Bright sunshine----Bright future!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

That is what is happening in this house.  Mother has dozed off, the cat has a whole chair to stretch out in, and Jack is asleep.   Sooooooooooooo

 I decided to bake a pecan pie.  Mother was going to chop the nuts but since she looked so comfortable, I did it myself.  Now in about 40 minutes our house will smell good again! lol

Yesterday I worked with the digital camera that my daughter gave us for Christmas.  She worked with it but could never get the pictures to the computer, well I got them in the computer and actually sent one in an e-mail.  This is a real challenge.

The sunshine is so bright--it is bitterly cold but the sunshine is so wonderful!  We had plans but we are waiting for a longed for call from Jack's daughter. 

Oh, oh everyone is beginning to stir so I need to start the chicken, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce for lunch.  Somewhere in there we need something green!  Maybe english peas since Mother likes those.

I hope I don't offend anyone but I don't want BLACK EYED PEAS FOR NEW YEARS DINNER!  Perhaps mother will forget that they are traditional.   And she always makes a big pillowcase on New Years Day to hold all the money she will make.................so I need to locate a LARGE bit of fabric so I can make a really big one, too.

I guess everyone has  traditions for the holiday that are a little different from everyone elses.  Peace reigns right now here in Marigold Country Home, and I am away to start lunch.  Wish you could join us!

 

 

Is this a year ending/ or a year beginning?

Sunshine to begin a new year.  Hope that is a positive omen!

The farmers are positively jubliant with the rains.  Maybe a snow flury tonight but even that is welcomed.

I have just cleaned the carpet in our room.  Want to start the new year right.    The new year means starting the income tax work.  Last year was my first year to get Mother's ready for the accountant.  I also set up files and don't have to do that this year.  I have been checking on insurance to be sure we are covered in most eventualities.  I hate this kind of responsibility!!!( frowns and makes terrible face!!!!!)

Perhaps you think I am jumping a day ahead talking about the new year.  But when you decide there is a new year then that is a beginning!  So says this ruler of the Marigold Kingdom!

Happiness and prosperity for all you in the year to come!  Peace in Marygold Country Home!

 

AFTER CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

Did my  after Christmas shopping today............bought a liquid crystal television, 32 inch I think.

This is for our antiversary, Jack's birthday, our Christmas, etc., for sometime to come! lol

It is big enough for Jack to see it well, even though he is having lots of trouble with his eyes.

Even my legally blind mother says she can see it! I am not sure if she see it well enough to know what it is, but she isn't a great tv watcher.

We wished for it over the holidays but they just didn't get in, in time and we had ask for a plasma, but I think this is better because of no glare.

Will stop this nonsense and watch tv! <smiles>

Peace among the marigolds!

 

Thank goodness Christmas is over!

The wrapping paper is in the trash.

The treasures are put away.

My daughter has started home. (sad for both of us)

The refrig. needs to be cleaned of left overs.

The guest room is already ready for my daughters return whenever that might be!

And Peace of a sort reigns at Marigold Country Home!

AH .....children!

I picked up my daughter at the airport yesterday morning at 9.

There is nothing like Christmas with your kids.

Of course the fact that she is a wonderful cook has nothing to do with it.

And the empathy is the best gift of all.

Merry Christmas from Marigold Country Home.

Peace!

 

 I am learning anew the live of a caregiver!

It generally "sucks"!

Now who is lucky?

Today this little burg had a bit of holiday festivities!

A bit consisted of a visit by Santa and goodie bags for the children.

Drawing for hams and turkeys for the adults.  Only 10 names would be drawn and the people had to be present to win. 

Now who is lucky?  My mother was the first name drawn! LOL  We had talked this all week and mother was really excited about going.  We had said if she won to ask for a ham since we already  had a turkey and we don't care much for ham!  Not liking ham much we could share it and it is difficult to chop off a bit of a frozen turkey.  So she took a ham and when the drawing was over and all the turkeys and hams were gone.  I asked a neighbor if they ate ham and she said oh yes, so I took them 2/3 of the ham.  That leaves us plenty for cooking in beans and making a ham sandwich or so. 

My daughter said, "We don't like ham?"  I said that isn't important, we can eat ham when we go out and not have much but it is salty and pork and not the best for the guys at this house.  She said, " Oh ok, we don't care much for ham!" LOL

Tonight mom asked for a ham sandwich,(she really doesn't care for ham) and I had to tell her I had put the ham in the freezer.  So a scrambled egg had to do............aren't I a meany.

Washed windows late today, just one of those things that needed to be done.  Earlier I had stripped my daughter's bed and washed the sheets so they would be fresh and smell of the great outdoors.  She and I was talking about the smell of fresh laundry and you just can't reproduce the delightful scent of the sheets from the openair.  Laundry detergents and dryer items have tried!

