Still alive & kicking!

For those of you who have wondered, I'm still alive and kicking.

Spring is finally here, and I am happy! Signs of life are everywhere you look, and it brings hope to my winter-weary heart. It seemed like the most dreary, long winter ever. All the wind storms, cold snaps and power outages seemed to make it even worse. But, I guess we Washingtonians always say that every year.

I love hearing the sparrows and robins singing, because they are simply joyful of the bright days of sunshine. I love to sit in the sunshine and just soak up the warmth.We've been having some really great weather, though the rain showers seem to sneak up on us when we least expect it. We've had some real doozies of rain storms lately. I was beginning to think the front lawn was going to turn into a small lake. The ducks love it, though. All 4 of them.

Yes, we have ducks, but 3 of them are unwelcome guests. They escaped our neighbor's yard along with their giant goose, and found refuge in our yard quite some time ago. Said neighbors came to collect them, but they got out again, and back they came. We went throught this a few times, helping them round up their errant fowl with much waving of arms and shouting. But, the third time they came back, the neighbors decided to ignore it. They never came back to get them. So, here they stay until we figure out what to do with them. We put 3 of them out of the yard out of sheer frustration awhile back ( there were orginally 6 ducks) I later saw all 3 of them smashed on the road on the way to work. That ruined my day!

So, we're debating what we should do with them now. They can't stay here, they'll smash/ eat up all the plants that we'll be putting out this year! Ducks are regular little bulldozers........

Well, enough for now. I need to get some stuff accomplished.

Monday thoughts

Vintage Christmas Greeting Cards from Zazzle.com


I thought this card picture was going to show up on my blog, but I guess that didn't happen.....


Well, I think I'm pretty much ready for Christmas, but even if I'm not.....it's still going to be here. In 5 days and no less! 8-{
This year is sort of an unusual year as far as Christmas is concerned. For one thing I haven't baked any goodies, and also my immediate family & I have decided we're not going to give each other gifts. The reason being mainly financial; there just seems to be a shortage if money trees around here. Well, we might break down & give a couple of gifts. I did buy my sister a DVD. It's Emma ( with Gywneth Paltrow) from good old Ebay. I can post this safely, for I doubt if she ever reads my blog. I know she'll be tickled pink to get it because she has wactched it endlessly on the video we had.

I've had this crazy cold the last 2 weeks. It's not a very severe cold, but it's made me miserable nevertheless. Just a overall feeling of fatigue, on & off scratchy throat, headaches and cough. To be honest, I haven't even cared about Christmas this past week, I felt so blah. I think I'm finally getting over it, though, and should be completely well by Christmas.

I did some shopping today and boy.......was it busy!! I thought I'd be smart and go on Monday, and early in the morning, mind you. Ha! The parking lot at Bath & Body Works was a nightmare. I must have wasted a good ten minutes circling around & dodging careless people walking in the middle of the road. When I finally found a spot to park, right near the door.....another car swooped in from the other direction and got it before I did. Of course....what else do I expect from rabid B & B Works, TJ Maxx & Target shoppers??! I had a whole day like that, fighting for a spot to park and nearly running over more careless ( and impatient) people in the stores. When I got home, I felt spent. Haha~!

Getting back to B & B Works., when I got out of there I found some bird had left me a throughtful gift on my windshield. Yes, this must be the week of bird poop because I seem to keep running into it. This time, it was a big, tan plop of poop which wasn't going anywhere, no matter how madly I made the wipers wipe. All it did was smear all over the whole window. Even the wiper fluid didn't do the job. I kept hoping it would rain, but no.....that would be too much to ask. So, in the end I had to pull over and pour my bottle of water on the windshield while the wipers were going. That didn't even help. So I got to drive around all day with a smeary window. Now, that I think of it I could have stopped at the gas station and cleaned it. Hmmm......sometimes I wonder where my brain is. But, around 2, it did rain and that finally did the trick!

Poor Grandma is sick with an awful cold, and I feel rather guilty that maybe I gave it to her! But, she insists it was the lady who had the cough behind her in Bible study. So, I'm going to blame that lady, too. Grandma has even had to go to Urgent care to get help for her breathing, and she has been so tired. I hope and pray!!! she gets well quickly, because if she doesn't....I'm afraid this could send her over the edge. She's so frail to begin with!

When I haven't felt gross with my cold, I've been having fun decorating the house. I have all these vintage Christmas things that I've collected over the years, and it's been a blast putting it all out. I've got to stop somewhere, though....I'm running out of places to put things!


Well, enough of the blog tonight!

Catching up.......

Hello again, blog! I hope all 2 of my readers had a very nice Thanksgiving!

