Friday Fill-Ins, Frags and Films

Film element from Movies Night Out by Pixelily Designs

Let's Start with the Fill-Ins!

 

This week’s statements:
1. I love that my _____ has _____ because now I _____
2. Sometimes I wonder how people lived without ____ in the past
3. I love to get ____ in the mail because ___
4. I If I could change the temperature today to____________ then________________.

My Answers:
1. I love that my Nook has lots of memory because now I never have to carry 2 books if I’m near the end of the one I’m reading.

2. Sometimes I wonder how people lived without 4 choices of sweetener in the past. Actually what I often wonder is if someone from the 1950s was zapped into a restaurant now, how would they react to the multiple colors of sweetener packets in a restaurant? They probably had a choice of sugar or not. The pink stuff probably wasn’t even in restaurants then.

3. I love to get samples and coupons in the mail because I still believe samples and already printed coupons are better for sales of new products than anything else.

4. I If I could change the temperature today to 80 and sunny then it would be a wonderful weather day. Right now it’s cloudy and 57 with expected rain possibilities and a high of 72. I like it a bit warmer and if it could always rain jut at night and be sunny during the day, I’d be a happier Nani.

**  I’m plowing through my free BzzAgent box of Kroger Strawberry Banana Yogurt Smoothie Pops. They’re just a point and a fruity and creamy frozen afternoon snack. I loved the free ice cream to try them, but I’m going to buy more. If you didn’t get a chance to read my post about them, please do! I’m offering a drawing for one of 2 dollar off coupons to try Kroger’s guilt-free frozen treats. There are Smoothie Bars, Fruit bars, ice cream sandwiches and FUDGE POPS! A dollar off and the coupons are good until July 9, so if you can resist until then, you can enjoy a box of no-guilt ice cream treats for Independence Day!


**  I can’t love my new stair lift enough! Yesterday was the first full day of no stressed arm and upper back muscles climbing up the stairs and no new rug burns sliding down them. I went back up and down a couple times which I usually try to avoid.


**  Today is Donut Day! I’m not participating this year; no donuts in the house and I really can’t just run out and get a donut, but if you have a Dunkin Donuts near you, stop in today and get a free donut in honor of Donut Day with the purchase of any drink! If you’re stuck on which donut to get with your coffee or slushy frozen drink, I’ve always found you can’t go wrong with a double chocolate frosted!

I think I’ve told this before, but walking the three neighborhood blocks to Dunkin Donuts was one of my very first experiences of true freedom. You wouldn’t let an almost 7 year old do it now, but I remember the “big girl” feeling the very first time I walked to Dunkin’ Donuts all by myself. I ordered one Chocolate Honey Dip don’t, they are called just chocolate glazed now, and paid for it with the 15 cents I saved from my allowance for that donutl. It’s one of those childhood memories that’s stuck with me all my life. Donut = Independence = strong.
Exercise how strong you are by NOT resisting the temptation of just one donut today.


** In the 30 Day Blog Challenge hosted at So, Funny Thing… today’s prompt is:

Favorite Films

I don’t go to a lot of movies, but I do have favorites that I have on disc or tape ad watch over and over. The very top ones are Gone With The Wind (1939), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Bull Durham (1988), Field of Dreams (1989) and Frequency (2000).

And so that’s Friday! What are your favorite movies? What about your favorite donut”? And make sure you stop by my Smoothie Bar entry and get in on your chance for the coupons!

Funny Friday

Cluster made with Be Awesome by Aprilisa Designs

Friday Fragments

** Remember the shout out I gave to the mini muffins Wednesday? I have a correction to make. I’m not correcting the review of the muffins, it a grammar thing, specifically, a spelling thing. The brand is Entenmann’s. When I say it, when most people say it that I’ve heard, that second “n” is sorta swallowed. Kinda like the second “a” in caramel when a Midwesterner says it. Big difference there is that I know there are three a letters in caramel. I didn’t know there were four n letters in Entenmann’s until David pointed it out. Rather than go back and fix every mention of the company in Wednesday’s blog, I chose the lazy way out and I’m posting the correction.


** While we’re talking about the Entenmann’s Little Bites, David was reading the box yesterday at breakfast. He pointed out the words next to the animal on the scooter with the mini muffins on its head.

Um…

After reading that it was a serving suggestion, my sweet husband’s inner little boy woke up. He kept asking if he could open one of the pouches to see if they could be served on a cat’s head. He did try to balance a peach on Kaline’s hip “to practice.” Poor peach.

He switched his attention to trying to figure out if the critter on the scooter is a dog or a cow.

What do you think? Dog or cow?

** This was dinner Wednesday:

It was the fruit of my first Bzz Campaign. I got to try Johnsonville Fully Cooked Dinner Sausage for free. Cool or what? I wanted to try the Kielbasa, but David has a more conservative palate, so we went with regular smoked sausage for a first time. It was an easy campaign to join for me because Mom used to make some great meals with already cooked Kielbasa when we were kids.

Of course, my parents were on a tight budget when we were little, so meals often contained affordable price tags and Mom’s creativity. Johnsonville is not just a brand name I trust, but full retail for the sausage is well within competitive pricing for a family budget too. These sausages come in two individually wrapped pieces, great for a couple who only uses one sausage for a meal.

