Win Win Mentality

I thought this was a bit of garbage, but it turns out it was a beautiful mushroom in the middle of my yard!  Bloom where you're planted and it sure did!

I took down the homemade awning yesterday.  Only found one dead spider in it. No live ones!! :)

And the major win I did yesterday...

The ice maker in the kitchen fridge had died.  It worked SOMETIMES if the door got left open a crack all night or if I put some ice trays full of water underneath it.  It's kind of like it would suddenly gain a conscience.  "OH MY!  Where's my head!  I need to be making ice cubes!"

Well that worked just a few times.

In my online research, I found that there is a little thermostat thingy inside of the ice maker and it may have gotten too much moisture on it and it broke.  I could believe that.  It cost $30ish on one site and $9 on another.  But then it occurred to me that I had a whirlpool fridge in the garage that we use for overflow for big meals.  The ice maker water line isn't even hooked up!

So I researched further and found that the garage fridge ice maker was the exact same model!

So I unplugged it and removed the ice maker, plugged it back in.

Unplugged the kitchen fridge and replaced it, plugged it back in.

Oh and I found one of the container lids that we were missing behind the microwave that I had to move!

So win win!

An hour or so later, I heard the first clattering of our first batch of ice cubes!

I threw them out.  Kind of like making pancakes.  But this ice maker hadn't been used for years.

But it's working it's little heart out now!!

Tis the Season

We celebrated McThankMas with Robb's side of the family this weekend!  Pasta bar and lots of goodies.  YUM!  I gained 4 pounds.  I'm trying to work it off but cripes.

It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone.  

Hadn't seen some of them since last year and a couple for several years.  And met a couple new grandnephew/nieces this time too.

Also had a wedding shower for a nephew and his fiance who are getting married this next summer.

My sister-in-law knocked herself out with her planning and organizational skills.  She's amazing!

However after only cooking half the pasta, we still had twice as much as we needed.  

Cathy also made some fantastic centerpieces on the tables.  There were 3 Christmas Vacation themed. One A Christmas Story 

and even one for Robb's mom, based on Hallmark movies with a Hallmark Bingo game.

There was a ton of spaghetti sauce leftover and I brought home the opened stuff so she wouldn't have to throw it out as she was suggesting or tote it home, four hours away.  I got it all canned up yesterday in various sizes so we can use some for pizza sauce too.  

We also have a few quarts of the Elfredo sauce leftover too.  I have been trying to eat it up as much as I can and that might be related to the weight gain issue...  I am doing keto but the heavy whipping cream in it might be kicking my butt.

Jen and I agreed to freeze it in manageable portions as I can't can it easily.

I did find out that if you heat up a bowl of it and then chop up a couple hard boiled eggs and mix it together, it's pretty good!  I used up the last of the hard boiled eggs this morning so I'll have to be creative for breakfast tomorrrow.  Elfredo sauce over spinach?  Not bread, I can't do that.

hmmm

Anyway, we played Apple Schmear and hit apples all over the deck.  I hit one and found myself in a cloudy mist of apple juice!  The kids all cleaned up all the apple bits and washed off the windows. 

Not sure what they were all looking at over the edge of the deck, but my BeReal app popped up and I am a slave to the light of the waffle iron BeReal App.

 Everyone helped with the cleanup and it got clean, lickedy split.  

The house is all decked out for Christmas now.  I'm NOT going to risk my neck, lining the roof with lights.  I'm just decorating the porch this year.  Maybe I'll feel more energetic next year and put a HUGE star and Santa on the roof. HA!  Probs not, even if I DO feel energetic.

Got my nativity up and the porch goose is gracing a beautiful bench, given me by my bestie when she moved.

The circle light thingy was inspired by a decoration I saw at our local Earl May garden center.  I had found a log holder at a garage sale last summer, so I strung it up with lights and positioned a plasticky wreath in the center with lights too.  At night it looks pretty cool!  And then of course, Robb's leg lamp in the window.

There!

