West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper

Besides the iPad2, this was another really cool gift I got!  It's a new fangled popcorn popper!

When I was a kid, hot air poppers were all the rage, but I never really liked the popcorn it made.  The hot air tended to make the popcorn ever so slightly most and chewy.  It was never as good as the kind you made in a pot on the stove, but, it was a a lot easier and something a kid could make.

Then came the advent of microwave popcorn.  Which seemed fine and dandy until that report came out about how you're not supposed to breathe in the steam when you first open a bag of it.  Because it causes cancer or something terrible like that!  (Doctors are going to have to take out Medical Malpractice Insurance just to guard them against mis-diagnosing popcorn cancer!)

??!!!!???

Not to mention, have you ever noticed the amount of fat and calories in one normal bag of microwave popcorn?  Popcorn - something that used to be a healthy snack??

I got to thinking that I'd like to get away from microwave popcorn.  Besides being totally unhealthy, it's expensive!  It's WAY cheaper to make popcorn just using popcorn kernels and some oil.  The one problem with this is that I am terrible at making popcorn in a pot - I always seem to burn the popcorn in the bottom of the pot, and that pretty much takes the fun out of the whole thing.

However, they make this new-fangled West Bend Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper that uses oil and kernels to make it for you!  It even has a mechanism in the bottom that stirs the kernels around!  It's really cool!  You can even melt pats of butter on the top which melt and drip onto the popcorn below as it's popping.  Then when it's finished, you invert the whole thing and voila!  A bowl of buttery popcorn that isn't 3,000 calories, won't give you cancer if you breathe in the steam and cost pennies to make!  Sweet!

We just added a little salt and it was super yummy!  Just like making it in a pot, except it wasn't black on the bottom, ha ha!

How do *you* make popcorn?

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Cat Clothes

I've had a few pictures on this blog now with Angel Kitty wearing "Clothes".  But this is by far her cutest outfit - it's a little pink button down sweater!!!  It's SO CUTE!

She doesn't seem to mind wearing "clothes".  I actually looked around at Christmastime hoping to find some "clothes" for cats, but I could only find dog clothes.  The clothes we've put on Angel are mostly Build a Bear clothes, or doll clothes.  We have a little Santa hat that we actually put on both the cats, but I didn't take pictures (I know!).  I bet she'd even look cute in some Roberto Cavalli Sunglasses!  She is really the sweetest, most tolerant kitty.  :-)

I'd love to find clothes that are actually designed for cats...Do any of you know where one could get clothes for cats?  A website?  A pet store?

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Caught Ya!!!

Ok, this isn't as bad as smuggling la flor dominicana cigars or weapons on to a plane, BUT I caught the Husband sneaking my carrot wheels before dinner was served!

GUILTY!

He thought he was so clever hiding behind his laptop at the counter, but I was on to him!  In his defense, he was hungry.  :-)  You should have seen how many forks of mashed potatoes he had too, lol...

Actually that is something I have such a hard time with - refraining from eating the food I'm cooking before I even sit down to dinner!  My grandma was notorious for this, lol.  Must be in my genes, so it's not really my fault, right?  :-D

The thing is, sometimes you *do* have to taste the food you're making to make sure the seasonings are right.  You just have to have the self control not to go past the "testing" phase, lol!

Do you eat the food you're cooking while you're making it?

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Angel Kitty Enjoying the Fire

Here in the northeast we haven't had any real snow since the October snowstorm.  However, the weather this week has been really dreary and gray.  The Husband has made some fires for us, to cozy up the joint.  There's Angel Kitty in her little shirt, enjoying the warm, crackling fire.  Cats just seem to love heat.  In our old house we had a wood burning stove and our old cat Basil used to nap pretty much UNDER the woodburning stove while it was ON!  Used to scare me, but as much as I'd pull her out of there, right back she'd go.

Do your kitties love the heat too?

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My First Homemade Christmas Dinner!

We always used to travel to someone's house for Christmas, until a couple of years ago.  Then we started spending Christmas at home, just the three of us.  Which is fine because it eliminates any drama, hurt feelings, or wondering where we are going to go for the holiday.  Much simpler this way.

We used to just have appetizers and whatnot all day, which was great.  But for some reason, this year I had the urge to make a roast beef dinner.

I have a really good recipe using and eye round roast.  It uses bacon.

Look!  I didn't overcook it!  It was a Christmas miracle!  And there was bacon.