I did this one the quick and simple way; I cut the sausage into coin-shaped slices and pan-fried them with a teaspoon of olive oil. Then I served them over prepared garlic shells with some broccoli. A very quick meal after one of David’s later shifts and also a quick meal trick after soccer practice or gardening after work.

I’ll stop shilling now with one last bit: Follow this link for a printable $1.00 off coupon to try one of the 5 great flavors of Johnsonville Fully Cooked Dinner Sausage. YUM!


** Be sure to check out the bulletin board up top for new entries in Kaline's blog and my MS blog.  The MS blog has a new entry from this morning.  I'd love to hear your feedback if you have some!

This week’s statements:
1. One of my best and worst traits is that I ______
2. If I could escape for a day, I’d _____
3. The best part of ___ is _____
4. When I was young I thought _______.

My Answers:

1. One of my best and worst traits is that I am very analytical. Sometimes it means I pick up important details. Other times it means I can’t make up my mind.

2. If I could escape for a day, I’d go to an out of town baseball game in a park AND state I haven’t been to yet.

3. The best part of chocolate is that it’s chocolate.

4. When I was young I thought all guys should have long hair. Now I don’t find long hair attractive at all.

Happy National Pretzel Day!

Some fun online research tells me that April 26 is National Pretzel Day, the holiday in April, Pretzel month. Pretzels are my favorite salty snack, yes, even a step above popcorn. I’ll start my Friday Fragments this week with some pretzel talk!

Hosted by Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time

**   I think the pretzel love started when I was a kid in Southgate, MI. When we’d occasionally go to the Southland Mall with Mom, we’d get hot soft pretzels with mustard as a treat. I liked the crunchy ones too. I could get a box of the thin pretzel sticks for a dime the same place I got penny candy and baseball cards. Yeah, the olden days when I could get a pack of baseball cards, a coke, a box of pretzels and still have some leftover for penny candy with 50 cents. Whoever would have believed then that statement would one day make me sound do old? When we complained because the 15 cent Hershey’s bars went up to 20 cents, Mom laughed and told us about 5 cent candy bars. I paid 60 cents for those outrageously expensive 20 cent candy bars when I bought them for Rina and Tori. Lucky is she who can buy a candy bar for under $1.25 now!

Today I replaced cereal at breakfast with a soft pretzel to accompany my coffee, yogurt and banana. Maybe I’ll have one with mustard alter. When I have crunchy pretzels, especially if I can get them in Pennsylvania, I have specific pretzel and mustard combinations. I have four different kinds of mustard n my fridge, so I always have the appropriate mustard on hand. I like honey wheat pretzels with honey mustard and pumpernickel or sourdough with spicy brown mustard. Regular pretzels are perfect with standard yellow mustard, but really those are great with whatever mustard strikes my fancy at the time. YUM; what a great excuse for a holiday!


**  I punched in for an MS teleconference Tuesday that I didn’t end up staying on the line for. The topic was in-home health care and what the different types of visiting assistance you can get. I really felt like it was more of an advertisement for the guest speakers from their own in-home healthcare company. In the first 5 minutes they touted the benefits of in-home care and that most people responded better to in-home care than a hospital or assisted living and would rather stay home. I found that to be a really strange statement personally. After visiting many facilities for care for both my great-grandmother and grandmother there are some wonderful facilities that offer different levels of assistance and care.

Mums was in an assisted living apartment before she became too ill to care for herself. She’d been living with my parents and me prior to that and the stress level was incredible. When she moved into her apartment she regained a lot of independence and the stress was drastically reduced all around. She was always the same self she’d been when she was living alone at her house, with all the privacy she’d had, but with medical help or even just a “can you reach something for me?” a click of button away. I can’t understand how anyone that can afford it would choose to stay in their house rather than assisted living. If I had the choice to make for myself between retaining my privacy but having the safety and community of an apartment setting, while still having as much independence and freedom to bus wherever I wanted or living alone in a house with burners too high for a wheelchair, steps to tumble down and a lawn I have to pay someone to maintain, I’d go the apartment in a heartbeat! I always told my great-grandmother that I wanted to move to an assisted living complex when I retired because that’s the type of comfort and safety people deserve.

Anyway, I disconnected the call. There are a lot of better alternatives to someone coming into my home and judging me a few times a week.


**  If you read my book reviews, which I’m doing this year as part of my reading goal, you know I was less than pleased with the last book I finished. Rare Traits was a hard book to follow and I went a few days without reading to be fair to the next book, but it really was not a book I enjoyed at all. Death By Chocolate, however was a great read! I haven’t posted a review yet because I just, I mean JUST, finished it before I started writing this blog entry. It was a good crime story and the main character owns a breakfast and lunch bistro called Death By Chocolate. Can’t go wrong with that. At the end of the book are recipes for the incredible chocolate delights she made during the story. A great book with a little bonus heaven! That review will probably be my next entry; I can tell you it will get five stars!

Tid Bits, Fragments and Festivities

Cluster made with Eggy Easter by Studio 4 Designworks

You’d never get a cat to agree with this, and in truth it’s odd to hear it from me, but for some things colds are better than warms! After the truly nasty beating the crocuses took from the recent heavy wet snow I thought they were going to be worse than last year. Well, the snow beat up the yellow crocuses, the first ones that budded. But the purple, white and purple and white stripes came up through the snow after it fell and look!

