Source: Friends forever
Girls, you have to read this!
Yes. It’s true. We are a family of Mr. Rogers’ mini-me’s.
I just caught myself making the correlation between one of his daily rituals and a habit of ours.
As soon as we enter our home (sooner for my husband), we remove our outside shoes and don slippers. Coats come off and I add a sweater to keep me cozy, as our indoor temperatures never get above 66 in the winter.
This process is reversed as we prepare to leave. Away go the slippers and on go the outside shoes. My sweater is tucked away and a jacket or coat is worn to protect me from the elements.
Do you remember what Mr. Rogers did each time he came inside at the beginning of his show and and reversed at the end of the show?
Mr. Rogers removed his outside shoes and replaced them with indoor shoes. He also took off his outdoor jacket and put on an indoor cardigan, all the while singing about the beauty of the day in the neighborhood. Yes. That song.
Mr. Rogers was so organized. He didn’t just toss those shoes and jacket on a couch or floor. He tucked away the shoes and carefully placed the jacket on a sweater in the closet. I may occasionally toss my sweater on the washer, but I also have a designated cupboard right by the door for jackets, and shoe racks for both of us.
You have no idea how many times I compare myself to Mr. Rogers when I change gear as I am going out or coming back inside the house. I think his habits were ingrained in my subconcious as I watched his television show. Maybe that was one of his purposes, to model tidiness, organization, and care for our belongings.
And this is a good thing. We are a shoes-off household. Not only does this habit keep icky germs and gunk on shoe bottoms out of the house, it also provides a cleaner environment for my babies to crawl around on and plenty of (mostly) dirt-free floor space for playtime. Mr. Rogers’ transfer of clothes and shoes fits perfectly with our efforts to keep as much of the outdoors, well, outdoors.
That Mr. Rogers was ahead of his time, yet many considered him a fuddy-duddy. I disagree. He was a great role model.
Sitting here in my cardigan sweater and indoor slippers, just humming a certain melody.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, isn’t it?
Source: Some Humor for your Saturday!
Descriptions of a book to the younger generation.
Never fear. Nana had the grands over for a wild and seriously crazy evening of decorating gingerbread cookies. That is not an understatement.
For the past few years, I have decorated gingerbread houses with the grands. But this year, with 3 boys and 1 girl, six years old and younger, I thought gingerbread cookies would be much easier. I was right.
But we still made a big mess, gobbled too many decorations, and spread icing far and wide. One nice thing about decorating cookies instead of houses was that we could eat our work instead of letting it sit around and petrify into cement.
I’m not so sure the parents agreed. But like any good grandparents, we played, made memories, fed them too much sugar, and sent them home.
Here are a few photos from our Gingerbread Party. Notice the series when Gage decides he is GOING to have his plate and cookie (Nana had to decorate his, as he can’t eat cookies yet). Of course when we are all watching his actions, Donavyn chooses that moment to look at the camera instead of eating the icing and candy off of his gingerbread boy.
Tips:
1. Make the cookies in advance. Definitely. I used giant cookie cutters and made 1 girl and 3 boy cookies. The extra dough was used for normal cookies.
2. Sort candy into individual bowls. That way, each child gets the same things to put on their cookies. Or, I mean, the same amount of sugar to eat.
3. Give each child a cookie sheet as a workspace. Escaping candies and sticky knives stayed right where they needed to be.
4. Forget the fancy icing. Just buy a tub of white icing. It spreads so nice and easy. The icing in the gingerbread house kits is horrible and making a glaze icing that doesn’t spread is frustrating.
5. Enlist someone else to take photos. No way could this Nana help everyone, keep Gage from eating stuff, and take photos. Even with assistance, taking pictures of our completed cookies was the hardest part!
6. Have fun! Eventually we will get back to the houses. But for now, keeping it simple makes more sense. And next year, when we have 5, I think I will have to adopt yet another helper for crowd control.
Happy December traditions!
Does anyone recognize this?
It is absoutely necessary for a stove to work. Don’t ask me for a technical name, but this odd looking contraption plugs in somewhere inside the gas stove, and the flints mysteriously spark and make the gas stove click on. That would be the gas stove that cooks our meals. Not the gas insert that heats a home.