Tomorrow is our last warm day and then the cold weather hits again and perhaps a shower or two.

Peace reigns in Marigold Country Home.

 

CHRISTMAS IS 'A COMIN'

I fear the holidays are upon us!

Over the weekend I did try some new recipies.  I had a very old cookbook.  One of the recipes was picnic cake.  The recipe couldn't be too old because it used a boxed cake mix.  So easy and festive: Make the cake according to the recipe and put in pan.  Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over the top, a few nuts (I used chopped walnuts) over the marshmallows and I added chocolate chips because I like them.  The recipe called for brown sugar too but too much sugar is too much sugar so I left that out.  Just chips, nuts and marshmallows then bake according to the box directions.  When you finish you have the cake already topped and you don't need frosting.   The nuts and chips do drift down into the cake some but the results was rich and moist.  I don't care much for spice cake and that was one way I thought I could use it and get it off the shelf.  Turned out to be a great hit!  My bunch are so easy to please.

Also, my husband is Scottish and the holidays must include short bread.  I find it a bit boring but he suggested that I roll it out and make cookies.  Wow were these great and so much like sugar cookies which I could really pig out on.  Can you get easier than this: I pound of butter ( I use salt free so had to add a bit of salt to mix) I cup of sugar and flour mixed in till it is the consistancy to roll out dough.  Cut into cookies, sprinkle sugar on top if desired ( I desired) and bake at 350 to desired brownness.  I found I liked the thinner and a little more brown cookies but that did not keep me from eating the others! LOL  Turned out to be the best cookies I had baked in a year.....also the first!

We had drop in company at noon on Sunday, which delayed our Asian food we had just picked up at the restaurant in the next town to the South.  But we enjoyed the visit and the microwave helps a lot!  They needed some storage space so yesterday I worked on making the barn a bit more organized and a bit cleaner.  It is amazing how much dirt can blow in at the floor where most of the siding is gone.  The cats are not the neatest or cleanest tennants so I had a lot of do and used a lot of clorox and germtrol....it does smell better.   I need to work on that again today.  I will also move Jack's otheroutdoor cart into the garage so the cats will not have it for a playground and it will be in a better place.  Goodness if I get all of this done I will be miles ahead of schedule! lol

We did go shopping for groceries in the town to the south and I make two trips to the town to the north to leave prescriptions and then pick them up later along with cat food.  We are fortunate to have dollar stores close by since we do lots of general shopping there and does save quite a bit.  Remember this is a depressed area of Oklahoma.

Mother almost fell yesterday coming out to the barn to tell me I had a phone call...of course Jack had told her not to but she admits that she doesn't listen or doesn't hear.  LOL  More of the first I think.  I am learning new ways to torment my daughter when I become 89.  I should keep a list, I might forget some.

I must check on Jack's christmas and birthday gift today,  we ordered a new plasma tv and hoped to have it before christmas but it has been several weeks. 

Enjoy your day, eat something festive, have a good warm drink, and consider one new goal for next year.  Peace from  Marigold Country Home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas is getting closer!

It is cold!

It is almost dawn, the light is slowly beginning to spread around this small hamlet in western Oklahoma.  

Today there are parades and visits with Santa,etc.

Tomorrow there are musical  tributes to the holidays.

There is a growing shopping list...and a list of things to do.........and it is cold and a good day for doing nothing but drinking warm things and trying out new recipes..lol

I went out early to feed the kitties in the barn and found them stretching and yawning.  I don't blame them for sleeping in!  They have stacks of boxes and old wool blankets to snuggle into.  Where the outside cats snuggle I wonder.  But they show up in the morning full of vinegar for something to eat.

Time to get on with the program, everyone in a good mood this morning including me! lol

Peace at Marigold Country Home!

Things that smell good..........

Baked pumpkin bread today..........makes the house smell good.  Makes residents happy!  Residents brag on cook........makes cook happy!  Cook bakes more good holiday stuff!  MAYBE

And I am winning, another day without a Christmas Tree!   Have wreaths in windows, no trees with lights twinkling in the night!

Very cold and windy here......it was 19 when we went out today to visit the doctor.  I kid you not it is a social affair.....the nurse asks is there a problem or is this a regular "visit"...not office call, or appointment,etc........just visit like a social call.  We took our clinic staff their Christmas rememberences today, hoping to not see them till next year.  <smiles>

Marigold Country Home, Peace!

 

 

Trees-----------

Trees, I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree................

Both Jack and my Mother have been teasing me about a Christmas Tree!  I don't have the time or energy to put up a tree and then take it down!