They look so much better than last year! Even the yellow ones are okay, although not as strong as the ones that budded after the snow. It's the snow falling heavy and wet that they didn’t like. When it gets heavy and wet as it’s melting it’s okay.

The narcissus family looked okay last year and I do already see daffodils starting to bud. We’ll see in a couple weeks how bad the tulips really got it last year. I have a feeling that some of the tulips were discovered by bur roughing critters too. I’ll see how many have survived and then I can make my decision about whether or not it’s worth it to try to replace them. I know there was no sign of my favorite tulipas last year. That was a group near the front of the house and more. Mom always griped at the rabbits because she blamed them for eating her tulips. I think maybe I’m seeing that tulip bulbs are just plain tastier than crocus and narcissus.


Now this week, I‘m joining Mama M at My Little Life for Five Question Friday

1. How often should adults have birthday parties?

Well, everyone who’s been a regular at The Chronicles of Nani for a while knows I celebrate my Birthday Festival every year; from 5PM the Friday before my birthday to midnight the Sunday after, Friday the week before and Sunday the week after when my birthday is on a weekend. During my festival I plan fun things to do, try to see or at least touch base will all of my family; the friends and relatives who’ve made the past years ones to celebrate. There must always be ice cream since my birthday s in the heart of summer and at least one baseball game, preferably with fireworks. Cards and balloons are always welcome and I don’t expect anyone to pay for my meal if they drive all the way from Michigan or Indiana to celebrate with me.


2. What was your room decorated like when you were a child?

In Southgate, were we lived until I was 9, it was red carpet with red and white wallpaper, I don’t remember exactly what was on the wallpaper but it was a little girl’s design. The furniture was white wood in the most common little girl’s furniture I’ve seen from the early 70s. It was still nice for me at that time.

When we moved to Novi I got to pick out my own room décor. I kept my white bedroom set and had green-yellow-white carpeting that I thought matched my wallpaper well. That paper I picked was yellow gingham tulips with green leaves on a white background. I hated that combination when I was 21 and redecorated in the formal urban motif, but as a kid I loved my room.


3. Do you have any traditions for Easter? If so, what? and do you have a why behind that?

We don’t really have any tradition anymore since my relatives are more spread out. My dad has the day off on Easter this year and invited us to dinner, but David doesn’t have that day off this year! As a kid we did church, Easter baskets (although I really never believed in the Easter Bunny) and dinner at Noni’s.

Now David and I exchange candy; my inner child still needs a chocolate bunny.


4. Do you get Good Friday off? If so, any plans?

As a non-working disabled person I pretty much have every Friday off right now. When I can start working again probably not because I don’t think a lot of businesses recognize Good Friday as a holiday.


5. Did you wear hats and white shoes to church on Easter? (Or was that just in the South?)

When I was little I had the hat, shoes and white gloves for church on Easter. Pop bought corsage for all “his girls” two carnation corsages for Mom, each of my grandmothers and a one-flower one for me. My chest was too small to support two flowers during the corsage years!

Dave, Mums (great-grandmother) and Nani

Easter Sunday 1969

Now I have a couple more tid-bits, we’ll call those fragments and share them courtesy of Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time!

**  We don’t really have any available Girl Scouts in the family or traveling door to door in the neighborhood and another year without Samoas is here. I’d say that Girl Scout Samoas are my favorite of all cookies. I should get a source and buy a case a year. A proper serving of Samoas is 2 cookies, although I could probably eat a box in 2 sittings with a big glass of milk, for all of my weekly extra points.

Last year, when there were no Samoas in the house to slowly ration to myself, I did some experimenting in the Nani laboratory and created Cafe Samoa. It’s sugar free and a zero-point treat. While it’s not quite the same, the taste does quell my insane Samoa craving.

Café Samoa – 1 Island Coconut K-Cup, 1 level scoop Ron & Franks SF milk hot chocolate, 1 pump DaVinci SF Caramel Syrup

I just got an email ad today that tells me the Island Coconut K-Cups, of which I always buy an extra box for the winter when it’s in season, is available again. Of course, if you aren’t counting points and don’t need sugar free, you can use regular hot chocolate and caramel coffee syrup.


**   Yesterday Tori and Rina were driving home from Pop’s house where they’d spent a couple of days. The problem with going to different schools is having different Spring Breaks! Tori is home for break but Rina still have a Thursday night class since her break was last week. So after Rina’s Monday class they drove up to Michigan to spend a couple days with their Papa. Since Rina’s next class day is Thursday, and she’d already made arrangements with her earlier class instructor, they had time for brunch with Nana on the way home.

I took the bus to Cracker Barrel and they brought me home. We hadn’t been to Cracker Barrel together in a long time and it has always been a favorite place for us. We all got breakfasts and caught up on school news and things going on in Indiana. We also talked about what we needed to do to make sure they got their passports so we could plan a weekend with a day in Canada sometime not too long after their birthday. They’ll turn 19 this September and we’re looking forward to a nice dinner, with a legal cocktail and glass of wine with the meal and a visit to the casino. I think Rina is more excited about being able to have a glass of wine in a restaurant but Tori is excited about a roll of quarters and a slot machine.


