T Stands for A Puzzle

 

Can you guess what it is?

Scroll ⬇️to find out

It's An Elegant Polka Dot Tea Set

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

and me made a book for the February project for the Creative Hand-lettering and Doodling with Lindsay group on Facebook. Lindsay suggested that people decorate a small box, but I didn't have an empty small box to use.

Instead, I decided to make a small book from folded paper lunch bags. A chipboard spine and covers were added to give the book a little more stability. The book is very cute and chunky measuring about 5 inches square. The bottoms of the lunch bags make handy tuck spots and the bag openings make pockets. 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Snowing across the Tundra

Birds flocking to the feeder like we run out for bread and milk before a storm

The female cardinal stopped by for seeds on the ground. Hi, Ma!

The red-headed woodpecker chased the other birds from the feeder

The condition of the roads was pretty bad

This storm started out with weather forecasters on Friday saying my area would get a coating to an inch of snow. Saturday morning totals were upped to 2 to 4 inches with some areas getting 6 inches of snow. A lull in the storm the measurement was just shy of 3 inches of snow.

The road not looking great

When all was said and done, a total of 4.75 inches of snow. Not that I wanted to see any snow, but this was the anniversary of The Blizzard of '78, the benchmark of storms in New England. With that storm I was still living at home with my parents. Our area got 30+ inches of snow and paralyzed the state for a week.

"A" came early in the morning to clear the driveway, cars, and walk.

It's wicked cold and a good day to stay in and hibernate.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Late Summer Day at Ogunquit Beach

It's snowing today and I need me some Summah!

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. The Nephew-in-Law installed new shower light/fan.

2. I made brunch with a sausage and apple strata. The Eldest and I had mimosas, too

3. I finished the January junk journal!

4. The Eldest was cuddling Calli and asked her, "Who is my fluffy, little princess?" Calli meowed back Me

5. Teague picked me up after my doctor's appointment, and we went out to breakfast.

How was your week?

TBT Reprint from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Close Cover Before Striking

I had to take Dad to an appointment at the V.A. to have his medication evaluated for a discount benefit.

Ma was industriously going through all her old junk mail sorting things to burn in the fireplace. I told her she shouldn't be burning anything in the fireplace. Ordinarily, I'd think a match would do wonders for the place, but it reeks of smoke. She won't open a door or window for ventilation because she complains of the cold, even when temperatures soar into the 90s.

She said she had to burn sweepstakes papers. She's convinced the mail carriers went through her trash. Someone won $10,000 earmarked for Ma, and to add insult to injury, they called Ma to tell her about it. 

Dad and I headed off down the road. When we got back, there was such a noxious, toxic smell. I told Ma she shouldn't burn anything. She said it was her house and she could do what she wanted.

Talking to Dad later, I asked him if he knew what she was tossing in the fireplace.

"She throws everything in there. She burns the Styrofoam plates we use and the liners from the meat."

Rolling Eyes

I have tried to tell her that Styrofoam is toxic, but my warnings fall on deaf ears. One can only hope that the neighbors will call the EPA to complain about the factory next door. I'm sure the chimney stack isn't the requisite height. In the mean time, might be worth it to invest in a gas mask.

More from the Junk Journal

Warning: Image Heavy

Pages 17 was a weekend day so there was no prompt. Penguins with a snowman built by the Young One when she was 5 years old and photocopied. "Are we having fun?"

The prompt for day 23 was sketchy, but I swapped that for day 18. I sketched the polar bear from a sticker and cut out the letter for No. As in replying to the penguins and snowman on the first page. Are we having fun? No

The prompt for the 19th was Clips and layers. An envelope from Finnbadger provided the backdrop. The large penguin was a thank you note from the grandniece and grandnephew. The envelope wrap holds a penguin sticker and is clipped to the penguin card.

On January 20, Lindsay showed us how to make a simple pop-up. The Eldest had sent me a clips of Harvey, the mailman, from the cartoon, Hey, Arnold. This was my inspiration.

The prompt for the 21st was Negative Space. Lindsay used packing tape to adhere some flowers. I used snowflake embellishments. With the packing tape, the snowflakes can be seen from both sides.

