Surprise, Surprise

Walking down the hall to my closet yesterday I glanced in the bathroom and lo to my eyes what should appear, no not Santa and his reindeer, but rather a lovely green lizard.  And I don't think it was the Geico Gecko trying to sell me insurance.  But rather an Anole (chameleon) stretching his neck to look around.  I don't know who was more surprised, him or me.  Called for Mac who got a net and carried him outside.
Today has been spent taking down a bit more Christmas.  It sure goes up a lot quicker than it comes down.  I have the family room almost done and that's the room we use the most.  Mac has started hauling storage tubs down for me and I will get serious in the living room tomorrow.

Running Around

Went to the post office to mail  a package to our daughter, some of her stuff she now wants in Japan and one of her Christmas presents, a George Foreman grill that was too big and too heavy for her suitcase.  We thought with  Christmas over the post office would be empty, HA!  The line was out the door, but it moved fairly quickly.  It takes a while to mail an overseas package, everything that you've put on the Customs Slip must be typed into the system too.  And we won't even talk about the cost, told our daughter to think of it as another Christmas present.
Doctor visit for Mac and then off to the grocery store to stock up on some healthy food, think apples instead of chips, to start the New Year.
Now it's time to work on the house.

Tuesday in the Swamp

Excuse the screen I took it through the window.

Our daughter is safely home in Japan after her long flight, she only has to work one day this week and then everyone is off for New Years, a big holiday in Japan.
We woke to fog today, so a good day to stay in and start the yearend clean up.
Ate lamb sandwiches yesterday and then froze the rest of the lamb,  most of the pumpkin pie is gone, I made it and didn't particularly like the taste of it, though Mac and April did.
I got puzzles for Christmas and will pick one to start the New Year with.

The Day After

Our front yard with reindeer, Santa, Frosty and
packages.

Had to change out of my shining sweater,
our daughter said the blinking lights were giving her a headache.

Christmas was wonderful, so many gifts!!! Leg of lamb for dinner, oh so good.  Warm weather 78º on Christmas Day, felt very tropical.  Ate till we could hold no more, napped and watched football.
Today, up much too early, 4 AM and off to the airport for our daughter's early morning flight.  First leg of the journey home is done, she's in Houston waiting for her flight to Tokyo.  She'll be home in Fukuoka tomorrow night.
It was wonderful having her here this week, she helped with everything, brought us wonderful Japanese gifts and was just great to have here.  We've decided to not go to Germany in 2017 and will instead go back to Japan to spend time with her.  Mac is busy looking for flights as I type.

Christmas morning opening packages.

Deviling eggs for Christmas lunch and they were delicious

Christmas Card Exchange

I joined in with Amy at Love Made My Home for a Christmas card exchange and my partner was Anne at Annie OB Textiles.  She sent me this lovely homemade card.  I've been so impressed with all the homemade cards this year that I may try it next year.  In the meantime, we're off to the airport to pick up our daughter.
Don't know how much blogging will go on for the next few days, so just in case:

                    

                       Merry Christmas

She's On Her Way

Our lovely daughter has left her home in Fukuoka, Japan and is on her way here.  First she flies to Tokyo, goes through customs and flies for 14 hours to Washington D.C., has a 2 hour layover and will be here tomorrow afternoon around 2 P.M.  It's a long trip and I bless her for doing it.  She's what makes Christmas for us.
Cleaned the house some, usually give the place a good cleaning before having company, but it was too hard to do any deep cleaning.  Lots of good meals planned though and if there is one thing our family likes to do it's eat.
Still wrapping presents and Mac sold 3 more paintings in the last 2 days and they had to be packed up for shipping.  We've gone through most of our cardboard boxes, a couple of rolls of packing tape and all my brown wrapping paper.  There will be no more shipments till after Christmas.
Speaking of shipping, my present to my sister that we mailed last week came back to us on Friday more than a week after we had originally mailed it.  So we had to ship it out again yesterday, hope it gets to her before Christmas.

Five on Friday

It's Friday, again, they do come around quickly.  It's time to join in with Amy at Love Made My Home and all the other Friday Bloggers.  With just 9 days to go this Friday has to be filled with lots of Christmasy stuff.

First:    There are the Christmas pillows spread around the house.

Second:  I love Christmas and dress accordingly.  My new sweater lights up when you move or when it's hanging in the closet if you brush against it.  I thought about wearing it when we go to pick our daughter up Monday, but I'm afraid she'd disown me.  She's a bit more low key about Christmas.

This is the one that lights up

Third:   These are some of my Christmas earrings, I might get away with wearing them on Monday.

