Good morning Cheryl, et.al.
I think I am finished with 2020.
I just sent out my last Christmas card to friends I knew 30 years ago. But received a card yesterday.
Good morning, again, all. I finally had given up on a new thread. I guess it must be Thursday. Lots done already today. Amazing how much can get done when the babies sleep in.
Morning! Pretty picture up there but way too crowded for me! “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam”…. 😊
I’m off this morning to open my friend’s antique shoppe for her as she finishes up her quarantine. A fun end to an interesting year…
I just got home from Publix where I loaded up on items to put in a basket for my brother. That is what Wesley traditionally gives my brother for Christmas.
Michelle, I am not sure what city that is, and my father, the household geographer, does not recognize the skyline. It is by water and if the picture was taken from a boat, then the field is very wide. If it was taken from land, that would narrow the field a little, since the water is more likely to be a river.
We normally get together with family on New Year’s Eve and play games and put together the puzzle I give the family (the object is usually to finish it in a week between Christmas and New Year’s). This year will be a bit different. The only grandchildren present are a bit young to help with the puzzle (although they are both pretty good with puzzles already), and of course cannot yet read and write well enough (Tiny, as I have said, can write her name and Sixth is just starting letter recognition) to be able to play the word based games we normally play. It has become something of a milestone for each grandchild to be able to write well enough to fool other people with a fabricated indefinition in Balderdash. So far, the four eldest of the Eldests have attained that rank. But, we will still attempt a puzzle (the two little ones can be at least trusted to not attempt to eat the puzzle pieces) and play at least one game.
Stargazer sent me that photo. It’s the view 1.5 blocks from his house looking at Seattle.
I’m looking at it, though, and thinking it must have been flipped when he sent it–because the Space Needle is on the right in this photo, and it would be on the left from his house.
At least that’s what I thought he said.
OTOH, maybe he took it from the east side of Lake Washington, facing Seattle.
But I don’t think so. He lives northwest of the city.
But maybe that’s isn’t the Space Needle on the right? Perhaps they’ve built another tall tower I haven’t seen?
So, no win or lose on this one. 🙂
But it is Seattle.
Unless the Stealth Child is fooling me yet again? 🙂
It’s a chilly but sunny morning here, I’m making it a point to sleep “in” a bit this week. Next week it’s back to the morning staff calls and stories to find and write.
Is it really the last and final day of 2020? Hooray. See ya. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
But 2021, of course, brings, for now, more of the same — for a while.
They’ve found that new strain in California, too, in San Diego — the man hadn’t traveled recently so it’s definitely thought to “be” here within the state, probably making its rounds.
I think this is my neighbors’ husband’s last day of work — he’s in his late 70s, former Marine who served in Vietnam, and is retiring from his longtime job on the maintenance crew at the Catholic hospital just down the street. I know he has mixed feelings, and has put off retiring as long as he could. But his wife has been kind of bugging him about it for years now. The covid year seemed like a logical time to do it I guess. He received the first shot of his vaccine this past week at the hospital, will go back there for the 2nd round I would suppose.
He’s very laid back and loves the social aspects of working; his wife is a lifelong stay-at-home mom and is a ‘got to do it right now’ type, obsessive (by her own admission) about house cleaning. So there could be a bit of stress now that he’ll be home all day, presumably. He has a work-shed area in the backyard so he’ll likely be out there a lot, I hope he’ll find some interesting projects to do. His wife’s afraid he’ll do what he too often does now when he gets home from work — play video games on his phone and ignore her. It’ll be a big adjustment, I’m sure.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day with no big Rose Bowl parade, how strange.
I am allergic to penicillin, so I hope it won’t be a problem for the vaccination. We were told 75 and older will get starting in February. Not sure why the state is so slow.
The driver of the car that killed those young people turned his lights off. The driver probably wouldn’t have even seen him. The two injured are doing okay, but lots of injuries inside and out. Their community has rallied around them. I am not sure when any service will be done with all the Covid restrictions.
My daughter is the one whose boyfriend died when he was twenty. Her husband had his best friend die after a wrestling match in high school. He seemed to be perfectly healthy before he died. I think them both going through this is one reason they were drawn together. Several hours after being told, our seventeen year old grandson asked his mother if his cousins really were dead. It is so difficult to process. We have stood at the graveside of many young people and they are the very worst. It is a comfort to read that God takes the good young to spare them much suffering. Also, it is a blessing to know nothing is/was out of God’s control. Jesus wept (we are not told why) at Lazarus’ grave. I am glad we are told to weep with those who weep. We are given permission to acknowledge our grief and that of others. We don’t grieve as those who have no hope, but we do grieve.