**   The most consuming something new in my world right now is that I’m getting a power chair! I’ve met with the mobility rep from the company who determines if the chair is an actual need and placed the order with the assistive technology pro, who determines what exact features I need and does measurements so the custom chair fits me and fits through the door. So far everyone is pretty confident that it’s a real need and insurance will accept the claim. The next step is the physical therapist visits to confirm that the chair ordered is indeed the right chair and addresses all of my needs. Who’d have ever thought there was so much involved in powered mobility assistance?

Pending the okay from insurance after they get together with the chair company and my doctor, the chair will be delivered in about 5 weeks. So that’s how much time we have to get the ramp and threshold ramp for the door. We’re going semi-permanent on the ramp since using the space on the front of the house for a permanent ramp would actually negatively affect the value of the house since we have stairs and the house cannot be made ADA accessible. So n thought I have is that if we have a portable ramp we can travel with it for moving the regular wheelchair when we visit family too. I kinda like that idea too.


**   Morgan Report: It will be seven weeks on Sunday since Morgan came home. We have the Feliway plug on the landing of the steps upstairs which is the one place all the cats pass every day. So far there hasn’t been a change in behavior. Kaline and Carla still pretty much stay upstairs all day and the growling and hissing is still there. Morgan still attacks provoked or not. She wants them to stay upstairs and acts to prevent them from coming down. I wish she understood human English when I tell her that the aggressive behavior is going to end up costing her a home is she doesn’t settle down. It could take up to 4 weeks for Feliway to really change any behavior, so we’re still watching and hoping.

What Season Anyway?

From Because of You by Digitalegacies Designs

It's the third day of spring and it hasn't been a morning above freezing yet. One year ago today, we tied the record high set the day before at 85 degrees. Some people might call that Mother Nature and Murphy having an affair. Just sayin'.

This week’s statements:
1. My ___ is my least favorite feature
2. I was very ____ as a child
3. The first room I clean in my house is___ because___
4. If I had the guts to ____then I could ____

My Answers: 

1. My feet are my least favorite feature. I used to do my toe nails and go barefoot or flip-flops in the summer. The Raynaud’s makes them pretty ugly now. :P

2. I was very much a tomboy and a girly-girl as a child my father’s chagrin. Pop was as unhappy that his princess carried a hockey bag into ballet class as my ballet instructor was!

3. The first room I clean in my house is the bathroom because I can sit and still reach everything that needs cleaned and the water is right there.

4. If I had the guts to face my fears then I could sit in the dining room without pulling my neck doing a celling check for spiders every couple hours.

**  Big time thank to April at Straight From The Heart for two things. First she inspired me to sign up too be a BzzAgent. (Pronounced Buzz Agent) You’ve probably noticed fewer sponsored posts here; my source for coffee funding is drying up! BzzAgents don’t earn sponsor funds, but they get to try products.

The second thank you is related, and one of the oh-so-impressive BzzCampaigns. April got a Café Escapes BzzKit. As part of that kit she had coupons to give away and I was one of the recipients. I’d seen the Café Caramel at Christmas but resisted buying it in favor of more ecumenical choices for entertaining. I used my coupon to try it. OH MY is it good!

I’ll add to April’s testimonial about how good Café Escapes are. In 2011 Café Escapes sent me a sampler with their original four flavors through Twitter. I wasn’t as impressed with the Chai Latte, but I’m not a chai fan. I did like the dark and milk hot chocolates and I was super impressed with the Mocha! I have a box of Mocha that is nearing its end now; I use it with the leftover candy canes to make peppermint Mocha for very few Weight Watchers points and under 100 calories if you use the mini candy canes. The Café Carmel is 60 calories, regular sugar sweetener and the tastes carmelly divine! I want to keep them hidden from my caramel-loving husband, but David is the one who took my coupon to the store to buy it. It’s gonna be hard to keep a secret!


**  An era in my digital scrapbooking history will end this month. At the end of the month Darlene Haughin will retire from scrapbook design. Darlene was the very first designer I for whom I was part of the creative team back in early 2008 and she is the only designer I’ve created for all five years.
Her designs fit my scrapping style so well and she has been a great “boss” to create for. I’m going to miss her work, but I totally understand burn-out and wanting to leave the designing behind and scrap for you again. I didn’t last nearly as long as a designer when I sold my kits.

So through the years many scrapbook layouts done with Darlene’s kits have appeared at The Chronicles of Nani. If you digi-scrap you can still get Darlene’s kits at her My Memories store. Here is a recent layout I did with Darlene’s Carmela kit:

Credit: Carmela by Darlene Haughin

**  I just wanted to mention that the current book I’m reading is Rare Traits by David George Clarke. I’m about half way through and so far the book is phenomenal! It totally captivates my love for mysteries and the Renaissance Italian Masters. I can’t get enough of it. The book is 474 pages, longish I suppose longer than the books I’ve been reading by about 100 pages, but I could probably be happy if it was 1000 pages; I could read it longer! I got the book at Smash Words  for 99 cents and so far I’d say it is definitely my bargain of the year. Even if I’m disappointed by the end the sheer reading pleasure of the past week makes the price a bargain.