Fourth: The spirits are shiny and bright, we will be having Gluh Wein, a lovely German win served warm in the winter months.

Fifth:  Thought I'd leave you with a selection of Christmas paintings Mac has done for me through the years.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

A Few Random Thoughts

For some strange reason this is seeming like a long week.  I suspect it's because our daughter gets here from Japan next Monday and I'm trying to speed this week up .  Her room is clean, fresh linens await her, the bathroom is clean and Miss Kitty has covered everything in a fresh coat of cat fur.  What more could a girl want.
We're in for rain tonight and that's a good thing, it's too warm, in the 70's, and plants are producing pollen, bad, bad, bad, I was just beginning to breathe easily.
Do you "read", listen to books?  I've considered it, our library has a much better selection of audio books than ebooks.  But I'm so hyper and so easily distracted that I fear I'd never keep listening.
Watched a truly awful movie this weekend  and I don't say that about a lot of movies.  It was Independence Day Resurgence.  We loved the first Independence Day, it was well cast, decent script and lots of action.  This one was just awful, not well cast, side stories that just distracted and a poor script.  If I'd paid to watch it I would have wanted my money back.
Time to start lunch, hope the week speeds up.

Sunday in the Swamp

Baked cookies, wrapped packages, did the laundry, swept the floor, vacuumed, I am a one-armed wonder.
Rather warm here today, have the door open to let some fresh air in.  Wrapping small gifts while watching football, a nice Sunday afternoon.
Cooked those pesky chicken wings yesterday, the ones I bought by accident.  Roasted them in the oven and added a bag of sauce I had.  They were not too bad, I was surprised, wings are not my favorite part of the chicken.
Today though is comfort food: Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Corn and a Salad.  I've earned it.  Hoping you all are having a good Sunday.

Five on Friday

I'm a little late with this, but I'm getting there.  My new splint and the pain meds are making life much more comfortable.  So I'm joining in with Amy at Love Made My Home and the other bloggers for this week's Five.

First:  My new Sous Chef, Mac.  I can cut and peel, but I can't chop so he's taken over the job and like the Swedish Chef on the Muppets has thrown himself into the job.

Second:  One-handed an all, I managed to make Gingerbread Men this morning.  The first batch was made with whole wheat flour, because isn't that healthier?  Well, they look good, but taste like nothing.  The second batch was made with regular flour and taste much better.

Third:  My Christmas Amaryllis is blooming its head off.  The one from last year is growing, but don't know if it will bloom, so we bought a new one and it's just gorgeous.

Fourth:  I have a new set of candles, they're battery operated so I don't have to worry about Miss Kitty knocking them over.  She tries really hard not to knock things over, but accidents happen.

Fifth:  I bought a new Christmas tray when we were out shopping yesterday, don't know what I'm going to use it for, but it was only a dollar and too pretty to not buy.

That's my 5, hope you have a wonderful weekend.  

MD Update

Just a quick update.  Went to see my Doctor yesterday and he had my arm re-xrayed.  He says that with fine line breaks it can take up to 2 weeks for it to show up on an X-ray.  Well show up it did. I broke my left wrist.  I'm not in a cast, but rather a splint designed for carpel tunnel syndrome, it's so comfortable, best my arm has felt since I hurt it.  My left hand is now quite immobile so I have to do everything with my right hand.  So Blogging is going to become rather hit or miss.  I'll keep reading, but not much writing.
I'm off to stick gifts into bags and boxes, think paper may be beyond me.

A Busy Morning

Woke to rain, our first real rain since the 8th of October and they say there's more to come.  So humid though, our morning walk was not fun.  Boxes and boxes to be wrapped for shipping, Mac has sold some paintings and a guitar, plus boxes to family members.  My gosh shipping is high, the post office should be the best revenue producer in the  government.  Still trying to get Christmas stamps so I haven't mailed Christmas cards yet.
I'm a bit angry with out mail delivery right now.  Our regular mail lady is wonderful, always get her something for Christmas.  But each year they hire extra folks and they are nowhere near as efficient.  She honks to let us know she has boxes for us or carries them up to our porch.  The other mail people just sit it up next to the garage and let them get wet.  We took pictures this time and I swear we're going to report them.
A big pot of bean and bacon soup bubbling away on the stove, we'll eat it with sandwiches made from yesterday's pot roast.
A load of laundry done and more Christmas decorating.  A good morning.

Christmas

It's starting to come together.  All the Christmas critters have come out of their tubs to decorate the living room fire place.  I think it's actually only been cold enough to turn it on once at Christmas.  But the critters love it, some sing, some dance, some just enjoy.
A pot roast in the crockpot, a red velvet cake for later and Mac chained to the easel.  He sold 3 paintings this week and could not find one of them so he's had to paint a quick copy.
New header courtesy of my favorite artist.  Hope you're having a good weekend too.