Well, we have been working on the puzzle. I got one that is a kind of stylized space picture, including all the planets (far too close together) with astronauts standing on the surface of the moon in the foreground. I got it because the little ones have been very excited about space and the night sky recently. It is a new kind of puzzle that has letters stamped on the back of each section to aid in sorting the pieces, so Tiny has been able to help with the sorting and even fit in a few pieces. Sixth has just been delighted by the poster that came with the puzzle that has the same picture, pointing to items in it and asking about them. Since there is everything exciting in it possible – space shuttle, supernova, nebulas, galaxies, comets, etc. – there are a lot of new words to learn. So, I made the right purchase for this year.
We have a puzzle that Wesley gave us several years ago of hot air balloons. Would be fun to do as a family like we use to do while on vacation. Maybe someday.
Janice, you are too sweet. Please do not fret at all about the puzzle 🙂
Babies saw the paediatrician today. H is up 2 oz and W is back to birth weight. Seems they are thriving! We are thankful. DIL said she now knows to bring more than 4 diapers, even for a short outing. Learning as they go. I told her that we’re still learning how to be parents 🙂
Husband and I both have severe allergies to many things and both of us carry an epi pen at all times. We would love to get the vaccine as soon as we can, however, I think we need to consult our doctor first.
Puzzles: always frame first except on the puzzles with only edge like pieces. Then work on the inside with pieces carefully put around and relocated by passersby. And other pieces still in the box and lid because one would never look at the picture while doing a puzzle. Might as well do crosswords in pencil if you are going that route.
And finally, the covid vaccine. Daughter says she had two doctors tell her she was okay for the vaccine with her penicillin allergy and latex and other allergies.
DJ, no dogs in the puzzle or no puzzles with pictures of dogs or just no dogs?
We are quickly doing the puzzle with this new letter sorting system, but it feels a bit like cheating. But, Tiny and Sixth are benefitting. Normally we start with the edge pieces and then sort by colour or texture, using the picture as a reference. Several years ago, I got a puzzle of M. C. Escher’s ‘Belvedere’, and she NCE the whole picture was black and white, there was no way to sort. It took longer than a week to finish that one.
I am still needing the Mucinex. My ear was afflicted for only one day. Still no fever. Maybe I have a new allergy . . .
to cats?! No, it can’t be that.
Nightingale wrote this on Facebook yesterday, and gave me permission to share:
“Today was an emotional day at work for me. Witnessing all my patients get their vaccinations today, when months ago this damn virus was sweeping through our facility like wildfire and taking too many lives with it. I just felt so hopeful that maybe we’re finally getting a peek of the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m proud to be doing my small part in this.”
Food plan: Did Kim ever come back and tell us what clean eating looks like?
For me: my main plan is rather simple. I make a small pot of cream of wheat in the morning to share with the one year olds. Theirs is mixed with cheese, mine with about three crushed walnuts, a pat of butter, a half tsp of cinnamon. Supper is sliced banana with mixed berries and plain yogurt, crushed pecans and cinnamon. Midday varies. I usually make up some veggies (today was spinach, yesterday was kale, the day before a mix of broccoli and cauli and carrots and onion and ginger and cranberries) and about once a week have some beef or chicken. I try to have fish once a week but often forget. If I get hungry in between, figs, dates, or raisins and cashews and pecans. Not an official meal plan and it is not helping me to lose weight, but it is keeping the blood pressure in a better range. But those cookies husband bought at Costco were calling my name today…..but blood pressure won. This time.
No space dogs in the puzzle — or no comfort dogs with space people?
So encouraging to read Nightingale’s post, Kizzie. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end.
I finally received my car registration & tags via FedEx yesterday, just put the tags today — good until Dec 2021. Definitely wasn’t something I anticipated during this past year, having to get a new (used) car. But it’s a blessing, of course, and after getting over the loss of the beloved ’07 Liberty I’ve finally adjusted to the ’18 Cherokee. It’s a nice car. Just not as “fun” to drive as the last one.
DJ – (re: your retiring neighbor) – Hubby always said that if he were ever able to retire, he would still want to work a part-time job. My dad worked part-time at Home Depot after he retired, learning how to help people design kitchen renovations. He enjoyed that a lot. (He was always renovating homes we lived in. Parts of the last home they owned are unrecognizable from how they started out.)
My camera starts its numbering over again every 10,000 photos. If I counted correctly, based on the number of times it started over this year and what number I was on January 1 and what number I’m on now, I took 100,000 photos this year plus about 30. (Some of those are action shots, when I push down the button and it takes up to ten shots. But that’s a small minority, and usually even when I use that feature I only take three or four shots at a time, not ten.)
