THE FIRST FIVE DAYS OF DECEMBER

 

Hello, friends!  And welcome to December.  It's hard to believe that this is the fifth day already.  To me the time just whizzes by.

I am doing my Vlogmas again this year over on my YouTube channel Kathy's Happy Home.  I know some of you also view me there and I hope you are enjoying them.  I think it is a little lame because not much is going on around here.  It is so cold that I haven't been going out.  I have cold induced asthma and I don't want to get an attack.  But I have to go sometime because i have to finish my Christmas shopping.  Next week it is supposed to be warmer so I will probably go then.

I have been fighting a stomach bug of some kind.  My stomach has been feeling as if it is doing the limbo.  Ha, ha!  I haven't wanted to eat much, of course, and have been drinking a lot of tea.  Today I was feeling some better, but after I ate lunch, it started up again.  *sigh*  Joe's veterans group is having a Christmas dinner this Saturday night and we are supposed to go.  I sure hope I feel better by then!

I can't find hardly any of my Christmas decorations.  And I have boxes full of them.  When I do find them, I will have to put them in totes and mark on the outside what they are.  I have enough fall decor for three or four totes, but nothing for Christmas.  Well, this is a strange year and I am working with what I have.  Next year will be better.

I have to get off of here and get some things done.  Or take a nap.  I think the latter.  See you all soon.  Hope you are enjoying the Advent season.

Kathy

THANKSGIVING

 Hello, friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  For those of you who are outside of the U.S., I hope your day was wonderful too.

It was a busy day for sure.  I didn't get to bed and to sleep until about 3:00 a.m.  And I got up around 7:00 a.m.  Not much sleep, but I had so much to do.

I spent the morning cleaning, doing dishes, and preparing some of the food ahead of time.  I got the turkey breast ready.  I tried a new recipe that sounded good.  I mixed several seasonings with some butter and put it under and over the skin before putting it into the oven.  Well, I was not impressed.  I think I will be throwing that recipe out and not using it again.  I don't think it added any flavor to the bird.  I will go back to my tried and true recipe of poultry seasoning and butter.  But if you don't try something new, you don't know if you will like it or not.

I was very tired by the mid afternoon, but went and picked up our friend Rosemary anyway.  She was going to be alone and we didn't want to see that happen.  She was very glad to be able to spend the day with us and have dinner with us.

I persevered through the next hour or so but my eyes started closing and I was TIRED!  So with the urging of Rosemary and Joe I went to bed for a couple of hours.  I felt so much better afterwards.  Joe went ahead and prepared the veggies for me which was so nice of him.  I took some pictures of the table and my plate, so let me show them to you.

We put out some snacks at first.  Cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheeses.

Grapes, pepperoni, celery and Mediterranean pita crackers.

See the fall plates I have?  They were from Dollar Tree several years ago.  I think they are so pretty.  We had Brussels sprouts, gravy, turkey (sort of hard to see, but it's behind the butter) and applesauce.

Here's a better view of the plates.  Mashed potatoes have been added to the table.

Stuffing and cranberry sauce too.

Here's my plate.  A bit of everything.

I made a pumpkin pie, but forgot to take a picture of it.  It turned out really good this year.  Rosemary had given us a bag of "Cherries and Berries."  I didn't want them to go bad, so I made a pie with them also.

We sat at the table after we ate for the longest time and finally around 9:00 p.m. Rosemary left for home.  Joe drove her and I cleaned some things up.  But a lot was left to do the next day.  I was beat.  It was a really great day, though.

I'm still working on cleaning out the living room so that I can put up the sofa.  Life will be so much easier when that is done.

I'm going to go for now.  But I will be back soon.  Can you believe tomorrow is December?

Take care,

Kathy

GEORGE IS BACK!

 

Hello, friends!  He is back.  The little stinker George has returned to his home.  Where was he?  Who knows?  Not us, anyway.

I had put a notice up on facebook's neighborhood page.  Then my realtor saw it and posted it all over.  Lots of people were looking for him.  A few people said they had seen a cat matching his description at an intersection about 1/2 mile from my home.  I thought, "How would he get over there?" but went and looked for him three times.  On the last time I had my friend, Donna, in the car with me.  She saw a gray cat run across the street.  We were too far away to make a positive identification, and by the time we got to the intersection the cat was nowhere to be seen.

A lot of people were praying that I'd find him.  Thank you all so much!  I dropped Donna off at her house and then headed home praying that George would be around our neighborhood.  I looked the whole way.  (It's hard to drive and look for a cat too!)

When I got home everything was still the same.  I went in the door to the enclosed porch and then through the door into the house.  I thought I felt something brush against me.  And then I heard "footsteps".  Since the neighbors next door are redoing their house, it's hard to tell if the footsteps are in our house or theirs.  But I looked up and there was George on the steps.  I called his name and he stopped and turned around.  I called him again and he came downstairs.  I was so happy!

