Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dad says this will be his last Christmas but we are not alarmed, because he has been saying that for 25 years! LOL

Ho Ho Ho! A Merry Christmas Eve To All!

Brisket of Love . . .

I put a world of hurt on my brisket, rubbing in some extra virgin olive oil and some Brisket of Love . . .

but my brisket runneth over! It was too big. So some went in the oven, the thicker part went in the crock pot.

 

 

With bated breath we are waiting to see how the brisket turns out! It smells sooooo good in here! We'll taste test tomorrow, I predict it will be spectacular . . . because just for extra insurance, I poured a beer in there too! Well, almost a whole beer!

 

 

Peace out and good cheer!

Kathleen A.

Sunday

I love Sundays. At least today I do. I wonder how many people know how good it is to watch Independence Day (or I guess more listen to it than watch), heating pad on lower back, heating cat on belly, pom pom slipper socks on, (be careful whilst walking in them, because of Midge the Pom Pom Queen), while reading "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, all the while thinking how nice it would be to take a nap soon?

The Saturday night church thing with Dad works out pretty well. Except that Dad thinks that church is on Sunday a.m. and if you set a beautiful, steaming bowl of stew in front of him after Saturday night church, he looks at you like you are bonkers and says . . . "I want pancakes, or waffles, or doughnuts!" LOL  What a hoot.

Dad got a Christmas card from Uncle Jim that he loves. I've caught Dad smiling over it several times. Seems Uncle Jim sent dad some brotherly advice about rooting for Notre Dame, sticking with the White Sox, and voting republican! 

Wind chill -16 tomorrow night! What the heck. I'm so glad the county voted to close the courthouse on Christmas Eve and I do not have to go in to work! Woo hoo!

Cooking brisket again for Christmas. I've decided we are more a brisket family than a prime rib family. I really don't think anyone that knows us would argue about that!

I know it was just a matter of time before Midgie caught herself one of  my pompoms!

Kay :)

It's deja dough all over again!

Cookies 2013!

A fun time had by all!

Thanks Mar!

Do these things ever expire . . .?

Before . . .

. . .

The artists, Lucas, Donna, Mar, Kristi

Civic minded Lucas!

After . . .

Gosh we are good!

Mar and Kristi

Mar and Kristi (with wings! lol)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad turned 94 today! He got a letter from a relative who shall remain anonymous (see pic, I don’t want to get Uncle _ _ _in trouble!), with a $20 bill in it. Any family members reading this . . . please don't rat out Uncle _ _ _! Dad was just incredulous. He said, “I can’t remember the last time I had a $20 bill!” He folded it and put it in his pants pocket and kept sort of sliding it out just far enough to make sure it was still there, then tucking it back in and patting his pants pocket and smiling and smiling! It was the cutest damned thing.  Mom said had she known how happy a $20 bill would make him, she would have given him one sooner! LOL

More birthday cards from the family, and Dad keeps saying  “What really puzzles me is how they got this address so fast, when I’ve only been living here two days!!” Mom and I were full of the giggles over that. LOL

I got him a Whitman Sampler for his birthday, he loves his sweets. And he loves to fill those boxes up with “stuff”, like photos, notes, rubber bands, paper clips, all kinds of junk. And I am talking pre-dementia here! Like John says, everybody has to have some way to pass the time . . . :) His name on the Birthday Club on the morning radio show, his favorite “scrimp” for lunch (my dad can’t pronounce shrimp, he says “scrimp”), and his beloved KFC for dinner, and with birthday cake for dessert will make for a very pleasant day for Bernie! 

Dad confided to me  . . . "This will be my last birthday!", and we all laughed, including Dad, because he has been saying that for at least 25 years! LOL  

Bernie, 94 years old.

See, my hearty appetite is genetic! Good cake Mom!

Be a Cat

When the temperature feels like 1 degree, and it is bright and sunny, I think kitties have the right idea . . .

One Year Ago

One year ago today John brought home Hera and Isis from the Just Animals Shelter in Mazon. Sweet girls, love them to death. Hera is still the big sister! They are happy, healthy, amusing kitties!