Notice the flint is broken.
Which means the stove is broken.
This piece is only about 1/8 of an inch wide and about 2 inches long. Despite that tiny size, if it doesn’t work, the stove doesn’t work.
Let’s say the flint plug (oh, I like that name) is the bridle that controls the Clydesdale stove.
It’s time for a new flint plug. Day 3 without and counting.
On the other hand, I have successfully poached my first ever chicken breasts for Thai salad and it was wonderful. Much faster than roasting.
Moving on to more stove top experiments.
Today as I began 2016 by working on a deadline, I had plenty of help.
Too much help, in fact.
This one, Mabel, jumped up right after sister, Monet, left.
I sense a new year trend in my office.
What work? You are doing that?
Move? You want me to move?
Fine. I will sit over here. I’ll just watch my sister.
Mom, what is in the basket? Can I get in the basket? Let me chew on some things in the basket.
What book? You need this book? I’m sitting on it . . .
And so went the day. There have been times when my mind was so focused, I didn’t even see or hear the approaching kitty until she leapt in the middle of work. This was especially troublesome when her paws were wet and a touch muddy.
We have new S.O.P.
(standard operating procedures)
1. Be prepared at any moment to quickly and calmly gather all ready-to-mail papers in a pile and remove them from work counter.
2. Try very hard to hear the tiniest pitter patter of kitty claws on the wood floor. This will give warning of impending assistance on the work desk.
3. Give loves. This allows kitties to purr, shed fur, and roll around on paperwork. This also encourages kitties to vacate the project zone in a timely manner.
Paws up to 2016!
May your year be fulfilling, joyful, and overflowing with peace.
And may your clothes always bear fur from the administrations of 4-legged children. For that means you have provided a home to loving pets.
Happy New Year!
Wrapped in Love was a cozy success.
Project stats:
~ 9 adults (including 1 teen) traveled to Landmark Care Facility
~ over 150 items were made or purchased and given to Wrapped in Love
~ 2 utility carts + 1 red wagon hauled goodies up and down the hallways, in and out of rooms
~ between 80-85 residents accepted a warm cozy item; a few were convinced to take matching items, ornaments, or bookmarks
~ 1.5 hours spent visiting residents and distributing gifts
~ at least 1 case of joyful tears from a resident who had no one to visit her, accompanied by the tears of volunteers
~ one 67th anniversary celebrated with family members of a husband and wife sharing a room
~ too-many-to-count hugs and Christmas greetings
~ 3 = number of volunteers who missed the photo op
~ buckets of smiles
~ 1 grouchy guy who didn’t want more stuff (at least he was honest)
~ several residents who already had gifts and visits from family urged us to give the goods to others who had nothing
~ 30 minutes to set-up conference table with donations before loading carts
~ 3 = # of times teen willingly gave up own hat (and replacement) to residents
~ many treat sacks and bags of carmel corn were given to staff members
~ remaining gifts were left for staff members to choose from and to be put in a storage closet for new residents who arrive with nothing
~ numerous volunteers donating supplies and completed projects
~ hours, days, and weeks spent knitting, crocheting, and creating items
~ joy > hours sacrificed on Christmas Day
Thank you, volunteers! All of you who helped in any way were a part of our Christmas Day visit to senior residents at Landmark.
Thank you!
break the fast mouthful
lemon yellow saucy bite
egg and ham divine
~ Angie Quantrell
My first EVER attempt to make Eggs Benedict. This was a treat for my honey, who loves this dish. Too lemony was the hollandaise sauce, so back to adjusting the recipe I go. But there were no curdled eggs and a nice rich sauce covered the poached eggs and ham. I consider my maiden voyage on the ship named Hollandaise & Poached Eggs a success.
For me, this was Boxing Day – cooking outside our usual breakfast rut.
Happy Boxing Day to those who celebrate in more traditional ways!
Meowy Christmas!
May your fur be thick enough, the fire warm enough, and the food dish always filled!
Purrs, snuggles, and furballs!
Source: What’s in a Name – ‘G’ For Grace – A Christmas short story
Beautiful Christmas story. Thanks, Sally!
Love, Laughter, and Life 