We had a rather different one than usual, but fun nevertheless. Not all of the family could be there, so there was only 5 of us, but we still made it special and had a great time. God is so very good and I thank Him for all His blessings!!!!

It's a cold, damp day here in the Northwest. The cold almost seems worse than what we had last week. It has to be the awful dampness that just seeps into your very bones.
Just think, we had no idea what was ahead of us last week at this time! Even the weather forcasts did little to warn us about the severity of the approaching storm. I think it took everybody by surprise! This cold front was really expected to make its way south, then stay there. Instead it stalled over the Seattle & surrounding areas, and dumped snow, record low temps and horrific winds on us!

It was not fun at all to be without power for over 3 days! I thought it would never end. The worst of it, was we weren't really prepared for this and because of it, it made it even more hard to take. We hadn't done any major grocery shopping before the storm hit ( only the ingredients for Thanksgiving) and had only a handful of candles to burn. Still, we got by and lived on canned soup, bread, cheese and doughnuts. Not a very healthy way to eat, but it kept us going!

I think the worse part was the awful boredom, especially in the evenings. Afterall, it gets dark about 4.....and then you have 6 hours or so to kill before bed! No computer......waahh!!!! :-( To be honest, I never really missed it that much. Only not being able to update my status about the storm ( or perhaps harvest my white lilies on Farmville. ....haha! ) but other than that....I rather liked the break from technology.

And so we read a lot by kerosene light. I found the Smithsonian magazine fascinating during the power outage.......

The not-so-fun part was waking up every couple hours or so to stoke the wood stove. Every time I heard my cell phone alarm go off, I felt very negative. But, it had to be done, or the alternative would be to freeze to death. Mom & I took turns, and we both felt very sleep deprived in the following days.

Very stupidly, we don't have a thermometer, so we never actually saw how low the temps were. Gram saw 12 on hers, but often it's colder here since we live lower & near the water. I would imagine it was probably about 9 here on the coldest night.

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I made a turkey stew with dumplings today. Actually, mom and I combined efforts. It turned out to be really good and tasty. Got the recipe from the Food Network magazine.

There's more I could write, ( especially about the break-in of my car ) but I'm tired, and I think I'll have another bowl of turkey stew.......

The Day of Many Cobwebs

Wow, I'm writing in my blog two days in a row! A new record for sure

I'm exhausted tonight beyond all reasoning. I cleaned a big, two story house today and I thought I'd never get done. Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into things. At the time, it seemed smart to take on this new cleaning job to earn some extra moola. This job, however, totally exhausted me & may take me awhile to recover. LOL. When I came today, I couldn't even talk to my mom right away I was so weary. I was there over 7 hours & thought I'd never get done. Just let me say that this house hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in months.....maybe even years. I have never seen so many cobwebs or such dusty baseboards in my all my life! 8-{

But I stuck to it, and got it all done, though it nearly killed me. I think the reason why I got so tired, was because we had a VERY humid day today. I sweated like crazy. They basically just wanted some deep cleaning, but was also some general cleaning thrown in as well. At one point, I was happily thinking I was nearly done, and the man informed me that he also wanted all the granite counter tops wiped down in the kitchen, and a bunch of mirrors cleaned. Oh help! I thought inwardly.

So, little Miss Lana is POOPED tonight, and I'll probably have nightmares about cobwebs all night.

Lost kitty

I just had the fun of rescuing a lost cat! Just a little while ago, my neighbor called and said one of her indoor cats, Dusty, had accidentally gotten outside. She had no idea where Dusty could be & was so worried! She had been looking for him for quite some time, too. Being the cat lover that I am..... I sprang into immediate action and went over to help find Mr. Dusty. Praying as I went, I scoured her yard feeling somewhat doubtful that Dusty would be found very quickly, if at all. And it was dark, too. Behind her house are dense woods that includes a creek, and on other two sides of the property, are busy roads. ( I've had several of my cats squished on these roads in the past, which is unbearably awful to go through )

So, I kept walking & calling, hoping to soon see a little kitty face peeking at me from behind the bushes. I hadn't been out there too long, when I happened to look at my neighbor's sister's house (which is directly below her own house ) and there on the porch steps, sitting very tall & straight.....sat Dusty!! He was waiting to be found, meowing pitifully. I called to him and at first he didn't move, but then as I squatted down & put out my hand, he soon started to come over to me. I was so afraid he would get scared and run off before he got to me, so regardless of the VERY wet grass.....I got down on my knees & grabbed him up quick!

Needless to say, my neighbor was soooooo relieved that Dusty had been found. I was so happy that God has answered yet another prayer, and so very quickly, too!!

I wasn't so happy later when I discovered a big glob of yellow dog poop on my clog! But then.....it was so worth it, seeing how happy my neighbor was & knowing I had probably saved a kitty's life!