And I’ll stop talking about it until I finish reading it now, but boy for a lover of mysteries and an Italian Renaissance art geek it kinda feels like the book was written just for me!

**  Time for a Morgan update. I wish I could say things are going well and everyone is adjusting nicely. Unfortunately, I can’t. Morgan is such a sweet girl to David and me, but the three cats are just mean to each other. Kaline and Carla are usually united, but there is still growling, hissing and screeching every day. It’s been almost 6 weeks now.

We’re going to try Feliway.  David calls it aromatherapy for cats. I refer to them meditating together or forming a kitty prayer circle. At any rate it’s called pheromonatherapy, using a synthetic copy of cat facial pheromones to calm them and help them get better adjusted. I hope it works. Morgan is so sweet to us, but she charges the other two, usually provoked by their growls, but she also launches preemptive strikes. The attacks on Kaline and Carla have to stop.

Honestly Feliway is Morgan’s stay of return sentence. If we see results, if the three cats can begin to be civil to each other and not make us fear for their collective safety, Morgan stays in her new home. If they can’t learn to peacefully coexist and end our worries that one of them could get hurt, Morgan will have to go back to the shelter. That makes me sad, because she is such an attentive cuddle bug with the humans and I take the promise to try to provide a good forever home seriously, but there was that same promise made to Carla and Kaline too. I hope it doesn’t turn out that Morgan is just a one-cat-home cat.

The Final Friday

It’s the final Friday of 2012. If you are reading this and expected a Christmas card from us this year, you will be receiving it, maybe even before 2013! Christmas cards, cleaning and tree will part of 2013’s goals list. David agrees with the idea of the cards being printed by Thanksgiving and sent, with annual letter, by a week later. I didn’t really get a response when I suggested putting up the tree about that time too, but I really want a few weeks of lights in the living room. We’ll have to discuss that one further.

Credits: Life Captured: December by Pixelily Designs

I just finished the layout for week 51 of my Journal 366! I’m gonna make it! I’ll have the whole year done. Considering that I’ve started and failed twice, I’m pretty happy! I’m in the idea-building process of deciding what my annual project will be for 2013, but I have a little wind in my sails right now.

One last time this year, let’s visit our Friday meme-hosts!


First, let’s see what fun there is with Hilary at Feeling Beachie…

This week’s statements:
1. without fail, whenever I fly__
2. I used to be___
3. When I ___ I ___
4. My greatest fear is ______.


My Answers:

1. without fail, whenever I fly I sleep.

2. I used to be able to clean the living room and put up the tree by myself.

3. When I know it's snowing I try not to look out the windows.

4. My greatest fear is falling lately.


Now let’s see what this week’s 5 Questions are from Mama M at My Little Life

1. If you had to give 1 million dollars to just one person (not your spouse), who would it be and why?

I’d give the million to a local person who does a lot of charity work and helping neighbors and the community. They’d be the best at using the money for the best reasons.


2. What bathroom stall do you typically go to FIRST?

If I’m choosing a stall it’s because there isn’t a Family/Handicap bathroom available; that’s always my first choice because I’ve seen too many handicap stalls that don’t actually have enough room for a person and a wheelchair. Of course, if I’m in a regular women’s room my only choice is the handicap stall.

Before I was in the wheelchair I would only use a handicap stall if all of the other ones were taken. I gave myself a pat on the back for that practice when one time I had to use the facilities, badly, and I sat in my chair holding my breath to control myself while three regular stalls that I couldn’t use were empty and an employee was on the phone in the handicap stall, not even using it, on the phone. If the handicap stall is the only one open, please use it, but if you have a choice and don’t need the handicap stall, keep in mind that you don’t know who will roll into the restroom after you.

(My soapbox has a ramp)


3. How do you prefer to shop: In-store or online?

I prefer to shop online because I can compare and get the best selection and best price. Yeah, it’s also more challenged-friendly. I’m hopeful to have a power chair in the next couple months. That might mean I can do some in-person shopping once in a while.


4. What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Cold and snowy. The snow is on the ground but not as much as they originally warned. The first forecast was 4-6” during the day yesterday and another 4-6 last night. We ended up with about 2 or 3 total. We dodged the bullet a lot of people to our west, south and north got!


5. Do you own a pair of Tom's and what do you think? Overrated, underrated or about right?

I had to look that one up. If the question is about Tom’s shoes… lol. Come on, you all know me; ANY shoe is overrated! Checking out their website, overpriced shoes and no socks. Totally overrated! :)


Finally, I’ll defrag a couple of things from my blog with a tip of the hat to Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin Time for hosting Friday Fragments

**  One thing I will mention about the letters in our cards; when we said we doubted the world was going to end on the 21st, we were right! :D

**  I’m working on my goals and projects plan for 2013. One thing I’ve learned, perhaps the hard way, is that I just can’t be as ambitious as I once was. I’ve been fighting some serious depression demons since about August and I think, more than anything, I’m frustrated about what I can’t do and the list of goals that were destined to not be reached this year. It’s the first year that I’ve ever had more incomplete than complete annual goals.