AND Robb's bagpipe hat along with the gold colored crown of thorns AND the 18 year old paper star that Meri made in kindergarten for the top of the tree.

Now the rest of the season is mine to enjoy!!!

Well, if I don't count all the things I HAVE to do.

I'm altering a sparkly dress to wear to a candlelight concert this weekend.  A friend from my widow group invited me to go along with her.  Looking forward to dressing UP!

Thankful for a Recap

 I've got an official hard boil egg peeler these days!  Isn't he a cute one?  And he peeled them all...

He was especially proud of one of them and after I let him cut a few himself, he claimed one will NOT have paprika or the other junk I was mixing with the mayo.  Just mayo please...  

And that's fine.  He actually had it on his plate for Thanksgiving dinner, but not sure if he actually ate it. He's a picky one.

Here is our freaky pilgrim people this year.  I found some child sized sunglasses, so by next year, we'll have some on the Mrs also so they won't freak people out.  It's the eyes...

Here is my pickle/olive relish tray fixings.  Not a carrot in sight!  I'll have a veggie tray for next year.

A pumpkin pie made from pumpkins I bought at Halloween.  I'd cooked them in the IP and then pureed and drained them.  I actually have another pumpkin draining now for future use.

And ummm Sweet Potato soufle.  OOh - that was good!

Robb smoked a turkey that morning and the house smelled divine. 

A college friend of ours, Dave, came for Thanksgiving dinner!  Meri, Shub, Ryan and Leon were here too.  It was a very nice time and we played some games afterwards until Leon went to his mom's that evening.  While Dave and Robb took him there, I pulled the livingroom all apart and got the tree mostly up.  I was wondering where a bruise on my arm came from and I just remembered those stupidly heavy tree pieces had gotten me...  Ugg, they can be heavy...

I just had the top pieces to go and then Robb and Dave got back.  Robb went out to the car and brought me his "not very well hidden" early Christmas gift!  I got a Little Giant ladder!  It helped me get the rest of the tree done but is still too short to change the lights in the ceiling fixture...  shoot.  

I came up with lots of unsafe ways to put the ladder so I could reach it and we ultimately decided to borrow one from our church.  That's probably the best thing to do... OR borrow one from his brother.  

On Friday, the girls and I decorated our own trees in our own homes, but together via DUO.  

Meri had some Christmas music going and we enjoyed some girl time together.  We're planning a craft day next weekend, I hope!  I've got some Swedish Christmas stars to make!

I saved a bag of ornaments for Leon to put on the tree and he mostly played with the ladder when he got back the next morning.

For which he is very thankful.

Also that morning, Meri, with our help, threw Shub a surprise graduation party at our house! 

We had found a cap and gown for him so his family could see him all dolled up for graduation!  He wore it proudly. 

His family and friends were all on either WhatsApp or Duo to wish him well.  I got to KIND of meet his mom and sister!

What a fun graduation party! The "guests" didn't stay on long, but they visited as much as they could before they hung up.

   We had cake and ice cream and then lots of Indian food for a brunch.  

He is a college graduate now! and the party was a total hit as a surprise.

We made Butter Chicken and carrot pudding, his favorite dishes.  Not sure how WELL I made them, but I guess I could pass as a weak Indian chef if needed.  The recipe helped...  And he was very complimentary.

We all played board games and even had Maddy and Matthew join in remotely via DUO for a good game of Dungeon Mayhem, our latest favorite game.  Leon is really good at it too, but he opted to play on the computer instead. We tried to get a game of Clue going, also a favorite of Leon's, but when you play with more than 2 players, the rules change slightly and that's when we realized how low on sleep he was.  Hmmm... maybe he needs a nap, do you suppose?  However he did not nap...  And Meri and Shub took that as their cue to leave.

I visited with my MIL at the nursing home and then visited with Ada around the bend for a while too.  MIL is getting settled in a recuperating room, after being at the hospital for 3 weeks.  It's awkward to get things to her and especially now since she can't talk.  Not sure what's causing that, but she seems to be getting stronger.  Also not sure when she'll be coming home.