The January 22  prompt was Colors. White is a color. Snowflakes are Winter dandelions.

I swapped the prompt Sketchy on the 23rd. The 18th was a weekend day so my own composition. I had the pretty birch tree paper and a cardinal that I wanted to use. Cardinals make me think of my parents and a female cardinal had recently visited the bird feeder. Mr. Google provided me with a cardinal quote. "My cardinal song is a call to you, To tell you that I miss you, too." - Elle Bee

Maps was the January 26 prompt. I track a polar bear named Bobbie though the app, Fahlo. Bobbie is an old broad like me. According to her bio on the postcard, she's 22 years old and has raised 6 cubs.

The map is an image of her tracking signals.

The theme for the 27th was pockets. "Where does a polar bear keep his paws when they are cold?"

"In his pawkets" 🤣I just slay me.

A Christmas card with black-capped chickadees (the state bird of Massachusetts) and the remnants from the birch tree paper, provided this gem. The prompt was supposed to be stamps, but I swapped that for the 31 which was a Sunday and didn't have a prompt.

One chickadee asks, "What's the best thing about Winter?"

The other chickadee replies, "When it's over."

Fabric was the prompt for January 29. I don't really sew and didn't have any fabric. I did find some felt from craft stuff the Young One left behind when she moved. I fabricated a little penguin with googly eyes.

"I am wicked cold, but being very brave." I saw the saying on a tee-shirt. The wording on the tee-shirt was I am very cold, but I substituted "wicked" a quintessential Boston expression.

On Friday, a notecard arrived from Nan. Perfect timing because everything she sent was perfect for the January 30 prompt of Mixed Up Media and Mediums. Nan hand lettered and watercolored the card. She used the cute little girl dressed in red stamp. On the back of the envelope she had used washi tape which I used to adhere the card like a flap so I could still read her note.

She also included some painted and decorated snowflakes which I turned into a tag. The envelope made the perfect pocket.

I used the stamp prompt from the 28th for the 31st. I had a polar bear stamp. I stamped him 2 times and cut them both out. Pasted one down and then used mounting tape to make him "3D". As of the last day of January there are only 140 days left until the Summer Solstice.

T Stands for Emotional Donuts

Two weeks ago after having lunch at Lowell's, I asked Teague if we could stop for donuts for dessert on the way back to her house. She's a good friend and enabled indulged me.

My favorite donut is a Bavarian cream ( a yeast donut filled with pastry cream and then dusted with powdered sugar) which Dunkin Donut no longer makes. The closest to is is a Boston Cream which is pretty much the same thing except covered in chocolate ganache.

When I was looking in the pastry case to decide, I noticed this Boston Cream donut with a surprised expression. Maybe it was screaming. 

The donut I was given looked rather angry

I also ordered a Chai Tea Latte. My buddy had a glass of milk

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

are going to participate in Creative Hand Lettering and Doodling with Lindsay's February project which is Hearts. Lindsay is using a personal size, pizza box to decorate and then fill with the projects for the month.

I don't have a small-ish box. I really liked the paper bag journal from Saturday's Time Waster. I thought I would see how that would work out.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The big weather for the week was a decent size snow storm that dumped 2 feet of snow in some areas followed by bitter cold.

It's always amazing how herds of birds flock to the feeders in bad weather.

A and his helper loading the snowblower onto his truck after the first pass.

Brrrrr

More snow at night

The Tundra

Bunny prints to or from under the sunroom

A mild 40 oF day on Thursday before the storm caused a glacier to slide off the roof. Cold weather followed and the glacier stayed in place until A came towards the end of the week to clear some snow off the roof.

A snowbird (Junco) takes shelter on the snowball bushes under the front window

A cleaned the snow off Moose

The Snow Gnomes measured 17.5 inches of snow

The snow was up to my thighs in places as I went to fill the bird feeders.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Wasters

 

How To Make A Small Junk Journal From Paper Bags

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. We didn't lose electricity during the storm.

2. When the Eldest went to dig her car out, a maintenance man shoveling the hospital walkways went over and helped her out.. 

3. She had made a reservation at a motel close to the hospital, but her little car couldn't handle the road. She went back to the hospital and the night nursing supervisor found her a room on a med. surgical floor where she spent the night.