**  I’ve been achier than usual lately and not feeling very energetic. I’m kinda looking forward to January detox! I think the fat and sugar intake has just been too high for the last week and a half and I need more water, more veggies and more fruit in addition to the better choices I make in January. I need to get some blood work done and I think I’ll wait until the second week in January so there’s less chance of the doctor calling to tell me I have diabetes, through the roof cholesterol and high blood pressure…and anything else holiday food can do to you!

Happy Lunchtime!

Busy, Busy day today! That’s lunch. David laughed because I sent him a text yesterday asking him to pick up salad on the way home. We’d just opened a new bag on Wednesday, but after lunch. He asked if I “went all rabbit” on the salad. The truth is, and it’s been the truth for many years, baking makes me crave salad. Dough on my hands, pinch a taste to make sure the seasoning is right, taste the “test cookie” to make sure the taste is acceptable to be a Davinities treat, I baked 8 dozen cookies yesterday morning; my veggie crave was off the chart!

So now I’m relaxing with my crunchy veggies; celery, carrots, radishes and red bell pepper, protein: a sliced string cheese and Omega-3 fat; 6 Kalamata olives with lettuce shaken in 2 TBS Newman’s light Balsamic vinaigrette; a feast fit for January.

So, now I’ll tip my cap to Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time and thank her for hosting Friday Fragments! Here are the rest of my tid-bits:

**  So far I made the batter for the loaded loaves and have two small ones done. I’m waiting for them to cool so I can remove them from the pans to reuse. My new pans are the perfect size for gift trays. The ones last year were the entire gift. I like to give variety.


**  I’ll be finishing the Oreo Truffles before David gets in from work and the Pecan Pie Cookies will be after dinner. They don’t take an awful long time to bake..

Once you taste them you forget what they look like!

**  After considering the lines at the post office on a Saturday before Christmas, David and I decided to do our mail drop on Monday, his Sunday. We’ll still, I hope, have time to get the tree up.


**  I have the most awesome husband in the world!

I’m late in saying that, but I ate the last of the support material that goes with that declaration for breakfast.

David got these for me when he was combing grocery stores looking for my “solo uvetta” (only raisins) panettone before we left New Jersey Monday. He didn’t find only raisin panettone, but he found pumpkin cupcakes with Rudolph decorations! AWESOME!


**  I don’t care for the traditional panettone and Noni always had the only raisins bread for Mom and me. David found one that was just raisins and candied orange peel and I said I’d give it a try because the citron is what I didn’t like. Well, it turns out that what I always thought was the reason I didn't care for it, the same reason Mom didn’t like the traditional panettone, was not the reason I didn’t care for it. It’s the candied orange-peel. I tasted on piece off the top and didn’t cut it, so I’m taking it to Dad’s on Christmas Eve. I ordered a raisins-only one for me…at 4 times the cost of the one I didn’t like!


**  They discontinued offering the bracelet I had my eye on at Swag Bucks just before I got enough points for it. But they did start offering the one you see below. So I cashed in part of my Swag Bucks for it. I was wondering if they’d charge me for the shipping. They didn’t! Then I expected to see my bracelet sometime in January. It took a week before there was a package in my mailbox! Wow! It kinda makes me want to watch some more videos.

My Swag

Fill-In, Dream, Fix, Frag, Cook, Smash, Scrap

Happy Friday! Tomorrow is December already. Wow. November was actually a pretty quick month. I think that’s because the political ads made things seem r….e….l….l…y…s…l…o…w And the holidays make time seem to just zip by! But don’t worry; things will slow back down in January, not politician slow, but nothing to do slow. I always find that I can make January go faster if I stress about Valentine’s Day. Whether it was “Oh please, not another February 14 without a date,” or “What can I give him that he won’t take the wrong way?” or “I’m married now; what can I give him he will take the wrong way?” stress with a deadline makes things go much faster!

Yeah, that wasn’t as happy an opening as it could have been, huh? Sunday evening is the big grocery trip to buy the necessary things for Davinities season and the start of things going on every weekend that I’ll be baking for. Okay and you all know I love it! In the midst of baking and gatherings, there is also a train card to put together so we can get everything printed and mailed, a few gifts to mail, including my Secret Santee’s box. My Santee’s gift(s) will be wrapped today and mailed tomorrow or Monday, depends which works for my sleigh driver.

Fun Fill-ins from Hilary at Feeling Beachie today and some big frags on my blog to clear that I’ll share with Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time, so let’s get to it!

This week’s statements:
1. I have always dreamed of ____
2. My ___ is my ____
3. I love to ____ when I ____
4. I will never forget ____ with ____

My Answers:

1. I have always dreamed of visiting San Antonio, TX. There was a place I’d never been and never seen pictures of that I kept returning to in dreams. The dreams were never the same or the same people, so not recurring dreams, just a recurring place. When I saw pictures of San Antonio, maybe 10 years ago, I was shocked; it was the place in my dreams! Now I want to go see it for real!

2. My husband is my blog editor. He took the place of my Mom’s proofreading the poor typist who is equally poor at proofreading…but I do okay with the ideas and words part of writing. Every text I get telling me of a typo on my blog leaves me convinced that sound I hear is Mom laughing at me. She would have loved David.

3. I love to sing when I bake.

4. I will never forget going fishing with Kelly that first year we knew each other.

** 

 

Doesn’t that look good? We had Cocoa Pork Chops for dinner this week; SO GOOD! I agree with a comment about a similar recipe I read, “Cocoa and chili powder together?" But they are fabulous!

