Thursday -itis

I have Thursday-itis.  It's not hump day, so can't be excited that it's Wednesday.  It's not Friday, so can't be excited that the weekend is nearly here.  It's Thursday.  Thursday-itis is just that feeling that's not really blah, not really happy happy, not really anything. You just are.  So what do you do when you have Thursday-itis? Well, I fired up the computer and the Cameo.  Ok, ok, the computer stays fired up most of the time anyway.  You caught me.  But I'm obsessed with these Pop Up Card Boxes.  They are just so stinking cute.  Here's another one I made.

Dontcha love red and pink together?  I do.  Sort of like rubies and pink tourmaline sure go good together.

I don't really have anything exciting to blog about tonight.  Even less exciting then normal.  

Oh!  I do have something to report.  A couple weeks ago, my sister and I stopped by Outback and got takeout for the two of us and our mother.  Get home with it, and with drool sliding down my chin, I opened up my takeout box, where, to my surprise, my rare prime rib was not pink, but was dark brown.  So I gingerly cut into it and took a bite.  Holy smoke!  It was so freaking hot with spice I couldn't eat it.  So I decide to dive into the blooming onion.  Also so hot with spice I couldn't eat it.  I ended up eating the house salad and some mashed potatoes.  But alas, my taste for prime rib was left unsatisfied.  So I sent an email to Outback, explaining to them nicely that I was disappointed in my takeout order.  Can you believe I got a phone call from the manager of the restaurant we had gone to?  I was amazed!  He was very nice and apologetic and tells me they have changed the recipe for the prime rib. Instead of being slow roasted, it's now got a rub on it.  Anyway, after chatting a while, he told me he was going to send me something, and I got it today.  He sent me a gift card.   How nice!  I will definitely go back to Outback, but I also will definitely not get the prime rib!!!!!  But anyway, here's a shoutout to Outback, and the manager of the Danville, VA, restaurant.  Thanks, Jason!

Janie Mae graced me with her presence today.  It's so nice to be in the company of the Queen of the Castle. She did pat me on the butt once but I knew she was behind me so it didn't scare me.  It's nice to get love pats from your pet.

This weekend is a trip to Ollie's and Big Lots.  I love those places.  And lunch at Mayflower, an awesome seafood restaurant. I can hear my pants getting tighter already.  But it's so worth it.  I can almost taste the shrimp already.

I think Janie Mae and I shall go play a game on the tablet before we turn out the light.

Til Later,
Morado

What Day Is It????

Yes!  It's hump day!

I claim no ownership of the tee shirt, the camel, the slogan, or Mike.  Thank you.

Sooooooooo it's Wednesday!  Which means the weekend is only two days away.  My sister is coming to spend the weekend and we're going to make an Ollie's, Big Lots, and Mayflower trip.  Mayflower is a really really good seafood restaurant. They serve you enough food for about 3 meals and the food is wicked good. My mouth is already watering.  Give me a sec to wipe up the drool.

There, that's better.  So today was D Day.  Again it was a rainy, blah day out, so I played on the tablet a bit, then took a nap.  And when I woke up, it was time to come off the machine.  Yay!  Coming off the machine is always a good time.  And I didn't even spring a leak.  Double good time!  We have to have heparin, which is a blood thinner, to keep the blood from clotting in the machine, so yes, sometimes when they pull the needles, the holes won't stop bleeding.  Or they'll fool you by stopping for a few seconds and when you take the pressure off, it looks like a really bad slasher movie was just filmed around your chair.  Scary looking but not really a big deal.  

Now that I've left you with that mental image, let me move on to something CUTE for your eyes.

This is what I made last night when I was not blogging :)  I think it turned out really cute.  So cute, in fact, that I am making plans to make tons more of these cards, called Pop Up Card Box.  The REALLY cool thing is that they fold flat for mailing.  How awesome is that?!  See, doesn't take much to make me happy or excited.

Janie Mae has once again deserted me.  Which means I will not have kitty breath in my face tonight, which now that I think of it, is a great thing!

So I'm off to make more cards.

Til later,
Morado

Is it Monday already?

The weekend does zoom on by, doesn't it?  But if we didn't have 'weeks', we wouldn't enjoy the weekend so much.

So today was Dialysis Day, or we refer to it, D Day, or the even more inappropriate Funtown!!!  Had a good treatment today.  And Carol was back from vacation, so it was nice to chat with her.  Carol is one of the nurses at Funtown.  She's not only my nurse, she's my friend.  We have fun discussing crafting and cooking.  One of the male patients calls our chats Home Ec time  LOL  He gets in on the cooking discussions sometimes, too.

I thought I saw Noah out of the window today.  I mean it was RAINING. Buckets and buckets.  At least it's not snow :)  Always a silver lining :)

I saw wild turkeys today.  They were in a field I pass on the way home from Funtown.  Just a couple weeks ago I saw turkeys there, too, as well as four deer.  I love wildlife.  Well, except for the skunks and possums that come up on the porch and eat the outside kitties' food.  Did you know possums are stubborn?  There was one on the porch one night and I sorta flapped at him to get him to leave and he just kept on eating. One of the cats bopped him on the head and he kept on eating.  I got the flyswatter and flapped at him with that and he kept on eating.  Now really, if you'd been bopped on the head and flapped at, wouldn't you leave?  I'm pretty sure I would.  I mean, it's not like he was pigging out on prime rib or anything. It was dry cat food.    We also have a groundhog that lives in the back yard.  I don't think she realized that Saturday was Groundhog Day, though, as I never saw her make an appearance.  One day last summer, I was sitting on the porch, enjoying our Southern spring, and I looked in the yard and one of the kitties was sitting out there.  Next to the kitty was the groundhog, also sitting.  It looked like they were old friends who had met up and were passing the time of day.  I wish I'd had a camera.  It was so cute.

Janie Mae has graced me with her presence again.  I guess she's forgiven me for whatever slight she felt I had made to her. It's a bad feeling to be snubbed by your cat.

This is Janie Mae. She has freckles on her nose.  She's cute. :)

I think I hear the Sandman coming. I probably should go welcome him.

Til later,

Morado

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