They have the best time finding trees in places where we shop and asking if we are going to get one.....what is it about NO TREES that they don't understand!

The trees in the yard are as bad as the Christmas Trees with needles everywhere.........the yard trees have small and large limbs everywhere.  Mother has gone out on two different days and picked up the limbs.

OH Well, I am putting my foot down and watching that I don't put it down on a cat...No Christmas Tree!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love this winter weather!

All my bad habits I learned from my Mother! LOL

Like not dressing right for cold weather!

She and I just had to go out in the yard and do stuff. She picked up twigs and limbs from the storm and put in a barrel that she uses for that and I did the flower beds.  But both of us went out without head coverings.  Now that is usual for me but the cold wind was blowing and my mother didn't have anything on her head! She got cold in a hurry!

I pulled out all the dead Marigold plants and used them as mulch in all the other flower beds.  They were covered with seed pods and will reseed the other flower beds I am hoping.  I used bricks and rocks artfully placed (lol) to hold down the dead plants.  I clipped off the hollyhocks and let them become mulch also.  Now a few leaves to cover the whole thing and winter can arrive anytime!

Well, the wind is cold and the cats are all fed and back to the places where they spend their days.  I am thinking about Christmas shopping.  This is done at the bank and with a check book!  I go shopping and then put the stamps on and be glad I don't have to worry about sizes or gift wrapping.

We did put wreaths in the windows.  That is about my limit.  Don't talk about trees.

Marygold Country Home is warm, cluttered, cosy, and comfortable.  PEACE!

 

Christmas is coming..............

Daughter is trying to get reservations  to be 'Home for Christmas'.

Most of the kitties have checked in but a few have either changed their dining area or moved on to other places to live, and this happens I understand with the little Hobos! lol

I am busy cleaning out Mother's freezer and cooking up good things for the hungry little creatures.

The snow is still hanging on in a few places and the temps go up today to almost bearable!

We received our Christmas package from Scotland last week and inside were long scarfs or mufflers.  I have never had one and never had a use for one but I love this thing that goes over my head and around my neck several times!

I asked Mother's chiropractor to recommend that she have a physical just because it must have been years and years since she has even seen a doctor except in the emergency room with an injury.   This has to be her idea, we will see if he had any effect.  I told him who our doctor is and he said that is the first doctor he ever heard say he only wanted to serve.  This is a most impressive man.  He looks like a professional football player, is as gentle and soft spoken as a priest or minister, and as human as they come when he will get down on the floor to see a patient's legs.  Mother's  chiropractor was as impressed when he met him as we are everytime we go in for a visit.  His staff is equally as thoughtful as he.

So far there is peace at Marigold Country Home but the Marigold plants fell to the cold temps but there will be plenty of seeds to start again next spring.

Sunshine and Sadness..............

The wayward felines have not all checked in and I am afraid the frigid temperatures (9 degrees) or the dog packs have not done well by these creatures.

The barn doors were frozen shut and it took two buckets of hot water to get the doors open where four cats are renting box space! lol Their water was frozen with a thick slab of ice.  Despite some more residential  snow four little faces watched to see what was for breakfast!  Wonder if there is a law saying I have to provide better accomodations!  Or keep better repairs on this place.  I can guarantee there are no mice.

This year we have lost a small smoky grey kitten, Hisser cat with the bad leg(the grey kitten was hers too). We lost small yellow kitten and a big yellow kitten.  That's four, but after this week we are missing: Momma Kitty, Big Blue Fuzzy, Sassy, and Baby Black.  Already I miss them.  None of these cats were ours!  They just came to be loved and fed. 

 I went to the city hall and complained about the packs of dogs roaming the town.  It seems we have a leash law that no one observes.  Others  are equally disturbed.

We have talked about fencing this yard but it is so large and doesn't lend itself to fencing.  Why should I have to fence the dogs out--the law, if inforced would take care of the problem. 

 The kids are almost as bad as the dogs! LOL I have had to ask them not to ride their bikes in our yard.  I  know it looks like a park and is as big as a park, but it isn't a public park and I don't wish to take out insurance that covers a public play park. Mother does not recognize the children and panics that someone is out there in the yard!  They cut though a lot and they forget that I have  asked them not to cut through, I can over look that situation but riding their bikes just for fun in the "park" won't work with me. 

The have already bent the steel bars that mother had put up to prevent the cars from driving through our yard (they thought it would be more convenient to just drive across the yard), with the bars bent just so they can ride their bikes through without  bending over very far or getting off their bikes.  That  I fixed and am fixing more permanently.  But the dogs are a real dirty mess to clean up after!

Not much peace here today! LOL