I committed to a photo a day for a group on Flickr (and I told myself I was going to be OK with it if I missed Sundays, but it turned out that Sunday was often a nice day to take a short walk around the neighborhood, and I ended up just doing all 366 days). A few years ago I noticed it was the exception rather than the rule if I missed a day of photography, but that was also when we were feeding birds outside our kitchen window and I often kept the camera in the kitchen to get a shot or two while they were there. Now I can occasionally take a photo from my back door, but I can’t take photos from any of our windows (not only do they not have the kind of view one can photograph, but they have screens on the whole window). I posted outdoor shots to the “challenge” all but 35 days of the year, and some of those days I actually took a photo outside but it wasn’t a good one, so I’d get a photo of a feather or a shell or something inside and post that instead. I also posted photos of a creature 235 days, and again I got a “creature” shot a few other days, but also got a better photo that didn’t have a creature in it. (And some days I got 10 or 20 or more creatures–650 to 700 species in all, most of them insects.)
It was a good challenge, especially for the kind of year 2020 was (it forced me to get outside nearly every day, including seven months straight in the warm months), but I’m glad it’s over, and I don’t plan to pick up my camera again for a month! 🙂 Actually, I will take it with me when I go out, as I always do, but I won’t be making sure I get a photo every day, and I don’t plan to go “out” in the next few days unless my husband wants to go for a walk.
I also finished off this week by making seven cards, so that I don’t go into the new year with cards I “owe” to people. (Two or three of those are extras, cards I am not sending to anyone right now.)
But I’m way behind on a writing project I’m working on, and that I planned to work on a lot in December, so I have to hit the ground running on that in January.
That is such a good idea, he’s an electrician and would probably love doing something like that. I’ll mention it to him. (And those guys who actually “know” something are so wonderful to snag when you’re lost in one of those big-box stores with 19-year-old clerks who know no more than you do.)
But i suspect his wife won’t like the idea much, she has dreams of doing things together, going on trips, staying out at the desert house for 2 weeks on end so they can sightsee …
And that’s probably why he’s delayed retirement for as long as he has, she’s been bugging him to retire for at least the last 5 or more years that I’m aware of.
Hearing the first fireworks of the evening. Miss Bosley is napping in my lap and so far is not disturbed. But if the fireworks get closer, she may sleep under the bed tonight or in the closet.
I’ve made cornbread and biscuits for more dressing. Planning a little feast for tomorrow when Art will be home.
I posted on the political thread something a local friend posted on FB about voting today, our last day of advance voting.
Since I try to post a haiku and nature photo daily, I am out frequently finding things to photograph. It is helpful to be out among the delights that God created and practice gratitude on a regular basis for His role as Creator. So many times I can’t really see what I am getting a photo of because of light on the phone screen so I take a lot of photos and weed out most.
Well that working for my friend at her shoppe was fun…for a little while. I was to close the shoppe at 2 due to New Year’s eve. Of course I was alone there all day and there were a lot of customers! When I caught my breath for a minute I told my next customer I was going to put the “closed” sign inside the door as it was 2:05….there were 7 customers waiting in line. I put the closed sign stand inside blocking the double doors…went back and started checking out customers. All receipts are handwritten…and every discount must be written under each item purchased..it takes a while. At 2:10 a young mother and her Mom walked right past the closed signs…with a screaming baby….I then went and locked the doors! Finally at 3:05 it was the screaming child’s turn to be checked out…they were the last ones in the shoppe…he had been screaming the entire time…I was shaking by the time they left! My friend had been watching on the camera and called telling me to just go home that she would reconcile the registers and close out the card machine tonight…I declare I had not brain cells remaining to even come close to closing out the registers! Bye bye 2020…I am beat!
NancyJill – Sorry to hear about your difficult afternoon. I would have been shaking, too!
*******
Having a late (for us, at least) dinner tonight. (It’s almost ready.)
Usually, if you are going to have a wine or some other alcoholic beverage with dinner, you base it on what is on the menu. But tonight’s dinner is based on the alcoholic beverage. 🙂
I had requested to have margaritas with our dinner tonight, so Nightingale decided to make tacos to go with our margaritas. 🙂
That sounds like a fun end of the year celebratory meal Kizzie! I made a quick run through the drive thru at ChickFilA after leaving the antique shoppe…I brought home dinner for the family! (And the line was not long at all..I got through in mere minutes!)
