Thankfulness #47 Birthday Wishes

Today I am grateful for all the birthday wishes. I even got a card:

So thanks everyone!

Have a birthday kind of day!

Jo 🙂

Thankfulness #46: Cooking

Yesterday I was thankful for a few things: the pokey tree is gone, I hatched one of the new baby pokemon:

I got to do a little pokemoning around town:

We played with the slushy maker because the brother had never even noticed we owned it:

And I made a Beef and Beer pie which turned out lovely and delicious. It’s the same recipe we did for Halloween,  though then the bro did a lot of it.

And that’s what I’ve got. 

Have a happy penguin window display kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone, but it went well. We got those cookies done:

I finished making Mom’s present – the body is paper mache, the wings are cloth stretched over wire, and the fur is feathers. I am pretty proud of how it came out since I had no idea what I was doing and no directions of any kind:

 

I can’t say the weather was as cooperative, but though we didn’t get snow, we got some beautiful frost on Christmas Eve:

That day I also got an awesome early birthday present. A pair of lucky socks and an amazing homemade heating/cooling pack set whose cover matches the super amazing towel quilt (which I have my feet covered up with right now, incidentally):

That night we had our annual party, which involves enough munchies to last the entire week as leftovers 😉

Since we have a dinner with extended family on Christmas day, we opened our presents that night, too. We were supposed to give exclusively homemade gifts (or at least mostly homemade – like I had t-shirts printed up, but I designed them and did the art work) but some of us *cough* the brother*cough* didn’t want to cooperate with that, and of course Dad always just gives everyone gift cards. So, in the end we relaxed it and said we could buy stuff, which turned out good for me, because my dad is impossible to make something for. However, he did good with an airplane calendar, Trek jammies, and one of the two 35 MM film frames from the OS Star Trek (the other is still – hopefully- being shipped)

The hubby got a clock, a minion dish to keep all the stuff out of his pockets in, and an awesome Weedle shirt designed by me (and printed at Allied Shirts)

The bro also got a shirt, a LotR coaster set, and a Millennium Falcon blue tooth speaker.

And I cleaned up with a neck pillow ala hubby (he pulled out the stuffings and filled it with corn so I could heat it up for my neck – yes, people have been thinking about my neck this year!), a demon Harry from mom (Harrys are a legitimate thing in our house, we have a whole bunch of them from when we were kids that mom made – I apparently don’t have any photos uploaded except for the last Harrys we got, which was probably ten years ago.), while the brother opted for a large towel pillow, however it is waaaay too big, so we have to do some alterations on it (yes, I have a thing for the towel-y texture of towels. I find it immensely comfy). And then Santa (aka also the hubby) saw fit to gift me with a Ninja Coffee bar and some coffee:

So I had to try that out:

Yummy!

Christmas day was really warm, and we had the big family dinner that I didn’t get any photos of. mainly because it was so short that what time there was I spent either in the kitchen cooking or eating. Not sure why it was so short, since the weather was nice, but it went well, so that’s what matters. Hubby and I had plenty of time afterwards to clean up, do dishes, do some internet stuff, and then go look at Christmas lights. Essex usually has an amazing display, but this year they didn’t have very much at all. I guess people there had the same problem I had with not really feeling it this year. Though I admit, I finally got to hear some REAL Christmas music on the drive there and back – you know, stuff that is actually about Jesus and the angels, and all the stuff Christmas is based on rather than “Happy Holidays” and “Baby it’s cold outside”, and all the other secular crap that Slacker and those kind of subscription services play (don’t dare play the real stuff, do we?) so that did give me a burst of Christmassy feelings right there at the end. Now I know next year to f*** Slacker and all the rest and listen to the local country station (yeah, not being a fan of modern country, who knew??)

Also, going to Essex gave me the chance to take some gyms, and have some fun Christmas Pikachu fights:

Monday we finally hit the AMC in Council Bluffs to see Rogue One:

It was a good movie, and we all knew how it had to end because none of those characters are in Episode IV. Which is a shame because they are good characters. Seeing a young Leia and Peter Cushing in the movie was surprising – the wonders of CG – and I did miss the last five minutes because I had to run to the bathroom *sigh* but we’ll buy it when it comes out, so not a huge deal.

So, there was my Christmas. Now we’re back to business as usual-ishness (at least until New Years weekend). Hope your holiday was just as good!

Have a ninja coffee maker kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Thankfulness #45: Cookie Baking Time

I know.  I missed a couple days. Not because anything traumatic was going on, but just because I was busy and lost track of time. For instance on Friday I got my hair cut:

And we went shopping. Hyvee had some great items in the bakery I did not buy but enjoyed looking at:

Saturday I worked on Mom’s present -no pics coz I don’t want her to see it – and between Saturday and Sunday we got the dining room completely scraped, wiped down, and patched:

And today Mom and I made Christmas cookies! 