So, it was a whirlwind of dirty dishes all weekend.  By Saturday afternoon, I'd forgotten what day it was.  4 days off from work will do that to you.

But I would so do it again!

Puns and Pink Food

So this morning, it was pink eggs (forgot the ham) and jellied toast.

The boy was begging for me to pack him a lunch, but I think he'll like what the school is serving today and tomorrow.  We'll wait until they serve tuna fish sandwiches or something equally (in his eyes) musgusting.

Leon didn't eat very much at all (mainly because he slept too late and it was hard to get him moving this morning) so I ended up enjoying the rest for my breakfast.  

Spent the evening last night moving around furniture.  Will probably offer some up on the local swap pages today.

AND I think my camera charging port is shot.  Do people fix those??  Or do you just go buy another?  In my sorting of things in the garage and my office, I found roughly  6.2 million cameras, digital and otherwise out there.  Replaced for one reason or another.  Don't know.  Also don't know if we have the cables, batteries or sd cards to fit them.  What do we do with them??

I guess I need to be ruthless.

Sorry for the pun, Ruth Ann...

I should probably pitch them.

While waiting for my computer and router to reset, I looked into figuring out a way to decorate my office with buttons.  Nothing ELSE to do with them at the moment... 

Mend things??  ME???!

Probably never...

Well, everything is back up and working like it should.  I should probably too.

Have a great day!

Mean Streak MADdy weekend

This has been a MAD weekend!  

In honor of Halloween, Friday night, Meri and I tried to find a scary movie to watch on Netflix.  We narrowed the options down to 4 PG 13 movies.  Two of them had very cliche type summaries, like kids try to spend a night in a haunted mine kind of thing... or a man and his kids are in cabin in the woods and being stalked by a killer...

We settled on The Frozen.  It was slow moving and dumb.  I did NOT feel a connection with the main leads at all.  In fact, I was kind of hoping the girl would get killed first!  She was not a nice person...  

About 30 minutes into it, Meri said, Hey!  Want to try House II instead?  Well, that one was fast paced, but still dumb.   More of a B movie comedy/slasher than anything else.  And really?  Shoulder pads??  I guess it was made in the 80s.  We lasted about 30 minutes there too and Meri went downstairs.

No problem.  I had to pack anyway.  Robb and I left Saturday for the great white north that is Minnesota.  We met up with Maddy in time to take her and Leah to lunch at the campus cafeteria, shopped a little and then visited with them in their dorm room for most of the afternoon.  Laughed too loud for the people across the hall to handle.  We took them out for supper at the local Mexican restaurant and then got Maddy back to campus in time for her to warm up with the choir.  

I recorded the whole concert in pieces, but left the camera in the car...  Oh well.  Since I had to be on the "down low" they are only vocal recordings and the visual of the side of my leg.  

I managed to snap one pic of Maddy up close.  

This isn't the photo.  

This was taken with my cell phone on my computer screen from the concert posted online.

 

The concert was beautiful!  These are some very talented kids!  Afterwards, we and the girls visited a little more in the commons area and watched a certain bus roll up that has a certain someone on it that Maddy would like us to meet.  But NOT YET!!!!  Eventually...  

Robb and I got a hotel room in the next town, 30 minutes closer to home and were on the road by 5am Sunday.  Or 4am...  This OLD time, NEW time thing has me mixed up.  We got home in time to pick up Meri and head off to church.  I had a large Sunday school group to teach!  And wouldn't you know it, one of the 5 year old girls found herself in love with a new 5 year old boy.  It was awkward...

We dashed home after church to get Ryan to work on time and get the dogs taken care of.  After a WHOLE hour of relaxing, Robb and I headed out again to pick up Leon from his mommies, then off to a Reformation service 2 hours in the other direction.  Leon napped or watched a new Batman movie I picked up for him in Minnesota.  He had gotten SO sugared up on his weekend away, that he was totally incorrigible during the service...  I managed to sing with the choir on one song, then ditched on the other and let Leon play in their nursery for the rest of it.  We had a potluck dinner there before heading home.

