Super Bowl Sunday

Yawn.   Oh, sorry.  Do you like football?  I can't say that it's among my favorite things.  It kinda is on the list behind a no-anesthesia colonoscopy or having to spend any amount of time in the company of Justin Bieber.  In fact,  here's my feeling about football:



Now that we have that settled, let's move on :) So yesterday I did grocery shopping.  I live in a small town.  I mean small. Less than 1,000 people.  But we have TWO stoplights!!!!  So normally when you go to the grocery store, you don't have to worry about it being crowded.  You only have to be sure there's a cashier awake to check you out.  I went to Food Lion and there were a ton of people there! I kept looking for the lion, but he must have been giving his two cents' worth to someone else.  I haven't gotten his two cents' worth a single time yet.  So, I had to just make my own way through the store, ferreting out sales and good prices on my own.  I had to pat myself on the back and feel self righteous that I passed by the Buy-One-Get-One-Free Turkey Hill ice cream.  I had no idea I had such self-restraint.  I also passed by the shrimp that was BOGO, since the price of a single bag had been jacked to twice what it normally is.  Can't get a thing by me, you silly lion!!  Your two cents' worth is apparently now inflated to about $1.98's worth.

This morning I made bacon and eggs in the NuWave Oven.  Fast, easy, and really yummy.  Again, I had to pat myself on the back for letting all that yummy grease from the bacon fall to the bottom of the NuWave, thereby saving myself, what, about 11,000 calories?  Damn, I should have gotten that Turkey Hill.  Sigh.

Since I had expended so much energy cracking eggs and opening the package of bacon and laying it out on the rack to cook, a nap seemed in order.  I told myself I was just going to lie down to rest and read a magazine.  I didn't even get the magazine open.  When I woke up, it was laying exactly where it was when I laid down.  But now I'll have something to read when I can't sleep tonight because I took a nap today.  See, these things always work out.  Divine intervention or something.

Janie Mae is a traitor.  She has not come into my bedroom for 2 days now.  No evil eye. No butt-patting.  I've obviously been cast aside.  And it hurts.  What's a girl to do when her cat disses her?  If I had gotten the Turkey Hill, I could drown my sorrow in ice cream, but nooooooo.....I had to show self restraint.   So remember, kids, follow your instincts and buy ice cream when it's on sale.

I guess I'll go eat an apple.

Til later,
Morado

Friday Happy Dance

Yes, it's that day we all love - Friday!  Even though I don't work anymore, I still love Fridays.  Something about the anticipation of the weekend - maybe I'll go somewhere new!  Maybe the weather will be awesome!  Maybe I'll actually do something constructive!  The possibilities are endless.  Two whole days of possibilities.  Well, first off is grocery shopping. This opens up the possibility of cooking something new for dinner.  As I ramble through my recipe boards on Pinterest, I pick out 3 or 4 healthy things to consider.  But I always seem to get sidetracked by something like Peanut Butter Pound Cake, Lemon Brownies (how can brownies be lemon??!?) Praline Pie....stop, stop.....I'm drooling here!  Suddenly chicken doesn't sound so alluring anymore.  Although - peanut chicken is one of my favorite things.  Hmmmm.  Might have to find a recipe for that.

Poor little T. Bat is still sneezing and not feeling good, but he's more perky than he was yesterday.  He swatted Wide Load when she ran by him, so that's a good sign.

Did I tell you about Janie Mae?  Janie Mae is the queen of the castle.  Head Cat in Charge.  She has to have a food bowl to herself, while the other kitties share a bowl.  Anybody that comes near her bowl gets smacked on the head.  And she can give SUCH an evil eye.  Not just to the other kitties, but to me, too.  Sometimes I can feel her eyes boring into my back.  And sometimes she scares the crap out of me when I don't know she's behind my chair and she suddenly pats me on the behind.  It's enough to make a girl wet her pants.  But sometimes she's so sweet and loving.  These moments do not happen often.

I am burning the most deliciously scented candle. It's from Woodwick Candles and it's called Sand and Driftwood.  MMMMMM.  I can just close my eyes and be transported to some South Pacific island, where the water is crystal clear and emerald green, and the sand is warm and white as sugar, and the Cabana boy brings me fruity drinks with umbrellas, after which he fans me with a big palmetto fan as I look at him through narrowed eyes and he smiles at me....oh, excuse me. I got carried away. Oh well, a girl can dream!