I even successfully made homemade gravy.  I made (homemade) mashed potatoes and "wheels" (fresh carrots cut into circles - it's time consuming but it tastes better because it's made with love).  (We only had to wear a holter for 24 hours afterwards to make sure our hearts kept beating after all that red meat and bacon, ha ha!!)

What did you have for Christmas dinner?

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Oldie But Goodie - Deviled Eggs

We often are asked (or expected, lol) to bring the deviled eggs to family gatherings.  These are the deviled eggs I brought for Christmas Eve:

I even have a really great Pampered Chef dish that has rounded forms to hold the eggs, AND the holder itself is an icepack, which keeps the eggs nice and cold.

If you look for deviled egg recipes you'll find all kinds of funky things people add - pickle juice, relish, vinegar, dried mustard, you name it.  Recipes just can't be simple anymore - everyone's gotta add their "take" on it.

Well, our recipe - which everyone raves about - is just egg yolks, salt, pepper and mayo.  THAT'S IT.  Can you believe it?!?!?!?!  The way grandma used to make it!  Don't be adding new fangled crap to put your own "twist" on it - IT DOESN'T NEED IT!  :-P

(Of course when "grandma" used to make it, one would be out in the fields later working off all those calories.  Nowadays you'll have to find a gym in richmond or your own town or whatever to work off those deviled eggs, ha ha!)

Ok, tell me how you make YOUR deviled eggs.  I promise I won't berate you.  :-)

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Don't Make Christmas Breakfast Before You've Had Your Coffee

Because you might forget an ingredient.  In this case it was the CHEESE!

It was still good, but would definitely have been better with cheese, because what isn't better with cheese?!?

That's a brand new pan I even bought to make it.  My old 11x7 metal pan bit the dust and became a grease catcher for our BBQ up at our Adirondack cabin.  I haven't had to buy a metal pan in ages and I don't know what kind of metal this one is made of, but it seems very sturdy.  Almost like the feel of the kind of metal they use on metal buildings, like for storage or whatever.  Hopefully it won't rust for a long time.

Anyway, there was some leftover and when I reheated it I put cheese on top.  Because what doesn't taste better with cheese on top?!?  :-)

What did you have Christmas morning?

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Baby Jesus in His Manger

Just thought I'd share this shot I took - I noticed after I took it that there was an angel hanging on the tree right above him!

Ok, so I love my iPad, but Jesus is DEFINITELY the BEST present!  :-)

The end.

Merry Christmas!

I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a wonderful holiday!  I have lots to share with you from our celebration.

Just to sort of finish the broken Christmas tree saga, here is our Walmart $88 "Donner Fir" in all it's cheap glory on Christmas Eve with the presents under it:

You can kinda see Baby Jesus at the front in his cardboard manger, wrapped in a 1970s afghan.  Hey, I did the best I could with what I had!!

Christmas Eve is traditionally spent at my Dad's house.  My brother and his family come over, and this year my step-mom to be was there as well.  It was a very nice evening.  My gift from my Dad for Christmas (and my next birthday and...lol...) was an iPad2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My favorite app so far is "Words With Friends" and it has been a veritable "Words With Friends Festival" around here the past few days.  (If anyone wants to play with me, apparently my user name is this:  Carolesthought.)

Christmas morning was really nice.  The daughter is older now and instead of just ripping all the paper off and making a gigantor mess (that I'd want to hire cary cleaning services to clean up!), we go around in a circle, taking turns and kind of "savoring" each gift, and having the chance to see what each of us got.

What was your favorite present that you got for Christmas?
If you have an iPad, tell me your favorite apps!

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What I'm Making for Christmas Breakfast

Picture from http://alskamom.wordpress.com/

I saw this at the At Home in Alaska blog (although she apparently got the recipe from Pillsbury).  It's called "Bacon Cheese Pull Aparts" and it's what I'm making for Christmas breakfast.  Alaska is always baking the most appealing, mouthwatering stuff - if you like to bake you should definitely check out her website!  I gain five pounds just visiting her blog, lol!  I go right from her blog to Weight Watchers or bike racks at cracksandracks.com to try to balance things out, ha ha!