I do sudoku in pen but don’t always finish. In fact, lately, I don’t even start. So I guess I don’t do them in pen. Husband does a bunch of scribblings alongside and in pencil. But I learned a long time ago that I cannot see pencil on newsprint so I use pen. It has nothing to do with ability but rather disability.
But speaking of vaccine and allergic reactions: daughter had the moderna and apparently, that one has more penicillin components. Her coworker, also with a penicillin allergy, took the pfizer and did not have a reaction.
I have such great memories of wandering through antique shops with my mom — nothing she could personally remember having or using was considered (by her) an “antique.” haha
Nancyhill, I think it was “just” a head cold that passed in a few days, but some of the symptoms (of course, 2020 being what it is), had me concerned — coupled with the fairly risky hair cut I got a couple weeks ago that had me a tad worried. When I walked out of there, I thought, “If I get Covid, I’ll know where I (probably) got it.”
Shortly after I moved here, I bought this awesome glass cabinet — used first as a bookcase in the home ‘office’ and then transitioned a year or 2 ago into the dining room to hold some heirloom dishes. Got it at a second-hand shop in town. I’ve always been curious as to its age, maybe I’ll send you a photo, nancyjill, so you can weigh in.
That cabinet sounds fun Dj…I too miss browsing antique shops hours on end. I just don’t think the risk is worth the fun right now. I do go to my friend’s shoppe from time to time when I know not many would be out and about. She is closing the shop at the end of Jan and I shall miss it, but she is ready to retire. Then there’s the shoppe in Elizabeth that I love and I have made a couple nice purchases there in the past couple of months…but it is a sleepy little town where it is busiest on the weekends…so we have gone midweek. (But it is in the county where that new Covid strain was detected!)
I managed to go browsing in an antique/vintage store in August. Just wore a mask and observed social distancing. My mother still loves the old fashioned dresser I found that now acts as a DVD shelf and games cupboard in the living room.
The little ones are off to bed now, with the puzzle nearly finished. Second wanted to play a game of Crokinole, but Sixth is too overtired to be able to keep him up any longer. So maybe tomorrow.
Really, it’s “never” too early to go to bed. I read for a while, but I love being “off” work where I can sleep, wake up and read a while, sleep some more, read some more — of course, the cat usually ruins all of it by insisting on e being fed at 5-6 a.m.
But then, if it’s not a work day, it’s right back to bed …
Baby girl decided four was a good time for getting up this morning. Which would be fine if I had gotten to bed by eight. But nineteen wanted to talk until ten or so…
Wandering Views 
Well, well, well, looks I am the first one to say Happy Old Year! If you have anything to do in 2020 . . .
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Good morning Cheryl, et.al.
I think I am finished with 2020.
I just sent out my last Christmas card to friends I knew 30 years ago. But received a card yesterday.
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Good morning, again, all. I finally had given up on a new thread. I guess it must be Thursday. Lots done already today. Amazing how much can get done when the babies sleep in.
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Morning! Pretty picture up there but way too crowded for me! “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam”…. 😊
I’m off this morning to open my friend’s antique shoppe for her as she finishes up her quarantine. A fun end to an interesting year…
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NancyJill,
Do you have heat today?
I sure hope so. 🙂
https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/thousands-in-colorado-without-heat-after-vandals-attack-gas-system/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=SocialFlow
“Thousands in Colorado without heat after vandals attack gas system”
———
Vandals? Try eco-terrorists.
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We do have heat thankfully 😊 It’s those crazies up in Aspen! And come on NYP…vandals? 🙄
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Ha! What’s that city?
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I just got home from Publix where I loaded up on items to put in a basket for my brother. That is what Wesley traditionally gives my brother for Christmas.
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I also heard CO in the news for having cases of the new Covid strain. CO better watch out, grabbing the spotlight off of GA.
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People age 65+ can start getting the vaccine here as early as in 2 weeks. Decision time. I know one tax client who has gotten the first round.
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Good Morning. Up at 4:30. Walked 3 miles. Off shopping with a friend.
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4:30, Kim!?!?
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Michelle, I am not sure what city that is, and my father, the household geographer, does not recognize the skyline. It is by water and if the picture was taken from a boat, then the field is very wide. If it was taken from land, that would narrow the field a little, since the water is more likely to be a river.