Tree

With Mac's help and the careful supervision of Miss Kitty the tree is decorated.  I'll wait till tomorrow to do the rest of the house.  We live in an area known for our cardinals so I use resin cardinals all over my tree.  They's predicting frost for us by the end of next week won't that be a treat and I'm not being sarcastic.

Five on Friday

First Friday in December and time to join Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.  Thank you Amy for hosting us.
A few Christmasy things to get me going.  I've just taken a pain pill for my arm, so this won't be long, but hopefully coherent.

First:  We got our tree today, no photos yet because all we did was bring it it, find two tubs to sit it on and cover the tubs with a plastic table cover .  Took time to find two tubs the same size and then to find the Christmas cloth.  Then I held the tree while Mac tied it to the wall. Usually I'll a bit more helpful, but Mac had to do most of it on his own.  Miss Kitty has never bothered our Christmas tree, but cats we've had in the past have so we always tie it up.


Second:  I don't use glass ornaments on my tree, I use resin ones  or soft things.  Though Kitty doesn't mess with the tree much she has been known to swat at an ornament or two and knock them down.  If these fall they don't break.

I added a few musical ones this year

Third:  Some new solar lights and cookie cutters have come home with us today.

Fourth:   My new Christmas cacti.  My old one that was doing so well began to fall to pieces.  So Mac got me a set of 5 little cacti.  We planted them in one pot.

Fifth:  We bought a Bear head at the local craft shop and Mac attached it to our old Christmas wreath.  Now it's on the front door looking great.

Now, just because I can I'm throwing in the Cardinal of Christmas and Santa's Workshop.

Do go visit the other Friday bloggers and have a great weekend.

December, Yeah

Love December, love the whole run up to Christmas and of course Christmas itself.  I don't feel the stress I hear others talk about, I just feel joy and anticipation.  But then we've never lived near our families, so Christmas usually involves us and our daughter, though Mac's brother and sister-in-law use to spend it with us when he could still travel.
I'm still not well, my cough got worse and I ended up at Urgent Care the other night, diagnosed with an allergy attack and a sinus infection.  Now have loads of medication and things are starting to clear up, had my first real night's sleep in awhile.
Mac saw our doctor yesterday, they're working on getting his arthritis and blood pressure medication sorted.  The doctor said that if my arm isn't better by next week he wants me back in for an x-ray because hairline fractures can sometimes take more than a week to show up on an x-ray.  He also gave me stronger pain medication.
Woke up feeling very stiff and sore, but am feeling better now.  Managed to do a load of laundry, make a loaf of bread and get a little housework done before I wore out.
While I was at the clinic the other night Mac bought me a new bear, he is laying on a sled, he sings, kicks his feet, and turns in circles.  Miss Kitty's not sure what to think of him.
Tomorrow we go to get out tree.

End of November

It's the end of November and all the Fall and Thanksgiving stuff must be packed away.  But I woke up today stiffer and as sore, both arms, as the day I fell.  Took a hot shower, an antihistamine to deal with my cough----I literally coughed all night---and spent some quality couch time and I'm feeling a bit better.  My arms are less stiff, but I'm still coughing enough to make it into the final act of Camille.
Mac brought me down a tub that I store most of the stuff in and I'm on my way, whisking about doing my imitation of a one-armed paper hanger.
Christmas is coming and I must not be stopped or slowed by mere human frailty.

One-Handed Package Wrapping

We're getting our Christmas tree later this week and I want to have packages to put under it.  I've wrapped some, but I need to do more.  My right arm is feeling almost normal and my left one has come a long way, but the right one is going to have to carry the load.  I can see it now:  cut, fold, stick tape dispenser under left arm to hold it, pull with right hand, tape and hope for the best.  Wish me luck.


Addendum


I always knew that I threaded my sewing machine needle with my left hand, but I thought that was it, that the rest of the time it was just along for the ride.  Not true.


Things I didn't know that I did with my left hand:

Turns out I tear off tape with my left hand
I do the button on my jeans with my left hand
I wrap the scrunchie around  my pony tail with my left hand
I tear open packets with my left hand
I hold my book or Kindle in my left hand when I'm reading.
My left hand helps sweep the floor
I hold pans with my left hand while stirring
I unscrew the toothpaste with my left hand
I squeeze the toothpaste with my left hand


And may I point out, don't do any of these things with a sore left arm, it hurts like the dickens.