We never used to be that big on Christmas breakfast until a couple of years ago when we started celebrating Christmas at home and I was looking to start some new traditions.  Our usual plan for the day is after breakfast and presents, to shower and change into new Christmas jammies and play Wii all day.  This year I'm even going to try to make a really nice dinner, rather than just snacks and appetizers - I'm making a roast beef from a good recipe I have.  Just praying I don't over or undercook it, in between MarioKart and Just Dance, ha ha!  Oh, and also a chocolate cake for dessert.  Recently I had the best chocolate cake I've ever had, and I was lucky enough to get the recipe.  I am already thinking about that chocolate cake.... :-D

What are you making for breakfast Christmas morning?  How about Christmas dinner?  Do you have a traditional dish, or do you like to change things up every year?  

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Something Tells Me This Kitty Isn't Getting Anything From Santa This Year

What a heart warming holiday photo!

I bet Santa sure has some fascinating stories to tell about things that have happened to him while visiting with children and pets.  And there probably isn't even any insurance that covers things like children vomiting all over your suit, cat scratches or ear-splitting screaming children.  That Santa sure is a tolerant guy to sit through all those holiday photos.

Speaking of holiday photos, did you hear about the Eagan Family Christmas cards?  The Eagans are a family from Minnesota that dress up (even as adults) for Christmas themed photo cards every year.  The Mom makes the costumes and the pictures are hilarious, but so well done!  I think my favorite one is of all of them as snowflakes - they are all such good sports!  If you haven't seen or heard about them, here's a link to a news segment and they show a whole bunch of the cards they've done over the years:  Eagan Family Over The Top Christmas Cards.  If you're experiencing holiday "stress", this will give you a much needed laugh!

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More Thoughts Too Short for a Whole Blog Post - Christmas Edition

Our $88 Walmart "Donner Fir".  All decorated, it's not too bad, is it?

I was at a liquor store the other day to pick up some items, one of which was grenadine.  I couldn't find it so I asked a grandpa-age gentleman who worked there and he led me to the shelf where they had a few different brands.  He started explaining about each one, but I quickly interrupted him to say, "Oh, it's just for Shirley Temples".  He immediately reached for the cheap, vat-sized bottle and handed it to me with a wistful smile.  "Gee, can't remember the last time I got to make a Shirley Temple".  Awwww.....

When our daughter was little, Santa used to wrap and leave gifts for Moocow too!

Speaking of Moocow, she laid in the manger while we put up the tree to keep the cats out of it until we could put it underneath.  (She said it was very nice and that Baby Jesus will like it.  :-)

Each Christmas, the Husband and I address the tags on the gifts we exchange with one another with all kinds of silly names and nicknames.  Half the fun Christmas morning is picking up each package to see what the Husband has called me.  (Or what name I've called him!)  For example, early in our marriage the Husband used to complain that when I'd get out of the shower, the carpet and floor would be all wet, so he started calling me "The Watermonger" - and no doubt I will be getting a present addressed to "The Watermonger" this year.

In my travels as I've been Christmas shopping, I've been wishing people the politically incorrect "Merry Christmas!".  SO THERE!!!

One year a neighbor who dresses like Santa Claus offered to come to our house in the wee hours of the morning so our daughter could "catch" Santa at our house delivering gifts (the real Santa had some earlier in the evening).  So "Santa" comes in the front door, jingling some bells, stomping his feet a bit with some hearty "Ho Ho Hos".  I'm standing outside the daughter's bedroom, watching for the moment when she awakes and realizes Santa is here.  Nothing.  The dog trapped in our bedroom is now barking up a storm, and I hear a few more louder "Ho Ho Hos" from downstairs and....nothing.  Our daughter sleeps on.  So I decide to go in and gently shake her and I say, "Santa's here, Santa's here!".  Nothing.  Finally I start shaking her vigorously and I start shouting, "SANTA'S HERE!!  SANTA'S HERE!!"  Finally she awakens, although by the look on her face I can tell there is zero comprehension of what is going on.  "Why is Mommy shaking me and yelling in my face in the middle of the night??" I'm sure she wondered.  Downstairs "Santa" jingles his bells again and lets out yet another few "Ho Ho Hos" and I finally see by our daughters face that SHE FINALLY HAS WOKEN UP AND REALIZED THAT SANTA IS HERE!  Usually Santa has to sneak around quietly when he's delivering presents, but not at our house, sheesh!