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We normally get together with family on New Year’s Eve and play games and put together the puzzle I give the family (the object is usually to finish it in a week between Christmas and New Year’s). This year will be a bit different. The only grandchildren present are a bit young to help with the puzzle (although they are both pretty good with puzzles already), and of course cannot yet read and write well enough (Tiny, as I have said, can write her name and Sixth is just starting letter recognition) to be able to play the word based games we normally play. It has become something of a milestone for each grandchild to be able to write well enough to fool other people with a fabricated indefinition in Balderdash. So far, the four eldest of the Eldests have attained that rank. But, we will still attempt a puzzle (the two little ones can be at least trusted to not attempt to eat the puzzle pieces) and play at least one game.
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Stargazer sent me that photo. It’s the view 1.5 blocks from his house looking at Seattle.
I’m looking at it, though, and thinking it must have been flipped when he sent it–because the Space Needle is on the right in this photo, and it would be on the left from his house.
At least that’s what I thought he said.
OTOH, maybe he took it from the east side of Lake Washington, facing Seattle.
But I don’t think so. He lives northwest of the city.
But maybe that’s isn’t the Space Needle on the right? Perhaps they’ve built another tall tower I haven’t seen?
So, no win or lose on this one. 🙂
But it is Seattle.
Unless the Stealth Child is fooling me yet again? 🙂
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I was invited to a game night this evening. Of course I won’t go because of Covid. It would have been fun.
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It’s a chilly but sunny morning here, I’m making it a point to sleep “in” a bit this week. Next week it’s back to the morning staff calls and stories to find and write.
Is it really the last and final day of 2020? Hooray. See ya. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
But 2021, of course, brings, for now, more of the same — for a while.
They’ve found that new strain in California, too, in San Diego — the man hadn’t traveled recently so it’s definitely thought to “be” here within the state, probably making its rounds.
I think this is my neighbors’ husband’s last day of work — he’s in his late 70s, former Marine who served in Vietnam, and is retiring from his longtime job on the maintenance crew at the Catholic hospital just down the street. I know he has mixed feelings, and has put off retiring as long as he could. But his wife has been kind of bugging him about it for years now. The covid year seemed like a logical time to do it I guess. He received the first shot of his vaccine this past week at the hospital, will go back there for the 2nd round I would suppose.
He’s very laid back and loves the social aspects of working; his wife is a lifelong stay-at-home mom and is a ‘got to do it right now’ type, obsessive (by her own admission) about house cleaning. So there could be a bit of stress now that he’ll be home all day, presumably. He has a work-shed area in the backyard so he’ll likely be out there a lot, I hope he’ll find some interesting projects to do. His wife’s afraid he’ll do what he too often does now when he gets home from work — play video games on his phone and ignore her. It’ll be a big adjustment, I’m sure.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day with no big Rose Bowl parade, how strange.
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I am, however, expecting the usual neighborhood fireworks to go off late tonight. Some things never change.
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Someone posted this quote from Benjamin Franklin this morning on FB:
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man” (or woman).
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I am allergic to penicillin, so I hope it won’t be a problem for the vaccination. We were told 75 and older will get starting in February. Not sure why the state is so slow.
The driver of the car that killed those young people turned his lights off. The driver probably wouldn’t have even seen him. The two injured are doing okay, but lots of injuries inside and out. Their community has rallied around them. I am not sure when any service will be done with all the Covid restrictions.
My daughter is the one whose boyfriend died when he was twenty. Her husband had his best friend die after a wrestling match in high school. He seemed to be perfectly healthy before he died. I think them both going through this is one reason they were drawn together. Several hours after being told, our seventeen year old grandson asked his mother if his cousins really were dead. It is so difficult to process. We have stood at the graveside of many young people and they are the very worst. It is a comfort to read that God takes the good young to spare them much suffering. Also, it is a blessing to know nothing is/was out of God’s control. Jesus wept (we are not told why) at Lazarus’ grave. I am glad we are told to weep with those who weep. We are given permission to acknowledge our grief and that of others. We don’t grieve as those who have no hope, but we do grieve.
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Amen, Kathaleena.
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Well, we have been working on the puzzle. I got one that is a kind of stylized space picture, including all the planets (far too close together) with astronauts standing on the surface of the moon in the foreground. I got it because the little ones have been very excited about space and the night sky recently. It is a new kind of puzzle that has letters stamped on the back of each section to aid in sorting the pieces, so Tiny has been able to help with the sorting and even fit in a few pieces. Sixth has just been delighted by the poster that came with the puzzle that has the same picture, pointing to items in it and asking about them. Since there is everything exciting in it possible – space shuttle, supernova, nebulas, galaxies, comets, etc. – there are a lot of new words to learn. So, I made the right purchase for this year.
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The puzzle sounds like fun. But no dogs?
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George? Jane? Elroy? Judy? Astro? Rosie?