They still need frosted, but all that’s left after that is 3 kinds of candy. Even better than baking though was that we got along for a whole day. I think that’s some kind of record. 

And now I need to go to bed.

Have a getting along kinda day!

Jo 🙂 

Thankfulness #44: Facebook Live

Yesterday my best friend got officially engaged, and thanks to Facebook Live we got to see it happen, even though he proposed to her in Council Bluffs and I was sitting in my jammies in Villisca.

I’m also grateful that she has finally found someone who makes her and the girls happy. I think they’re a great couple – they treat each other as equals and seem to totally balance one another out, which is how this is supposed to work. I’m super excited for the wedding!

In other news around here we’ve switched vets for the cat who has the seizures. Her prescription was up and she needed tests run, which the vet we were using admitted could not be done for days, however they would not give her a couple of pills to get her through those days, even though they warned us at one point that if she had a sustained seizure she could end up with brain damage. This is their third strike. (the first being that the vet actually booted our fifteen year old arthritic chihuahua in the butt because he pooped on her “hard to clean mat”) They really don’t care about the well being of the animals at all, and are far more concerned with making sure they get paid.  Anyway, so we took her to the vet in Shenandoah this time (which was the same vet clinic we went to when I was a kid here – the vet himself has changed, of course), and they did the same tests (for literally HALF the price) and were surprised to find that the cat does not have just a seizure disorder, but rather a thyroid problem (her number was 10 when it is supposed to be a max of 4) that has probably been causing the seizures for the last TWO years, as well as driving her blood pressure up to insane heights that has caused her brain to bleed and even her eyes to hemorrhage (from the damage he said it has been this way for quite some time – meaning that other vet should have caught ALL of this!) He said if the phenobarbital stopped her seizures (which it did) it was just a coincidence. This makes me really furious because as I said, the other vet charged twice as much and – what? didn’t even look in her eyes? For crying out loud. There just isn’t words.

Muffins

In writing news, I am working on my Vampire Christmas story that just keeps going. It’s an attempt at replicated a Hallmark Christmas movie, but with vampires. It’s a lot of fun, for me at least. Then I need to finish my Ol’ man Wickleberry and the Zombie Bunnie, and try to get back to book 9. Yeesh.

Nothing new to report on the house *sigh* And it’s too cold to pokemon, so I am out of here for now.

Have an engagement video kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Thankfulness #43: penguins

Yesterday I was thankful for the plastic penguin. I’ve wanted one for years and finally got him. And he’s plugged in.

Have a penguin kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Thankfulness #41 & 42

I missed yesterday so I am combining two days. I’m a cheater. Sue me 😉

On Sunday I was grateful for the guys getting the ceiling in the dining room (almost) scraped. Hopefully this week we can start TSPing everything. ugh. this is taking so long!!

Yesterday I was grateful for my uncle, who, when hubby’s truck wouldn’t start, took the time to call down to find out if everything was okay and if we needed help, and offered the use of his vehicle in the future should it happen again. That was very thoughtful.

And now I need to work on my short story. Have a scraped ceiling kinda day!

Jo 🙂

PS here’s an old photo for the season:

Thankfulness #40: Game Day

Yesterday I was thankful for getting to spend the day playing FFXIII-2 With hubby. We’ve unlocked Serendipity and I forsee wasting some gil there.

Have a golden saucer 2.0 kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Jimmy Dean eggs sausage things, since this needed some kind of picture. 

Thankfulness #39: Expensive Ink

Yesterday we went grocery shopping. The crowds were no more than usual, and we had some fun, but the best part was the super expensive printer ink. 

Let me start by saying I don’t like our HP printer . It was bought when wireless printers were pretty new, to replace my Kodak. The Kodak made the most beautiful ,  professional looking prints, but the print head clogged all the time and had to be replaced at 30$ ( or was it 50$?). Because if that, hubby hated it, but I was willing to deal with it – then that wireless HP came along and hubby replaced – and got rid of – my wonderful Kodak. 

Fast forward. Kodak had quit making printers, but recently partnered with someone else to make a printer that has good reviews. So a couple montjs ago I marked it as a “to buy” and have been waiting for the day to drop 60$ for it. 

So, last night we needed to buy ink for that HP. The ink cost $62. Across from it was that Kodak printer for 60$ that comes with ink. Guess which we bought? 

Hint:

We haven’t hooked it up yet, but I’m excited to try it. If it prints good I can stop frequenting Office Max . 

And now my lunch is done . 

Have an expensive ink kinda day!

Jo 🙂

Thankfulness #38: Christmas Crafts

Yesterday I was thankful for making the cute little santas:

They came out cute and for once we mostly got along. Wish I could say the same for today 😦

Also did Christmas cards and the weekly turtle page and the bro started scraping the dining room ceiling. yay!

Have a happy Santa day!

Jo 🙂