Someday when I am ruler of the world, I am going to dispatch teams of people to go collect all copies of the songs: "Happy Christmas" by John Lennon, The Christmas Shoes sung by Alabama (or anyone else for that matter - TOO SAD!!!!!) and "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid.  Then I will take every last cd, record, cassette and mp3 of those songs, pack them into a rocket, and shoot it to the farthest corner of the universe.  This action will inevitably result in saving mankind from alien invaders as no life form would want to come here if that's the kind of music that will be playing.  You're welcome.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  :-)
The end.

End of the Christmas Tree Saga

We did get a Christmas tree after all.

"Donner Fir"

We were out and about on Saturday and took our lives in our hands and went to Walmart in search of a cheap, artificial tree.   (Pretty much the only thing I can think of that's worse than trying to buy a Christmas tree the week before Christmas is trying to buy maternity clothes when you've reached the size of a whale.)  They had one we thought was decent for $88.  The way we looked at it was that a live tree usually cost us about $50, so if we bought this fake tree and used it at least two years, it was basically a wash.

I figured that if some ornaments and love could make the Charlie Brown Christmas tree look good, maybe the same would be true for our $88 Walmart special.

We put it up on Sunday and it's really not half bad.  I'll take some pictures of it now that it's decorated and you can see what you think.  

I tucked our little manger underneath it, all ready and waiting.  (I didn't want to leave it out in the open - I am a tiny bit worried one of the cats might not know it's a manger, and instead mistake it for a type of "box" they're more familiar with.  Better to be safe than sorry I always say!)

The only thing I'm a little worried about in regard to this tree is that the name of this particular tree is "Donner Fir".  Which reminds me of the fateful "Donner Party".  I hope that there is nothing about this tree that has anything to do in any way with that terrible story!  Like, I hope we don't have some terrible blizzard Christmas week, and run out of food and resort to...well, nevermind!

The end.

Christmas Came Early!

You might be expecting that with a title like that, I'm going to be telling you I got some great early Christmas present.  Well, I did - but not in the way you are thinking.

You see, I find it so hard to keep my focus on the "reason for the season" during Christmas.  So much busy-ness, so many gifts to buy, cookies to bake, house to decorate, family friction to deal with, and parties, parties, parties.  I've noticed that I'm not thinking about Baby Jesus while I'm waiting on line at the crowded mall, nor do I feel much of a divine spirit of peace and joy while singing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" in the car while I'm sitting grumbling about the holiday traffic.

It's hard to experience the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of it all.  For me, anyway.

However, about a week ago I went to a local coffeehouse to hear a friend of mine and her group perform.  Admission was free.  I happened to discover some other friends of mine were there, and they made room at their table for me.  The first half of the concert was worship music and songs from the group's CD.  The second half was a Christmas Carol sing-a-long.  As I sat among friends, I realized it had been a long time since I really, really listened and took to heart the words of the Christmas carols I'd sung hundreds of times.  And then I had my Christmas moment.  Like the Grinch said, "It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes or bags!"  Singing songs praising the good news of Jesus' birth, and thinking about how all that the prophets foretold had come to pass, a baby born who came to save us all - appreciating the greatest gift God could give us - His son.  And what that means to me.  In the famous words of Linus:  "That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

So as you know if you've been reading my blog lately, we currently don't have a Christmas tree (the new one we bought turned out to be defective and we had to un-decorate it and return it.  Yeah, I was *so* pondering the real meaning of Christmas during that whole nightmare, NOT!  lol...).  I got to thinking, I wonder why in the world do we put presents under a pine tree for Christmas anyway??  (YES I KNOW I COULD GOOGLE IT AND FIND OUT but the point is, it's some age-old tradition whose meaning has been long since forgotten.)  If anything, wouldn't it make more sense, if we're going to put presents under or around something, to put the presents out for Baby Jesus instead of stick them under a pine tree??

So, although I'm sure we'll still get a tree (don't get me wrong - I love all the fun Christmas traditions just like the next person), I decided that I was going to make a manger to put by the tree, to help us to remember - it's not all about the presents or the tree - it's about Jesus being born!  I rather tentatively told my (almost) 13 year old daughter about this idea, and instead of her all-too-common-lately response of rolling her eyes at me as I'd expected, she thought it was a great idea!  Once I regained consciousness at the surprise that my "tween" thought I in fact actually had a good idea, my daughter and I found a suitable cardboard box.  I made it into a manger using glue, construction paper and packing tape (I was an art major in college you know, although believe me I won't be out looking for business funding to start a Mangers-R-Us or anything).  We filled it with raffia to look like hay.  Then we went into the basement and dug out her bin of old "baby dollies" and picked one out to be Jesus.