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We have a puzzle that Wesley gave us several years ago of hot air balloons. Would be fun to do as a family like we use to do while on vacation. Maybe someday.
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I still have a puzzle to send to Kare, someday when I will be okay with standing in the line at the post office.
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Janice, you are too sweet. Please do not fret at all about the puzzle 🙂
Babies saw the paediatrician today. H is up 2 oz and W is back to birth weight. Seems they are thriving! We are thankful. DIL said she now knows to bring more than 4 diapers, even for a short outing. Learning as they go. I told her that we’re still learning how to be parents 🙂
Husband and I both have severe allergies to many things and both of us carry an epi pen at all times. We would love to get the vaccine as soon as we can, however, I think we need to consult our doctor first.
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I’m working on a Shakespeare’s World puzzle today—the exact same puzzle as a friend in TN.
Laughing, though. An editor, she put together all the edges first, with all the other pieces organized outside the frame.
I did the same thing— except all my pieces are jumbled in the middle of the edges!
I’m telling myself it’s because I’m the creative and she’s my editor! Lol
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Hot air balloon puzzle, we did that one!
Puzzles: always frame first except on the puzzles with only edge like pieces. Then work on the inside with pieces carefully put around and relocated by passersby. And other pieces still in the box and lid because one would never look at the picture while doing a puzzle. Might as well do crosswords in pencil if you are going that route.
And finally, the covid vaccine. Daughter says she had two doctors tell her she was okay for the vaccine with her penicillin allergy and latex and other allergies.
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DJ, no dogs in the puzzle or no puzzles with pictures of dogs or just no dogs?
We are quickly doing the puzzle with this new letter sorting system, but it feels a bit like cheating. But, Tiny and Sixth are benefitting. Normally we start with the edge pieces and then sort by colour or texture, using the picture as a reference. Several years ago, I got a puzzle of M. C. Escher’s ‘Belvedere’, and she NCE the whole picture was black and white, there was no way to sort. It took longer than a week to finish that one.
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I am still needing the Mucinex. My ear was afflicted for only one day. Still no fever. Maybe I have a new allergy . . .
to cats?! No, it can’t be that.
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Nightingale wrote this on Facebook yesterday, and gave me permission to share:
“Today was an emotional day at work for me. Witnessing all my patients get their vaccinations today, when months ago this damn virus was sweeping through our facility like wildfire and taking too many lives with it. I just felt so hopeful that maybe we’re finally getting a peek of the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m proud to be doing my small part in this.”
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Food plan: Did Kim ever come back and tell us what clean eating looks like?
For me: my main plan is rather simple. I make a small pot of cream of wheat in the morning to share with the one year olds. Theirs is mixed with cheese, mine with about three crushed walnuts, a pat of butter, a half tsp of cinnamon. Supper is sliced banana with mixed berries and plain yogurt, crushed pecans and cinnamon. Midday varies. I usually make up some veggies (today was spinach, yesterday was kale, the day before a mix of broccoli and cauli and carrots and onion and ginger and cranberries) and about once a week have some beef or chicken. I try to have fish once a week but often forget. If I get hungry in between, figs, dates, or raisins and cashews and pecans. Not an official meal plan and it is not helping me to lose weight, but it is keeping the blood pressure in a better range. But those cookies husband bought at Costco were calling my name today…..but blood pressure won. This time.
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No space dogs in the puzzle — or no comfort dogs with space people?
So encouraging to read Nightingale’s post, Kizzie. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end.
I finally received my car registration & tags via FedEx yesterday, just put the tags today — good until Dec 2021. Definitely wasn’t something I anticipated during this past year, having to get a new (used) car. But it’s a blessing, of course, and after getting over the loss of the beloved ’07 Liberty I’ve finally adjusted to the ’18 Cherokee. It’s a nice car. Just not as “fun” to drive as the last one.
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DJ – (re: your retiring neighbor) – Hubby always said that if he were ever able to retire, he would still want to work a part-time job. My dad worked part-time at Home Depot after he retired, learning how to help people design kitchen renovations. He enjoyed that a lot. (He was always renovating homes we lived in. Parts of the last home they owned are unrecognizable from how they started out.)
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Chickadee does Sudoku with a pen. And she does it fast.
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My camera starts its numbering over again every 10,000 photos. If I counted correctly, based on the number of times it started over this year and what number I was on January 1 and what number I’m on now, I took 100,000 photos this year plus about 30. (Some of those are action shots, when I push down the button and it takes up to ten shots. But that’s a small minority, and usually even when I use that feature I only take three or four shots at a time, not ten.)