I love my car, but right now, I am SO sick of it!!!  I sat in it for 12 hours this weekend.  I did figure out what outfit I'm going to make for myself for Robb's company Christmas party!  I had taken along my Burda magazines so Maddy and Leah helped me make my final decisions.  They also tagged a few other items for me to make for them...  We'll see.

Who knew sitting would wear you out so much!!!?

Oh!  Meri got the Thanksgiving decor up while we were gone!  WOOHOO!!!  Freaky Pilgrim people!!!

 

She staged a few photos around the house to freak Maddy out a little over Facebook...

LOL!  Meri has a mean streak!!!

Not Very Stable

The stable is SEW not up to par again this year...  

I've checked the blow up nativity every inch, nook and cranny and can find no leaks.  So we've decided that the motor probably just isn't going full tilt like it did the first few years.

Oh well...  At least Mary and Joseph are standing this year!  Baby Jesus needs a little duct tape on his back and another piece to hold on his blanket... 

But no room in the stable this year even!

I finally got it set up last night as well as a few more strands of lights and extension cords found.  Can't wait until the blizzard that I've scheduled for this evening, so the orange extension cords can be hidden from sight!

 The snow blower is ready.. I think...  I guess we'll find out!

Sewing for festivities

I got Maddy's dress done last night. And I mean "done". She texted me before she left band practice last night, twice.

"Mom - how are you coming on the dress?"

10 minutes later...

"I'm on my way home to help with the dress."

That's when I found my phone, found her messages... and started back on the dress.

Tuesday nights are a rush around here. Meri and I have Taekwondo and Robb makes dinner while we're gone. We don't eat until 7:30.BTW: Meri got her Brown belt last night at class! Her testing was on Sunday afternoon and she did a wonderful job of performing her form, sparring a strange kid and breaking her boards. She calls it her chocolate belt.So back to the dress by 8:30. Got the lace pinned on and then sewed it on. There is no way that lace is going to come off of her. So then Maddy tried it on and I took a pic on her cell phone so she could show it off to her friends who have been sharing THEIR dresse pictures for the past two months...

We're late bloomers here...

Oh! She doesn't want me to post any pics of her in the dress until after the dinner on Saturday. So I won't. Check back on Monday!

So before the school run this morning, Meri and I took the rest of the ornaments off the tree and I pulled it over and took it apart. A couple heavy pieces left to box up, but then it's down and I can vacuum that corner of my world once again. Oh and the place where one of the dogs barfed. Yeah... surprise!

This house WILL be in order before our dinner party on Saturday night!

I think I'll leave the white outdoor Christmas lights and garland on the front door tho...

It looks festive.

Did I ever tell you?...

Did I ever tell you that one of my many and various brother in laws is an artist? Well, he is.

Currently he's doing handy man work. But that just while he's attending a correspondence college to get a degree in computer animation. Some day hopefully he'll be working for Pixar! I'm positive he'll be on the Toy Story 7 animation crew... Just you wait!

Anyway, back when we bought our first house, the walls on my 2 years old bedroom were pretty blank. The whole house was... We had gotten in on the purchase when the house was half done, so we got to pick out carpet, paint and sod. We weren't real creative with colors... So his room was blah.

My sister, Melanie and her hubby came to visit either soon after or during the move and Mike brought his paints. I'd asked him to do a mural on Ryan's bedroom walls. Robb and I are big Calvin and Hobbs fans. We always knew that if we had a son, he would be just like Calvin. Wow, were we right!So Mike spent a morning drawing out the picture that we chose and then painted. Here's the almost finished product. On the opposite wall, he put a little bit more, so as you turned around, you had them dancing all around the room!We eventually moved, 4-5 years later. I thought those walls were the selling point of the house! A few years after that, the kids and I were doing a food drive for the 4H club and I happened to talk to the current owners - not the ones we sold it to. I told them we used to live there and asked about the Calvin walls. Bummer. He said that the people before had repainted all over and didn't know what we were talking about.

I think this is the only pic I have of it!