So whenever we figure out what we're going to do for a tree, we're going to put our little manger by the tree - empty, waiting.  And Christmas morning I'll put our Baby Jesus in the manger so in the midst of the wrapping paper, ribbons and tags, we'll be sure not to forget He is the best present of all!  :-)

The end.

My Bakery Crew

Here was my bakery crew:

That's my daughter, American Girl Gwen, and Moo Cow (of course).  (Baking is hard work so a little slice of pizza was in order, before we started.)

Two days and lots of messes later (but only one unplanned visit to the grocery store!), the finished products:

That should be enough for three people, huh?  LOL....

The end.

My Homemade Cookies Actually Look Homemade

Not that that's a good thing, ha ha!

Well although we are in modern times, at least the cookie cutters still have the old fashioned familiar Christmas shapes.  (Well, maybe not the cow so much, but c'mon, you know *my* family would have to have a cow cookie cutter!)  Wouldn't it be funny to come out with "modern" cookie cutters?  And they could be sponsored by companies too!  How about a "Toshiba Laptop cookie cutter", or "The iPad 2 cookie cutter" (time to throw out last years 1st Gen iPad cookie cutter), or "lg phone batteries cookie cutter", or the "Directv Satellite Dish cookie cutter", lol!

At least thank goodness some thing stay the same!

Oh and let me just show you one of the cookies the Daughter did - I thought it was particularly nice...

Moo Cow approved.  :-D

The end.

Vegetarian Gravy???

I am constantly amazed by the things I don't know about.

I saw a post earlier today on a message board I frequent.  It was asking for a recipe for "vegetarian gravy".

???

Ok, first of all, isn't some sort of "meat juice" like, the main component of gravy? But ok, ok - I can imagine there must be some creative ways to make gravy without meat...

However, what on earth would you put "vegetarian gravy" on???  Isn't gravy generally for...MEAT??

I shouldn't be surprised.  I couldn't believe it when Discovery Channel came out with the show "Gold Rush" and I found out that there are actually people still looking for gold in Alaska!  (Love that show, btw!)

I couldn't believe it when I found out people make a living out of scouring beaches with things like garretts metal detectors - and how much stuff they find and money they make!  (I don't want to link any sources here, but if you google making money using a metal detector, you will be amazed at what people are doing.)

I remember when I was first married and I couldn't believe that the potatoes are included in the box of "Scalloped Potatoes"!  That was a good one...

So, does anyone know what you'd put vegetarian gravy on?  Tofu?  Tofurkey maybe?  You know, that is just too much trouble.  If you're not going to eat meat, then don't go through all this effort to make fake meat and fake gravy.  That is just TOO silly.

The end.

Do You Ever Wonder if What You Do Matters??

Hey, be glad I took a picture of the *clean* laundry piled up instead of the dirty! :-)

Sometimes I look around at my friends' and family's accomplishments...Whether it be in their career, or Christian life, or even as parents (I have two friends that have FOUR children AND homeschool them all for Pete's sake!), I think to myself that my "accomplishments" sure seem mundane.  Gee, I got all the laundry done...made dinner...picked up the Daughter from school...took some senior citizens shopping...uhhhh....  Presumably when our daughter is older I'll go back to work but I don't even know what I want to do!  Go back to being a secretary?  Look into Nursing Aide Jobs?  Go to the employment agency and take my chances?

I don't feel like I'm a "Superstar" at anything, and I'm not sure I'll ever be one...

Well lately there's been this song on the radio that makes me feel better about the "little" things I do.  Whether you're a man or a woman, working on Wall Street or flipping burgers, if you ever wonder if what you do matters at all, maybe you'll like this song too.  (At the end is a link to a YouTube video that plays the song and displays the lyrics, if you'd like to hear the actual song.  The video is really nicely done, and it's a really good song, to boot!)

Steven Curtis Chapman - Do Everything

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor

for the 15th time today

Matching up socks and sweeping up lost

Cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips

and head out the door

And while I may not know you I bet I know you

Wonder sometimes does it matter at all

Well let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you

Cause He made you to do

Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face

And tell the story of grace

With every move that you make

And every little thing you do

Maybe you’re that guy with the suit and tie

Maybe your shirt says your name

You may be hooking up mergers, cooking up burgers

But at the end of the day

Little stuff big stuff in between stuff

God sees it all the same

And while I may not know you I bet I know you

Wonder sometimes does it matter at all

Well maybe you’re sitting in math class

Maybe on a mission in the Congo

Maybe you’re working at the office

Singing along with the radio

Maybe you’re dining at a five star

Or feeding orphans in Myanmar

Anywhere and everywhere you are

Whatever you do it all matters

So do what you do and don’t ever forget

to do

Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you

Cause He made you to do

Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face

And tell the story of grace as you do

Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you...