I committed to a photo a day for a group on Flickr (and I told myself I was going to be OK with it if I missed Sundays, but it turned out that Sunday was often a nice day to take a short walk around the neighborhood, and I ended up just doing all 366 days). A few years ago I noticed it was the exception rather than the rule if I missed a day of photography, but that was also when we were feeding birds outside our kitchen window and I often kept the camera in the kitchen to get a shot or two while they were there. Now I can occasionally take a photo from my back door, but I can’t take photos from any of our windows (not only do they not have the kind of view one can photograph, but they have screens on the whole window). I posted outdoor shots to the “challenge” all but 35 days of the year, and some of those days I actually took a photo outside but it wasn’t a good one, so I’d get a photo of a feather or a shell or something inside and post that instead. I also posted photos of a creature 235 days, and again I got a “creature” shot a few other days, but also got a better photo that didn’t have a creature in it. (And some days I got 10 or 20 or more creatures–650 to 700 species in all, most of them insects.)
It was a good challenge, especially for the kind of year 2020 was (it forced me to get outside nearly every day, including seven months straight in the warm months), but I’m glad it’s over, and I don’t plan to pick up my camera again for a month! 🙂 Actually, I will take it with me when I go out, as I always do, but I won’t be making sure I get a photo every day, and I don’t plan to go “out” in the next few days unless my husband wants to go for a walk.
I also finished off this week by making seven cards, so that I don’t go into the new year with cards I “owe” to people. (Two or three of those are extras, cards I am not sending to anyone right now.)
But I’m way behind on a writing project I’m working on, and that I planned to work on a lot in December, so I have to hit the ground running on that in January.
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That is such a good idea, he’s an electrician and would probably love doing something like that. I’ll mention it to him. (And those guys who actually “know” something are so wonderful to snag when you’re lost in one of those big-box stores with 19-year-old clerks who know no more than you do.)
But i suspect his wife won’t like the idea much, she has dreams of doing things together, going on trips, staying out at the desert house for 2 weeks on end so they can sightsee …
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My 6:29 was to Kizzie’s 6:21
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But his wife acknowledges the thing he’ll miss the most is the people and that daily social connection.
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And that’s probably why he’s delayed retirement for as long as he has, she’s been bugging him to retire for at least the last 5 or more years that I’m aware of.
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Hearing the first fireworks of the evening. Miss Bosley is napping in my lap and so far is not disturbed. But if the fireworks get closer, she may sleep under the bed tonight or in the closet.
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I’ve made cornbread and biscuits for more dressing. Planning a little feast for tomorrow when Art will be home.
I posted on the political thread something a local friend posted on FB about voting today, our last day of advance voting.
Since I try to post a haiku and nature photo daily, I am out frequently finding things to photograph. It is helpful to be out among the delights that God created and practice gratitude on a regular basis for His role as Creator. So many times I can’t really see what I am getting a photo of because of light on the phone screen so I take a lot of photos and weed out most.
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Well that working for my friend at her shoppe was fun…for a little while. I was to close the shoppe at 2 due to New Year’s eve. Of course I was alone there all day and there were a lot of customers! When I caught my breath for a minute I told my next customer I was going to put the “closed” sign inside the door as it was 2:05….there were 7 customers waiting in line. I put the closed sign stand inside blocking the double doors…went back and started checking out customers. All receipts are handwritten…and every discount must be written under each item purchased..it takes a while. At 2:10 a young mother and her Mom walked right past the closed signs…with a screaming baby….I then went and locked the doors! Finally at 3:05 it was the screaming child’s turn to be checked out…they were the last ones in the shoppe…he had been screaming the entire time…I was shaking by the time they left! My friend had been watching on the camera and called telling me to just go home that she would reconcile the registers and close out the card machine tonight…I declare I had not brain cells remaining to even come close to closing out the registers! Bye bye 2020…I am beat!
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NancyJill – Sorry to hear about your difficult afternoon. I would have been shaking, too!
*******
Having a late (for us, at least) dinner tonight. (It’s almost ready.)
Usually, if you are going to have a wine or some other alcoholic beverage with dinner, you base it on what is on the menu. But tonight’s dinner is based on the alcoholic beverage. 🙂
I had requested to have margaritas with our dinner tonight, so Nightingale decided to make tacos to go with our margaritas. 🙂
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Less than 6 hours of 2020 here in the central US.
Saw this on Twitter today: Us: “2020 Vision” God: James 4:13-16
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That sounds like a fun end of the year celebratory meal Kizzie! I made a quick run through the drive thru at ChickFilA after leaving the antique shoppe…I brought home dinner for the family! (And the line was not long at all..I got through in mere minutes!)