Oh, I didn't tell you!  My friend Helen and I have joined a group on Facebook that has monthly Silhouette challenges.  This should be fun!  I missed the one for this month, but the one for next month has to involve fabric cut on your Cameo.  So I've been mulling over what I want to do and I think I've come up with something.  I plan to work on it this weekend, and I'll post pictures when it's done.  Here's the card Helen did for this month's challenge.


Way cool, huh? :D  Check out her blogs at ShadesofSafhire.blogspot.com and CalvaryCouponers.com

I probably should shuffle off to bed.  No, wait, it's Friday night!!!   Yay, stay up late night!  So have a great Friday, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Til later,
Morado

Time Flies!

Well time obviously flew around the world a number of times, since it's been a year since I posted.  How the heck did that happen?  Well, my mother had some serious health issues and a couple of operations and that took quite a bit of my time, and needless to say, my thoughts were on her and not my blog.  Then I've had 3 procedures on my fistula, one in May, one in August and one in December.  Went on vacation to Myrtle Beach  with my sister, which was lots of fun.  But we had a very very sad occurrence in my family.  My first cousin's wife passed away.  She and I met in the 8th grade when we started high school, and I set them up on their first date when we were 17 years old.  In July of this year they celebrated their 40th anniversary.  Her illness was sudden and her passing was so hard on everyone.  We miss her so.

I was going to make a resolution to actually keep up my blog, but my friend Carol had an interesting post on her blog about the difference between resolutions and goals, and when I read it, a lightbulb went off.  Of course!!!  Goals, not resolutions.  Here's a link to her post about goals.  I think you'll find it interesting.

http://cjmfcb.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-resolutions.html

I've been doing a bit of crafting with my Cameo. I've really gotten into the software and learned how to do quite a few things, and it is my GOAL to write up some little tutorials and post them here. :D  So look for one in the next week or so.

I've also really been into cooking lately.  My sister and I gave Mama a NuWave Oven for Christmas, and boy howdy, is that thing neat.  Christmas Day we cooked our entire Christmas dinner in it - in about 2 hours! This weekend we cooked a roast in it in an HOUR.  We also did sweet potatoes, roasted onions and roasted carrots.  Tonight, though, I'm making a salad with the leftover rare roast beef, and I'm making a vinaigrette to go over it.  My sister gave me a bunch of flavored oils and vinegars for Christmas and I've been having so much fun making stuff with them.  Pioneer Woman, watch out!

We had snow yesterday/last night.  We don't get a whole lot of snow here, so when it does snow, things pretty much come to a halt.  I normally go to dialysis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I went Monday and yesterday so that I wouldn't have to brave the snow-covered roads today.  I looked out the door this morning and there were kitty tracks all over the yard.  Kinda spoiled that pristine snow look, ya know?  Some of the prints made me think that Sasquatch had been through the yard, but on closer inspection, it seems it was just Charlie Harper, our BIG tom cat, who had been waltzing around the yard. And yes, he is named Charlie Harper after Charlie Sheen's character on Two and a Half Men.  I'll let you figure out why :D

Speaking of kitties, we have 2 new ones - Wide Load and Ed T. Bat.  More interesting names, you say? Well, let me explain.  Wide Load was WIDE when she was born. I mean she had some serious junk in the trunk. Her back end was HUGE.  We named the other kitten Edmund Hillary as he was such an explorer after his eyes opened.  But one day I was looking at him and he looked just like a bat!  Little pointy face, BIG pointy ears, so we started calling him Ed The Bat, which got shorted to Ed T. Bat.  He's now known as T-Bat, or sometimes Bat Brain, depending on what he's doing at any given moment.  But they are so much fun to watch. Wide Load is very much a snuggler and lovebug. T-Bat is all boy - doesn't want to be petted and held. Just fed!  You will be glad to know that Wide Load has slimmed down and is now just a pretty little kitty.  But the name will forever stick.  I regret to report that T-Bat has a cold, and he's not feeling very well.  He may have to go see the kitty doctor.

So that kind of brings you up to date with me.  Hopefully I will meet my GOAL of keeping up with my blog from here on.  Hope to 'meet' a lot of you soon!