So where was George?  We had opened every closet and room in the house with no cat.  We looked under beds and behind furniture.  Nothing.  Was George outside and came in with me without me noticing him?  Was he in the house the entire time?  I guess we'll never know where he was those 24 plus hours he was missing.  But he is back now and I am so happy.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and this is one thing I am giving thanks for.  See you all soon.

Kathy

THIS HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR ME

 

Hello, friends.  I hope you are having a wonderful time leading up to Thanksgiving Day.  Me?  Not so much.

This has been a very hard year for me.  Two of my very close friends passed away.  I miss them so much.  I had to put my much loved cat Jack down since he was dying of renal failure that the vets could not cure or help.  It was heartbreaking to watch him get sicker every day.  And in the end I couldn't even go into the office to be with him because I couldn't stop crying.  It was just days after my best friend had passed away.  Then I had to sell my home of 44 years and move.  I didn't want to, but circumstances made it necessary.  And now my beloved little kitten George has disappeared.

This morning my brother and nephew came over and started emptying the dining room and kitchen of the many boxes we had brought over from the storage unit.  What a wonderful thing that was.  There is so much more room now.  Then before they left they, they put together the kitchen table and chairs which have been sitting in a box first on the front porch and then in the kitchen for four months.  My sister bought it for me as a housewarming gift.  It is beautiful and we ate our first meal (dinner which Joe cooked) at it tonight.

So people were in and out of the house all day.  This morning we saw our little George by the bathroom door while we were getting ready for the day.  But not afterwards.

After Larry and Terry left, I called George but he didn't come or answer.  I didn't think anything of it.  But then hours went by and we still had not seen him.  Joe searched the entire house (including closets) and even walked the neighborhood looking for him.  Nothing.  We have called.  Nothing.  I even put a notice up on the community page on facebook and no response.

Joe and I are heartbroken.  Joe just put out a cardboard box with his litter in it, some food, one of his favorite toys, and one of my sweaters that he could cuddle up in.  It is very cold.  He is very friendly.  He has never had anything bad happen to him his entire life.  He trusts everyone and expects pets and cuddles from everyone he sees.

We are beside ourselves.  I can't stop crying.  This is absolutely one of the worst years of my life.  I'm praying that God brings George back to us, but I have very little hope that will happen.

Sorry this is such a down post, but that's where I am.  Hopefully I will have a happy post next time.

Kathy 

I LOVE FALL COLORS

Hello, friends!  I just put up a video on YouTube about the fall colors and thought I would share my pictures here also.  I love fall and especially the trees and bushes turning color.  So here are some of the photos I took.

These first ones are from when I went to see my oncologist.  The trees in the parking lot were gorgeous.  I drove out slowly, stopping every now and then to grab my camera.

These were taken as I was driving home.

Two days later I had to go to the hospital for a test.  These were taken in the hospital's parking lot and as I was driving out of the lot.

The next photos are when Joe and I went to the bank.  He went inside and I sat in the car taking pictures.

And these last couple were taken in my neighborhood.

They are so pretty and these weren't even the best.  There were so many more beautiful trees and bushes that I saw while I was driving and couldn't stop to photograph them.  The bright reds, oranges and yellows are my favorites.

Hope you enjoyed these photos.  Fall is wonderful, but the cold and snow that comes after it is what kills me.  Next week the temperatures are supposed to drop and the weather become brutal.  I have to find my winter coats, scarves, hats, etc.  They are in some box or bag somewhere.

Hope you enjoyed this and I will be back soon.

Kathy

 

HALLOWEEN

 

Hello, friends!  And welcome to November.  Boy has the time gone quickly.  The end of the year will be here before we know it.

It was our first year for Halloween here in the new house and we did not know what to expect.  Joe asked one of our neighbors if there were a lot of kids that showed up and he said no.  So, I bought enough candy for 30 kids.

Around 5:00 p.m. we went out to our deck and sat there in the beautiful weather with a jack-o-lantern filled with M&Ms and peanut butter cups.  It was dead.  Someone was blasting spooky music and songs like "The Monster Mash".  So much fun.  Lots and lots of birds were flying overhead and landing on the electrical wires.  It was sort of eerie.

As we waited the sun began to set.  The sky turned such beautiful colors.  We were enjoying this a lot.  We even saw a planet, but I don't know which one it was.  

I knew we lived close to the Delaware River, but didn't realize we were so close that I could walk to it.  I asked Joe why the silver truck I was looking at didn't move. He said that it wasn't a truck, it was the river.  The trees I saw turning colors were really in New Jersey.  Oops!

Finally, some kids came around.  They were wearing the best costumes.  The first was a group of three kids with their father (or grandfather?).  The one kid was dressed as Tyrannosaurus Rex.  So cool.  The next group had a kid dressed as a minion.  A BIG minion.  There were a few other kids around too.  But since we are a tiny block off the beaten track with no kids on the street a lot of people didn't even know we were there.  Joe fell in love with one little girl dressed as a princess.  She was about 3 or 4 and adorable.