Since there’s just the two of us for dinner, a recipe for a family is usually way too much, but for this one, I made the full recipe for the rub and keep it in a zip-loc with the other seasoning mixes. Good thing too! When we had a leftovers night and there was a serving of pork chops and a serving of meatloaf, David picked the Cocoa Pork; score!

The recipe for the rub is simple. 2 TBS brown sugar, 1 TBS cocoa powder, 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. cumin. Put the spices in a zip-loc bag and shake them to mix. Rub onto pork and prepare in your favorite way. The first time I made them, I rubbed oil on the chops and then rubbed the spices and baked them for about 20 minutes at 375. Last time, I rubbed the spices on the chops without oil and grilled them. David and I both preferred the grilled method, but both were good!


**  Ronalyn, of The Adventures of Esa and Zed, asked in comments to see some of my current Smash book pages. You might remember seeing some of my Smash Archive pages here, and I like them. They are personal and fun to look at, fun for me to look at anyway, and I think that’s the point. They aren’t works of art, except that those of us that paper craft add our art without even trying.

Here are some of the pages I’ve done in my new Smash book:

First pages; Nani past and now likes

 

Cool stuff

MS Awareness pages with information from magazines

(Still filling that one)

I want to get some bags of crafting letters. The MS has really taken its toll on my penmanship so I’m cutting letters out of magazines and writing some words ransom-note style, which I think looks pretty cool! A nice assortment of styles and colors of letters would also make way for some cool Word art too. Of course there are the gazillion pother fun things that will complement my stickers; clips, pockets, paper tapes… that I have on my wish list that I’ll add after Christmas since I don’t spend on me in December, but I really am enjoying smashing and I love the quality and size of the K & Company books.


**  If you’ll all indulge me in a little scrapbooking brag time, I’d like to share some of the fun things I’ve been working on.

Credits: Christmas In July contributions from Amy Peck,

 Blue Heart Scraps, Connie Prince, Pixels by Jen, Rosey Toes Designs, 

Twin Mom Scraps, Z Pink Boudoir, Find Your Bliss Designs

I did this for the scraplift challenge for November at Ginger Scraps. I like how it turned out. I do a page documenting each year’s Davinities with my Christmas pages for that year. Last year was a banner year for Davinities, the cookies and baked goods were all so good! I was proud of how simply huge by golden-brown thumb was! I’m almost intimidated going into this year’s baking!

The next layout goes with the sentimentality of the Christmas season.

Credits: Ladies’ Boutique by Darlene Haughin

That’s Kelly and me! The photo on the right was taken way back in the 80s; Kelly and her maid of honor, me! The photo on the left is from this January, when Kel and her dad visited 24 years is a lot of history!

Besties was made with Darlene Haughin’s Ladies’ Boutique kit. It was the current kit and this layout was done before the end of October and before the computer that died necessitating the new computer that was replaced with the one I’m typing on now. Ladies’ Boutique is still on introductory sale, but today is the last day!



**  Darlene has a new kit in her 3Scrapateers and My Memories  stores:

A Very Merry Christmas is available and ON SALE for 30% off until January 4. So you have some time to make some of those Christmas memories that will be perfectly scrapped with this kit! If you’re like me, you still have a folder or Christmas 2011 photos on your hard drive begging for this kit while it’s on sale to get caught up!


**  Let’s finish off this week’s fragments with a freebie! Darlene okayed me to share the quick-page version of my layout with Ladies’ Night with you at The Chronicles of Nani! There are two quick pages in the download; one with and one without the Besties word art:

Click mage to download at 4-Shared.

And my blog is all clean and defragged and ready for the weekend!

A Fragmented Mind With Blanks To Fill In

So this is the one day that tells the retail chains if they will make a profit this year. I’ve read in a few places that Black Friday’s name comes from the fact that the day after Thanksgiving is the pivotal point where stores can forecast the rest of the year’s sales. Considering that most corporate fiscal years start November 1, that’s pretty impressive. I’m not saying I doubt any of it; marketing has become quite a science.

  
Since I have a few of them, we’ll call that tidbit that I believe to be true, my first fragment this week. I’ll add that the “I believe to be true” is because I think I remember reading it on the Internet and you can’t trust things you read on the web abut Black Friday because it might be a Cyber Monday shopper just trying to make the crazy Friday shoppers look silly. Of course, carpal tunnel and camping out on your own porch might be considered cra….

………………………………………………

I’m back. Sorry, doorbell; I had to go get a package off the porch.


Where was I? Oh yes, Fragments! So here’s some more!

*  A Facebook friend did some questioning of employees at Target about working on Thanksgiving. At Target, working on Thanksgiving was volunteer only, they were paid time and a half and got a $100 bonus for taking the shift. I’m actually kind of glad for that because I usually find a thing or two at Target and I like their novelty Christmas candy selection. I’ll again consider them a store I’ll shop at this holiday season.


*  This is mostly a photo-fragment: Last week when David was working nights and there was some sun, enough sun, because Norfolk Sothern’s Southern Heritage Unit was in the area! (I’m wearing my Southern t-shirt as I type this) Isn’t she beautiful?