Til later,
Morado

Time Flies

Yep, time flies when you're having fun :)  And fun is what I've been having.  I swear, I am addicted to my Cameo. I blame this on Carol. She showed me cards she had made with hers and I was hooked.  Therefore, Carol is responsible for my addiction.  :D

I've made cards, little boxes, little bags, little lanterns, some big lanterns - the list goes on and on.  And THEN I discovered I can convert some files to .studio files to use with the Cameo.  WELL, this has just opened up a whole 'nother avenue of stuff to make.  So for the last 3 days, I've been downloading free files like a mad(wo)man.  I can't stop!  I need a 12 step program or something. Hello, my name is Morado and I'm a Cameo-holic.

Anyway, here's a peek at a few things I've made.

These are just a few things I've made, but I'm pleased with how they turned out.

In other news, my dialysis is going great.  No more jelly legs, thank the Maker.  That was SCARY.

My sister's coming to spend the weekend. I'm looking forward to that.  No telling what we'll get into.

The adventures of Fuzz E. Butt also continue.  She gets fluffier by the day.  She is just so darn CUTE.  She bats at everything that passes by her and that includes the other kitties, me, sunbeams, air......unfortunately, although it is January, she found a baby snake somewhere and brought it to the house.  I DO NOT LIKE SNAKES.  They freak me out.  Things should have legs to move.  Thank goodness this was a tiny baby snake, only about 4 inches long.  But hey, a snake is a snake.  <shiver>

I'm looking forward to NASCAR starting up again in February.  Here's a way cool picture of my favorite driver's car.  Gooooooo Jimmie!!

I must admit, I have a Jimmie Johnson poster and a Jimmie Johnson Boyd's Bear :D  The bear lives on the top shelf of my desk

Well, I see I'm rambling and not saying anything of any importance, so I shall sign off for the night.

Til later,
Morado

Way Behind!

Wow, am I behind on blogging!  Well, it's been a busy few weeks. I had the embroidery machine, the sewing machine, and the Cameo humming!  I made cute little boxes for the girls at dialysis, and filled them with candy, I made Christmas cards and Christmas tags, all with the Cameo.  I made angel gift boxes with the embroidery machine, and put them together with the sewing machine.

Christmas was wonderful at our house. We had our usual grazing table for Christmas Eve - hot dips, cold dips, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, cheese, cheese balls, crackers and chips. Then for Christmas dinner, we had cornish hens, dressing, corn pudding, copper pennies and yeast rolls.  Santa was also very good to all of us.  It was a wonderful time!

The only blemish on the holiday was that I had on way too much fluid when I went back to dialysis after not going for 3 days.  Bad me, I will never do that again.  I was short of breath and had 'jelly legs', so called because your legs feel like just that - jelly - and feel like they are going to buckle at any second.  But thanks to the good ladies at dialysis, they got the fluid off and I felt a WHOLE lot better leaving dialysis than I did arriving!

My niece and her little boy were able to come on Thursday after Christmas. My niece is a nurse and usually has to work the holidays, so we usually don't get to see them til late January or early February, so it was a special treat to have them with us at Christmas.  The litte Buckeroo is really growing.  Gosh, he's almost 8!  But he'll always be my little Buckeroo :)  He got an XBox for Christmas, which his mother and I promptly took over to play WWE! It was a blast.  Hmmmmmmmm.....I may need to see about getting one.

New Year's was quite.  Not really a lot to do in a town of 1,000 people.  Not like when I lived in Atlanta.  Or Detroit.  Or Philadelphia. :D  But honestly I enjoyed the quiet.  I needed time to rest and recharge after the whirlwind of the holidays.

I'll post some pictures of my craft projects in a few days, once I get them off the camera and resized.

Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas season, and that you have a wonderful, happy 2013 :)

I haven't beeen checking on the orcs and trolls.  Lord only knows what kind of havoc they have wreaked.  However, I can't bother with them tonight, as a Steven Seagal movie is on, and watching Steven Seagal kick ass is a most fun thing!

Til later,
Morado

Santa's Coming!