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And then there’s this:
The Babylon Bee’s Predictions For 2021
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Nancy- Now I’m craving Chick-fil-A. Too bad the nearest one is 90 miles away. ROAD TRIP!
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I used to do sudoku Olin pen. The. I started doing it on my phone so now I am not as good.
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I do sudoku in pen but don’t always finish. In fact, lately, I don’t even start. So I guess I don’t do them in pen. Husband does a bunch of scribblings alongside and in pencil. But I learned a long time ago that I cannot see pencil on newsprint so I use pen. It has nothing to do with ability but rather disability.
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But speaking of vaccine and allergic reactions: daughter had the moderna and apparently, that one has more penicillin components. Her coworker, also with a penicillin allergy, took the pfizer and did not have a reaction.
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Finger foods on New Year’s Eve, as per tradition. The homemade Chex Mix forms a part of the menu – I also gave a batch to the Youngests to enjoy.
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Nancyjill, yikes. Good job.
I have such great memories of wandering through antique shops with my mom — nothing she could personally remember having or using was considered (by her) an “antique.” haha
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finally got the call from urgent care, my test was negative, yay.
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Thankful with you Dj…I was going to ask if you had heard…so was it just a slight flu…or is that a thing this year?
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So much of my furniture is old, from her Iowa childhood home or otherwise. I love old stuff.
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Nancyhill, I think it was “just” a head cold that passed in a few days, but some of the symptoms (of course, 2020 being what it is), had me concerned — coupled with the fairly risky hair cut I got a couple weeks ago that had me a tad worried. When I walked out of there, I thought, “If I get Covid, I’ll know where I (probably) got it.”
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Shortly after I moved here, I bought this awesome glass cabinet — used first as a bookcase in the home ‘office’ and then transitioned a year or 2 ago into the dining room to hold some heirloom dishes. Got it at a second-hand shop in town. I’ve always been curious as to its age, maybe I’ll send you a photo, nancyjill, so you can weigh in.
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The latest from LA County today:
~ Public Health Urges Everyone to Stay Home with Your Household New Year’s Eve and Throughout the Weekend
290 New Deaths and 15,129 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County ~
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Antique-store browsing, one of the things I really miss
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We got one of the alarming alerts from the County CEO by text about being careful of Covid.
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8:29 pm. Too early to go to bed?
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That cabinet sounds fun Dj…I too miss browsing antique shops hours on end. I just don’t think the risk is worth the fun right now. I do go to my friend’s shoppe from time to time when I know not many would be out and about. She is closing the shop at the end of Jan and I shall miss it, but she is ready to retire. Then there’s the shoppe in Elizabeth that I love and I have made a couple nice purchases there in the past couple of months…but it is a sleepy little town where it is busiest on the weekends…so we have gone midweek. (But it is in the county where that new Covid strain was detected!)
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I managed to go browsing in an antique/vintage store in August. Just wore a mask and observed social distancing. My mother still loves the old fashioned dresser I found that now acts as a DVD shelf and games cupboard in the living room.
The little ones are off to bed now, with the puzzle nearly finished. Second wanted to play a game of Crokinole, but Sixth is too overtired to be able to keep him up any longer. So maybe tomorrow.
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I had a pound of ground beef that needed to be used, and an onion, and some jar sauce, so it’s spaghetti for me tonight
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I love “old stuff,” passed on from my mom, I guess
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8:29 is a bit late, Kim. I usually shoot for 8:15 with the lat of the children to ed by 8.
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last. Obviously a one year old is not in bed yet.
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Really, it’s “never” too early to go to bed. I read for a while, but I love being “off” work where I can sleep, wake up and read a while, sleep some more, read some more — of course, the cat usually ruins all of it by insisting on e being fed at 5-6 a.m.
But then, if it’s not a work day, it’s right back to bed …
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I know, I know, why is the cat inside …
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Happy New Year!
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I haven’t seen a single positive flu this year. It is on the rapid covid which tests for covid-19, flu A & B, and RSV.
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Happy Snappy New Year!
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Lots of Snap, Crackle, and Pop going on in the neighborhood.
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1-1-2021 at last.
We’re supposed to get up to 3 inches of snow and 1/10 inch of ice in the next 36 hours. I guess I’ll stay home until Sunday.
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Why is the cat inside the house?
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I guess some things never change though.
Baby girl decided four was a good time for getting up this morning. Which would be fine if I had gotten to bed by eight. But nineteen wanted to talk until ten or so…
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