Click Here for the Video with Lyircs

The end.

Artificial Christmas Trees Made in the USA

My sister-in-law, upon reading our Christmas tree plight, recommended to me the company that her artificial tree is from - she said theirs is a "Mountain King" tree, which is sold by uschristmastree.com.  She said their tree is very life-like and beautiful and in great shape - and it's over 10 years old.  Also, she pointed out to me that the trees from this company don't contain lead - this wasn't even something I realized I had to worry about.  Their trees are made from recycled materials, and of course provide jobs for Americans.

(On a side note, in some of the testimonials, I noticed some people were commenting how lightweight the trees are, and that they appreciated that.  After manhandling the defective Martha Stewart tree, and practically needing to attend a Back pain seminar afterwards, I can now appreciate that too!)

Anyway, I am going to call them today just out of curiosity, to see if they could still ship one here in time for Christmas, in case this is what we decide to do.  But I figured after buying a tree that broke in less than 30 days made in China (surprise, surprise), I thought maybe like me, some of you would be interested in checking out an artificial tree made in the USA (this isn't a paid post, btw).

In the meantime, I have made a manger our of a cardboard box, glue, and packing tape.  I'll explain what that's all about in another post.

The end.

2011 Gingerbread House

Every year I am a lame Mom and instead of doing a homemade gingerbread house, I buy a kit and my daughter makes that.  (It's ok because the pre-baked kit one probably has a far greater chance of success than if I tried to make one myself, ha ha....)  Anyway, if you've ever thought of trying one from a kit it's fun and not terribly time consuming.  The last few years I have bought the Wilton gingerbread house kit - it's the best of the ones I've tried.   Anyway, here's the before:

And here's the after!

And incidentally, I un-decorated our defective Martha Stewart Christmas tree and returned it to Home Depot this morning without incident.  Not sure what we're going to do for a tree.

The end.

Our Precious Kitty Friends

My future Stepmother's cat Rusty - isn't he a big ol flufferbutter?

My Dad has never understood anyone's love affair with cats.  (Not surprisingly, he's a dog person, lol.)  But you know if you read this blog, how much I love my dear kitties.  And a funny thing is that my future Stepmom is a huge cat lover too.  So my father has to constantly hear us sing the praises of these wonderful creatures, ha ha!  He is amazed you can even buy some of the same things for cats that you can buy for people - like clothing, crystal dishes, strollers (I have one!), even urinary incontinence products and "wheelchairs".  *I* know there is nothing better in the world than a soft head butt from your kitty pal at the end of a hard day, or the the welcoming "brrrr" and a tail held high when you come in the door.  I could go on and on.  I mean, a few posts back I even showed our Angel Kitty supervising us as we fixed the dishwasher!

If you are a fellow cat lover and you have a few minutes, check out this touching, amazing tribute to a fellow cat lover's friend "Sweetie" - Love Story to Sweetie.  I'll admit it, I did cry at the end.  :-)

Do you or did you ever have an amazing feline friend?

The end.

The Martha Stewart Living Prelit Sparkling Artificial Pine Christmas Tree is BEING RETURNED

You all know how much I *loved-loved-loved* this tree.  Well, here's how it looks now.  A portion of the lights on the top section of this Martha Stewart Living 7.5ft Prelit Sparkling Pine Artificial Christmas Tree suddenly stopped working.  Which is really a surprise as the box specifically says, "Continuous-on technology (lights stay lit even if a bulb gets damaged, is loose, or burns out)."

I called customer service a couple of times and they had me try/check a few things to try to get the lights on to no avail.  They ended up offering to send us a string of lights to get us through the holiday, then after January 15th I should fax a copy of my receipt and they will send a FexEx pre-paid label so I can send them the top portion of the tree, which they will repair and send back.

Based on the fact that this tree did not even work properly for 30 days, I have no faith whatsoever that more lights aren't going to go out.   What, next January we'll be mailing the bottom portion back?  Then the year after that we'll be SOL 'cause the warranty is up?