There were a lot of people going home from the businesses around here as we sat out.  One man was walking down the middle of the street and looked so tired.  I guess he was going to the bus stop a block away.  Joe got up and handed him some candy and said, "Happy Halloween."  The man gave him a big smile and said thank you.  It doesn't take much to make someone happy.

Around 7:00 p.m. it was starting to get cold, so we went in.  Usually at our old house we had around 4 or 5 kids.  We got 13 here.  And of course, Joe and I finished up the candy.  We were giving each kid two pieces so there wasn't a lot left.

We called out for sandwiches for dinner, and I was told they were very busy.  It would be about an hour until it could be delivered.  So Joe and I finished the candy.  Three little bags of M&Ms apiece.  I am so glad to not have candy hanging around the house.

Now it's on to the holidays.  I always feel that November 1 is the beginning of the holiday season.  And it seems to have come very quickly this year.

I'm going to get off of here and get dinner started.  We were so short on money last month that I put in only one grocery order.  I have one last dinner in the house.  I have a package of beef cubes.  I'm going to cook them in some beef gravy and serve them over mashed potatoes with a veggie on the side.  I put in an order to ShopRite this afternoon.  I asked to have it delivered because it is so large, and it will show up tomorrow afternoon.  Yay!

I will see you all soon.  Thanks for stopping by.

Kathy

CATCHING UP WITH SEPTEMBER

 Hello, friends.  Hope you enjoyed seeing all of the pictures yesterday from August.  So today I thought I would share the ones from September.  Here goes.

The beginning of the month my brother and sister came to help me with the kitchen.  They did so much cleaning out of things and even helped me by building the pantry.  A much bigger job than anticipated.  We thought it would take about 30 to 45 minutes and it ended up taking over three hours.  There is no way I could have done it myself.  There were over 35 steps to putting it together and hundreds of pieces.  But they did it!  It is so great to have more space to put things.  The first picture is a fuzzy one of Larry, the second one of Elaine.  They both worked so hard.

And here is the finished product.  I even made Joe a coffee bar on it.  It doesn't look big but holds a lot!

Isn't this a beautiful picture?  I wish I knew where it was.  I found it on my camera, but don't remember taking it.  If anyone can tell me, please do.

A nice picture of Joe sitting in our one and only chair.

Here is the finished window all put back together from being broken.  Ray did a great job.

On September 16th Joe and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  We went to East Coast Wings and Grill for lunch.  We hadn't been there in awhile.  Everything was so good.  Joe got a burger and fries.  Their burgers are HUGE!

I had bone-in wings with golden honey barbecue sauce and fries.  So good.

I was so full that I couldn't even finish mine.  But Joe wanted a chocolate shake for dessert.  He was one happy camper.

And that's it for September.  I'll be back soon with October's photos.  Have a wonderful day!

Kathy

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER ME?

 Hello, friends!  Are any of you still interested in reading my blog?  I had no idea it was so long since I last wrote in here.  Keeping up with things is hard for me right now.  I haven't even been post any videos on YouTube.  Life is busy every single day and even though I make lists of things to do, I can't accomplish everything.  Ah, well we all move on.

So today I thought I would post some pictures and tell you about them.  Maybe that will help me to catch up a bit.  Here are all the pictures that I took in August.  Yes, August.  I am that far behind.

We got to meet our next door neighbor, Ray, when he accidentally put a sheet of dry wall through the window separating our porches.  He is renovating his house.  A really nice guy.  I told him there were easier ways of meeting us and he laughed.   Here is a shadowy Joe looking at the damage.  We put a piece of cardboard on our side of the broken glass so that no one would get hurt before Ray was able to put a new piece of glass in.

You all know how I love to decorate.  But decorating was a bit out of the question just moving in.  So the only summer decor I had was these couple of seashells that I put on the table by the TV.

 

We set up a small table we had by the stairway and I put some of my cat figurines on it.

 

Beside that table we put a table with a light.  It is very dark in this house.  Fortunately we had a lamp table and set it up next to the table with the cats.  I put my plants on it (and the internet).  The plants look terrible here, but they have revived wonderfully.  Except for the basil which I had to throw out.  It looks different now because we put our charging station on it.

 

George has adapted to the new house very well.  He now owns it.  I think because he was just a year old that he was able to do so well.  One of his favorite things is to sleep on the stairway.  Sort of inconvenient when we want to use it though.

 

I'll show you some more pictures later.

We have been running back and forth to doctors and hospitals.  Joe was in the ER last week because he hurt his elbow moving boxes, etc.  He has to take it easy for at least 6 weeks.

The holidays are coming quickly although it doesn't feel like it with the warm weather we have been having.  But time marches on.

And now I am going to march on too and start my day.  See you all soon.

Kathy