate.  Finally we decided to go to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Yamato.

We both got a bento box -- Joe a beef and me a chicken.  They were so good.  And Joe got mango mochi (like ice cream) for dessert.

I made Joe a chocolate cake for his birthday.  It turned out good.

Finally, at the end of the month we had another luncheon at church.  This time the theme was salads.  I made potato salad.  There were other potato salads, a green salad, two chicken salads, a tuna salad and a seven layer salad.  Everything was so good.

And that's another month in the books.  I'll be back soon to tell you about June.