No thanks.

So, I'm going to have to un-decorate our Martha Stewart Living 7.5ft Prelit Sparkling Pine Artificial Christmas Tree and cart it back to Home Depot.  I hope their receipt printer burns out with refund slips for people bringing these defective trees back.

I don't even know what to do now.  The whole reason we bought an artificial tree was because we're tired of being ripped off by the Christmas tree farms.

Well, thank you to Martha Stewart and the National Tree Company for a very heart-breaking Christmas memory.

The end.

P.S.  You can bet I will be updating my original post reviewing this tree with this new information!

Oh You'll Never Believe What's Broken Now

The Christmas tree.

Yes, our brand new, beautiful, snowy, glittery, prelit "Martha Stewart" Christmas tree that I loved so much and wrote about.  The lights on the top are out.  Which is totally not supposed to happen because the box specifically says that even if one light goes out, the rest stay on.

I called the company and they said, with the lights still on, take out each bulb that is "out" and when you get to the bad bulb, the light string will come on.

I tried and I can't even get one bulb out.  I mean, if I knew which one was bad I could work on it with some pliers or something and would be willing to put in the effort, but I cannot possibly pull each and every bulb that's out, out.

I'm going to have to call the company back tomorrow and have more of a discussion with them, but I have a feeling I am going to be undecorating my snowy, glittery, beautiful tree and returning it.

Then, what to do?

Maybe I could make funny t-shirts that say "Martha Stewart Ruined My Christmas".

We recently watched Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas and they had a "Christmas Branch".  Maybe we'll just go cut ourselves our own "Christmas Branch" and be done with it.

I could cry.

The end.

Top Ten "Politically Correct" Christmas Carols

So the Husband and I hired our daughter to bring us coffee and toasted bagels this morning (she is looking for extra work to do around the house to earn money to donate to a women's shelter for Christmas through her school - in fact she has been so creative and shown such initiative she should see if triangle direct hires 12 year olds, ha ha...), and part way through the Husband's "everything bagel" (his favorite kind) he starts choking.  Thankfully after a sip of water and a few good coughs, he regained the ability to breathe properly.  Turns out he had just read number four of this list he got from a friend in his email:

Top Ten "Politically Correct" Christmas Carols

1.  O Holiday Tree

2.  Have Yourself a Merry Little Day of Winter

3.  Frosty the Snowperson

4.  Chestnuts Roasting on a Safely Contained, Continuously Monitored, Eco-friendly, Non-toxic Outdoor Fire (for which I do have a permit)

5.  Higher Power Rest Ye Merry Gentle People

6.  Grandma Allegedly Got Run Over By An Unidentified Non-Human Perpetrator

7.  Deck the Halls With Boughs of Un-Endangered Foliage (if office policy permits)

8.  Hark!  The Herald Mythical Winged Creature Sings

9.  I Saw Mommy Greeting Santa Claus With A Purely Platonic Expression of Inoffensive Affection

10.  I'll Be Home For a Short Time in December.

The end.

Kitty Supervises Dishwasher Repair

Thankfully the part for our broken dishwasher came very quickly AND the Husband had time that very night to fix it.  We did not expect Angel Kitty to take the role of Supervisor, but as soon as the Husband got down on the floor to start the repair, there she was overseeing everything from a comfortable vantage point:

Throughout the repair, she seemed satisfied with everything we were doing.  Oh, by the way, that's a High School Musical shirt she's wearing.  She's a big fan.

As usual I got to play "Assistant".  I mostly held a flashlight and handed the Husband tools.  Yes, I am wearing pajamas and a scarf.  Yes, I am aware that I sometimes make questionable fashion choices.

You see, you have to remember that Angel lived with another family before she came to us.  She is constantly surprising us with the knowledge and talents she gained while with them.  You can tell that she knows she has to keep her eye on me.

(Our daughter thought this was hilarious by the way, which is why I even have pictures of this - she was the photographer.)

Anyway, the repair went smoothly and my dishwasher is back in service, thanks to the Husband and Angel Kitty.

This is actually the second repair we've made on this dishwasher, plus we've already replaced one of the racks.  We have only lived in our house for 9 years yet can you believe we already had to replace our front loading washing machine and the hot water tank?  And we've repaired the microwave, the water softener, the refrigerator and the dishwasher (twice).  It's not even like these are cheap appliances - they are name brand, higher end models.  I also had a burner go out on my glass cooktop after about 4 years which we haven't replaced because you can't just replace one burner - they are a double unit.  So I still have three other burners and we'll wait for one more to go before we bother to pay the money to fix that.   Also, the zone valve for the hot water tank is on the friz...the Husband is still investigating that although we know how to work around that problem.