4. I've been having fun playing in the junk journal.

5.  During my weekly Teague visit, she took me to my annual mammogram appointment, and then we picked up sandwiches on the way back to her house. I had a gyros

How was your week?

Throwback Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

   In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Ave Maria

To most folks, July 4, is a day for cookouts and fireworks. For my family, The Fourth is another Holy Day of Obligation, the Weebles' wedding anniversary. This year, their 64th.

The Eldest had to work the holiday, and Himself stayed home in case she called saying the boss let them out early. He also had to go in search of a large pot to cook the prize she won in a raffle. (If you have nothing better to do, you can read all about her prize ) That left the Youngest and I to head to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Perpetually Clueless for the afternoon service. As planned, we stopped at the nice, clean, modern supermarket, Stop and Shop, two miles from the Weebles'. There was a special on roses so we picked a dark coral bouquet. I asked the florist clerk if she could wrap the flowers while we finished the rest of the shopping. We picked up strawberries, angel food cake and fat free Redi-whip, two cards, and some other items I needed. The clerk surprised us by adding babies' breath and leather leaf fern to the roses making a really pretty bouquet.

There were a lot of people in the store. Most of them were picking up hotdog and hamburger buns, and the checkout lines were moving quickly. We had made good time down the Pike so I told the Young One we would visit one of the other stores to kill some time. We had 10 items in the cart. I debated whether or not to use the self-check out, but decided to use the 12 item express lane. I placed our items on the conveyor belt and waited, and waited and waited. The young woman ahead of me was having a debate with the check-out clerk over the price of a bag of chips. The clerk called a runner to go check the price. We waited some more. The Young One observed so much for an express lane, though it was helping us to kill time. Finally the chip dilemma was resolved, and our order was rung up.

Out in the car, I tucked a bit of cash into each card. The cash was really more for Dad than Ma. She controls the purse strings. She's so tight when it comes to an allowance for him. So tight, she squeaks when she walks. He doesn't always have ready cash to get a hair cut or buy himself a cup of coffee. So I slipped some cash into his card. Slipped an equal amount into hers. The Young One asked why I didn't just get them one anniversary card. Explained that if I put all the cash in the card, Grandma would take it all and Grandpa would get bupkis. With the nitty gritty taken care of, we went over the highway and by the woods to Grandma's house.

I rang the bell and then opened the door and announced "It's me!" so I wouldn't scare the Devil out of them. The Young One gave Grandma the flowers. Grandma was thrilled. She had been feeling down figuring we had forgotten all about them. She made much over the flowers. They were the same shade as her wedding colors.

I began getting things ready in the kitchen waiting for the arrival of the other pilgrims. When they arrived, Ma beamed. Almost all her chicks singing Aves to her. She was well pleased.

Ma has a small table in the living room that opens out to a dining table. The table is littered with Ma's business, all the you-have-won junk. She began issuing orders to clean the table off, but I quickly squelched that. It would have taken us days to relocate the items on her flat file.

She sat in her chair, arms folded across her chest. "Hmmm. In my own home I can't give orders."

I considered it tit for tat. I sent the Young One and The Boy downstairs with Grandpa for three extra chairs. We cozily sat around the kitchen table to have coffee and cake.

For the most part the Weebles were on their best behavior. Ma tried a few snipes. How her son in law does everything for her. She tried the chorus of The He's Stupid song. She hounded the Boy for the price of the cars at the dealership where he works. She wanted to know if he could get her a car.

"Got $40,000?" he asked.

"I will next week. I got a big check coming in. I was notified."

We all sang the Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy)

Ma then asked where she could find a typewriter. The general consensus was at an antique store, but we weren't sure where one would find useable ribbons. Ma wants to type her checks because her handwriting is deteriorating. The scammers must be calling complaining they can't read her checks.

"What was that thing you used to play with?" she asked the Brother.

He looked at her blankly.

"The thing in your lap that you used to play with."

I tried not to lose composure, but I couldn't help it. I began to giggle and caught the Brother's attention with a hand signal which reduced us to gales of laughter. 🤣

All in all we had a fun time. After all, it was only a couple of hours out of our day to make an old lady very happy.