*  As 2012 draws to a close, there is a little somethin-somethin I for me. I bought my first real Smash book!

I know, I know, why would I want to buy a Smash brand book, when I’ve already put my “smashables” from all the years up through 2011 in binders with repurposed scrapbook paper? Well, first off the stock of scrapbook paper won’t last forever and the price of decent weight 2-sided paper pus a binder and glue starts to get near the price of a Smash Book, but not bound quite as solidly.

There’s also what I call the “London Fog Effect.” My Joey Votto jersey has the London Fog Effect too. I am really not a champagne taste kind of gal. I like nice restaurant now and then, but going out for dinner at Cracker Barrel is a fine treat to me. Kelly made me that beautiful Pandora-styled bracelet and I love it. I love looking at Pandora, but if I’m buying beads and a bracelet, Pugster is a lot less expensive and I have no gnawing desire for an actual Pandora. (Although I often still use Pandora wallpapers on my computer) But London Fog was one of those things for me. I had a few okay raincoats over the years, but in the back of my mind I wanted a nice real London For dress raincoat for work/interviews. When Mom and I saw a London Fog tent sale at an outlet mall we went to, we stopped to look and there was a beautiful taupe double-breasted trench with a button-in lining for winter. It was my size and Mom told me to try it on just to see how it looked. It looked great, it felt luxurious! Tent-sale prices, Mom is the one who told me it looked good and very professional and I ought to have it. She made it a gift. That coat still makes me feel like a million bucks when I wear it.

The authentic Joey Votto jersey with his name and number and all of the official Reds accents has the same effect. You can just feel that it’s the real deal. So I wanted a Smash Book for the same reason. Yes, I bought into the branding. The pages are thicker than the ones in my books, more durable, especially for thicker or heavier items I put in it and the way it’s put together is sturdy, quality. Of course, it feels special with nothing in it. Time will tell if that feeling stays as I use it if it truly is in the class of my London Fog coat or Joey Votto jersey. I have a folder full of 2012 smashables to help me find out!


I’m going to take a fragments break to visit Hilary’s Friday Fill-in.

This week’s statements:
1. I put ___ on a hot dog
2. when it___ I ____
3. If my house____then I would be able to___
4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would _______________ differently so we could ________________differently now.


My Answers:

1. I put mustard and nothing but mustard on a hot dog unless I’m having a Coney, then it’s chili with onions and mustard. I usually add yellow mustard when I have chili to enjoy it as a “dogless Coney” too.

2. When it snows I am happy to stay indoors with a big mug of mocha.

3. If my house was self-cleaning then I would be able to get more accomplished in a day!

4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would approach the photos differently so we could enjoy the scrapped pages differently now. My only regret is that I didn’t go a professional photographer or at least a dedicated photographer with a list of shots to get for our reception weekend. I would have loved to have 2-shots or 3-shots with each of our guests and a few of the balloon release we did. I would not have done anything else differently. :)


*  Windows 8 is Windows moving toward the smart phone, tablet and computer all working the same. There are touch-screen laptops out now and Windows 8 really is made for those! There are things I really like about it and one thing I really hate. I can’t stand the fact that if I move a window too close to the edge it instantly becomes full screen. I also don’t like the way windows will snap to either side for 2-window viewing that fills the screen. I know that’s supposed to be a “cool” new feature, but I’ve always used three to five windows open, sized and spaced so I would see the contents of all of them to select elements for scrapbook pages. That takes having windows in the corners, but if I get them too close, snap they go and I have a full screen of one of them instead of five. It messes with my organization. I’m slowly getting used to it, not dragging things too close to the edge and when I do, I curse under my breath and pull it away to snap it back to where I wanted it. That’s a pain, but for the most part, Windows 8 is pretty user-friendly.

David will give you quite a different opinion!


*  I have been too lax on tweeting and scrapbook gallery commenting! That’s a project I’m going to work on! I find I use Twitter a lot more during baseball season because a lot of my tweeps are fellow Reds or Tigers fans and I follow a lot of baseball players, who also tweet less in the off season. We’ll see if I get to tweeting more.

I know I‘ll be sure to be leaving more gallery comments at Ginger Scraps because I was invited to join the praise team there, essentially the cheerleaders who make sure every layout gets some love. There are perks in the form of scrapbook kits for meeting comment goals. Yeah, that sounds like copping out and using the freebies to encourage myself to do the polite thing I wanted to do anyway, but it does mean I’ll be commenting even more than the minimum I’d set for myself, so I consider it a win-win.


*  Finally, I’d like to take some suggestions for Friday memes. I kinda like doing three smaller memes but sometimes I can’t really answer the 5 Question Friday questions in any serious way because the questions assume I am a mom. And I am a cat-mom and was sort of a fill-in mom when my nieces were growing up, buy I really can’t answer questions about being with human kids every day, so I’d like to do one or two others too and choose the ones that have the questions I’m best capable in answering on any given Friday. Does anyone host a trains meme?? :) Just if you have a suggestion, I’d love a link!


And so I’m ready to post on this day after Thanksgiving. In the Nani-David household It’s not Black Friday, but dark gray Friday for sure; lots of serious wind and some rain. I’m glad to just be inside blogging, smashing and scrapbooking…oh, and I guess a little laundry too.