Does any company make appliances that last??  Normally if I won the sweepstakes or found a cache of golden eagle silver bullion bars I'd be thinking about what trips I'd take, what I'd buy, etc...instead I think I'd want to put it aside for appliance repairs!!!  Ridiculous!

Do you find your appliances are poorly made and constantly need to be repaired, or are we just the unluckiest people on Earth??

The end.

Farewell 'Til Next Year Adirondack Cabin

Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Husband went up on his own to visit the cabin one last time.  There were a couple of things he wanted to do before winter hits, and bring home a couple of things we forgot to grab the last time we were there.

Here is a picture where you can see some ice forming in "our" lake.  I told him to say "hi" to my minnows that he assures me can survive the winter.  He said they were deep in the lake for the winter and so he was unable to pass along my message.

Here is a photo of some of the "provisions" he brought to eat (don't worry, he had some "real" food to eat too):

That's a bagel, cheez-its, three chocolate chip cereal bars, three Slim Jims, a box of Whoppers, a candy bar from last Christmas, jelly beans, disposable coffee cups with Folgers instant coffee "bags" (like tea bags but with coffee).  Not pictured is the beer, which was keeping cold on the porch, ha ha...

Stay safe and snug little cabin until we see you next year...

The end.

He's Fixed his Alternator, his Computer Plug and the Hot Water Heater By Hitting Them With A Hammer, But No Such Luck for the Dishwasher

Yes, it's true.  A few good whacks with a hammer got his car's alternator working again, got the transformer on his laptop plug re-working three times now (so tired of replacing laptop plugs - would love to switch to an iPad or Asus Tablet PC), AND we seem to finally have the hot water heater working properly, after our good neighbor suggested hitting the valve zone mechanism.  However, unfortunately, our dishwasher was not so easy to repair.

This has been the year of broken things.  Early this summer we were a hair's breadth away from our hot water tank leaking water all over our basement (the Husband and a good friend replaced it themselves with a LIFETIME water tank! $$$$), about a month ago a spark plug FELL OUT of the Husband's engine ($$$$), the hot water heater stopped making hot water unless the furnace was running to make heat (the Husband fixed that one with a few taps of a hammer), our water softener stopped "making" salted water (DO NOT BUY KINETICO - we have had nothing but trouble!  Hubby took it apart and fixed it), and then yesterday our dishwasher dumped water all over the kitchen floor (and under and behind the fridge, niiiiiice).  Thankfully, the Husband is handy and diagnosed the dishwasher problem.  We ordered the part online, which amazingly was pretty cheap (don't know how we lucked out on that one) and it should be here mid-week.  In the meantime, I get to wash the dishes by hand.  It's a wonder we have any money left after building our Adirondack cabin and everything here breaking.  Seriously.  Thank goodness we're used to being frugal (in fact you can see the results of my latest attempt to see just how much I can cheap out on things in my post on a three-dollars-and-change home hair dye job over at sensiblehomemaker.com).

However, instead of just whining, I'm going to also notice the "bright sides":

On the bright side, now that the hot water heater is back making hot water all the time, at least I have hot water for washing the dishes by hand.

On the bright side, the Husband is very handy and has fixed most things himself.  Not having to call a repairman/installing stuff himself must have saved us thousands by now.

On the bright side, at least the dishwasher didn't break close to Thanksgiving!

On the bright side, we're not completely broke - not down to eating "bread sandwiches" (as my Father would say) just yet.  (But please God, PLEASE no more stuff breaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

On the bright side, the Husband AND I have learned how a lot of things work, and how to fix many things ourselves!  (You should see how good I'm getting at fiddling with the Kinetico water softener!  By the way, DO NOT BUY KINETICO!)

On the bright side, we have a home and heat and electricity, good health, and happiness (for the most part - we do have a pre-teen daughter, you know, ha ha), family, friends and a God that loves us, and I'm even getting a Stepmother (that I like, a lot!  She's not even going to make me clean out the cinders from fireplaces or keep me from going to the Prince's ball, LOL!!) - and all of that is a LOT to be thankful for, I know.

But please God, no more stuff breaking!!!

The end.