Wow.  I'm really behind on posting.  Been busy the last few weeks, working on Christmas presents.  I love this time of year.  Sunday, our Dialysis Support Group had their Christmas party.  Lots of food, then everyone sat around in the lobby and sang Christmas songs.  It was a lot of fun.  Then my mother, sister and I went to the Living Nativity one of the churches had.  It was really great.  They went to great lengths to make it authentic.  They were all dressed in period costumes, and they welcomed you to Bethlehem.  They had markets, carpenters, musicians, and animals.....the live camel made the whole trip worthwhile!  Here's a picture of him.

Sorry it's blurry.  For some reason my camera was acting up.  It's supposed to take care of shakey hands while snapping the picture.  Anyway, he was WAY cool :)

When we went past the Inn, the Innkeepers were outside and I asked if they had a room.  They said no, they were sorry, no rooms. In fact, they'd had to send a young couple to the stable.  And of course, Mary and Joseph were in the stable with the baby Jesus.  There were young girls dressed as angels with these big filmy wings they were slowly waving.  It was the best living nativity I've ever been to.

So I've been doing a lot of embroidery.  I'll post pictures after Christmas since what I'm embroidering are gifts :D  I've also been playing a lot with the Cameo, making Christmas cards and assorted Christmas thingies, like a scrolly tree you put a battery operated tea light under.  It's way cute :)

Let me tell you about Fuzz E. Butt.  She is a 3 month old kitten and she is......fuzzy :)  Her siblings are just regular ole shorthairs, but Fuzz has luxurious long soft fluffy hair.  So the other day, we open a can of tuna in oil, and decide to dribble the oil into the kitties' bowl, over their crunchies.  Just as the oil starts flowing, Fuzz E. runs in and sticks her head under the oil, coating her head and neck.  To add insult to the injury of being doused in tuna oil, the other kitties decide she smells SO enticing and start licking her.  She tried to get away but they kept following her.  Poor Fuzz!  So I'm thinking, oh great, I have to bathe a CAT.  But miraculously, she was really good.  She didn't squirm or try to get away or scratch me or anything, so we got her all cleaned up and she's mostly back to normal.  I don't think she'll get over the nearly cannibalistic actions of her fellow cats.

So that's basically what's been going on with me.  I haven't even had time to check on the orcs and trolls!  They've probably taken total control by now!

Til later,
Morado

 

Christmas time's a-comin'

Ah, December.  Wonderful, hectic, crazy December.  Time for Santas and snowmen, tinsel and lights. I LOVE Christmas lights.  The more, the better.  Can't be too many for me.  I can hardly wait to go looking at Christmas lights the week before Christmas.  I just love all the colors and the festival feeling.  So I'm about done with Christmas presents.  Got a couple more to make, and then I'll be totally done.  Then comes the wrapping part.  I can sit in the same spot and not move and lose the scissors, then the tape, then the name tags.  All the while singing along to Christmas music and sipping a holiday beverage.

Last week was sort of rough.  Kidney disease causes a lot of problems, including bone loss.  In your jaw (as well as other places). So I went to the dentist and they showed me the xrays.  It's a wonder any of my teeth were still in!!  Talk about bone loss!!!  Thanks, kidney (I was born with just one), really appreciate this.  Anyyyyway, the best thing to do was remove them (!!!!!!!!!) and get dentures.  So here I sit with a now sparkling smile.  Actually, I think I'm doing really well.  I can eat pretty well, and I no longer sound like a drunk clown with a speech impediment.  I'm wearing 'healing dentures' and after my gums heal and finish shrinking (wish my belly would do that!!) I will be fitted with permanent ones.  So an even more sparkling smile then!  However, having dentures was not something that was on my bucket list.  I think somebody took my list and changed it!  Thief!  But, as with all things, ya gotta roll with the punches.

Today we took the little kittens to the vet. They all have an upper respiratory infection.  Poor babies had to get shots and we have to give them pills, too.  They were funny, though.  We had all 3 of them in one carrier and when the vet would finish giving each one their shot, they zoomed back into the carrier. Then when we got home, I had to drag Peanut out.  She wanted to stay in it.  But they're all out now and taking naps.   Here's Peanut and Jack playing.

So that's pretty much all that's going on around here.  I'm gonna fire up the embroidery machine in a few minutes and finish up a couple of projects.

I haven't checked on the orcs and trolls in a few days. I better do that.

Til later,
Morado