We had a good Thanksgiving yesterday, too much good food. Dad was in a great mood, told a lot of stories. Well that is not true . . . he told a couple of stories, about a dozen times! LOL He was doing his "I don't know much about TV . . . when you are a hired man you don't get to watch much TV during the day . . . " thing, which amuses me to no end.

I headed over to John's today, with Thanksgiving leftovers. Nothing like some leftover turkey, gravy, mom's scalloped corn, dressing, smashed sweet taters, mashed taters, all heated up with a warm, buttered potato roll from the Morris Bakery! Alas, there were repercussions . . .

Darn tryptophan!

For dessert I modified my friend Donna's pistachio dessert by using peppermint ice cream! It was yummy. And pretty in pink.

After my balmy Sunday post we ended up in the basement after the tornado siren went off. I heard the siren, pulled back the sheer to look out the window and saw a 2 x 4 flying through the sky! Way up high too. Basement time, pronto. For me at least. Streator got some debris from the Washington tornado. John doesn't have cable or satellite, so I didn't know how bad it was until I got home and saw some network TV. I saw random bits of debris in the way home, big pieces of metal, big, wet globs of insulation.  The folks ended up in the basement too. Once the tornado got past us it was heading towards home! Yikes. Passed between two of my best friends, and did some damage in Diamond, a lot of damage and people lost their homes.

That's all for now. 

Have a good weekend.

Kay

Balmy Sunday

Gosh it is 68 degrees here in Streator and I have shorts on! Lovely. A little windy, but I can't complain. Forecast calls for high of 73 degrees, low of 41! Windows are cracked, house is airing. John's cats are having a play and are amusing me mightily. Came here to go to the Food for Thought fundraiser for John's outfit, Streator Unlimited, yesterday, which was very fun.

I think someone is smitten with his kittens! John actually contemplated turning up the thermostat for little Isis, and he ordered a wad of cherry tea bags for Hera! The wrapper from these tea bags is her favorite fetch toy. I guess I should say that John does drink a lot of tea! LOL

Sweet Isis.

Hera and her cherry tea bags

Yeah. I'm always making beds for cats. The kitties almost always oblige me by having a nappy.

Finn ALWAYS obliges me.

If only Finn could relax. Poor kitty. LOL

Miscellaneous:

Why is the remote for my new WOOT! lamp in my purse?

Someone drew a penis on my car window.

I was personally served with my first summons . . . for jury duty!

If you incorporate chia seeds into your diet, stock up on dental floss.

I sort of have an idea of Dad’s dementia time-frame Whenever we see the mayor my dad always says to me afterwards, “I meant to ask him how Ike is doing. He is a good guy.” Well I inquired around, seems Ike was the mayor's uncle, (but Dad thinks Ike is his brother - am I confusing you? Don’t worry, you PROBABLY don’t have dementia!). While I was leafing through the veteran’s insert in the paper, I saw Ike’s picture . . . and it seems he passed away in 1970! 

Tra la.

Kay :)

Veteran's Day

Hi Folks,

Happy Veteran's Day! Dad found his photo in the special veteran's section in the paper, and attended the parade downtown. He refused to go to the luncheon though. Mallaneys can be stubborn.

Had a pleasant ride to John's Saturday with the family. John made a delicious brunch, biscuits and gravy (one of Mom's faves), and homemade coffee cake (wow, screw low carb, hand over the sweets!), to celebrate Mom's 76th birthday (November 7th). Poor Isis was so shy at John's she hid under the couch most of the time. Hera was quite the showboat though, she is no longer the shy kitty. I shut all the doors I could to encourage Isis to hang with the fam, but alas, I found her cowering in the guestroom bathtub with the litter box, the only door I deemed prudent to leave ajar! LOL

You have to be careful how you approach things with Dad, so Saturday a.m., telling him we were taking a ride to John's house, and then trying to get him to take a shower for the visit to John's and church Saturday night, well it was rough going.  Keep in mind Dad takes one shower a week and sometimes it is a real battle! Finally got him up and going and as he was on the way to the bathroom I heard him mutter, "Well, I haven't been to Coal City for a long time." So John is still his brother, Pat. I am still Aunt Noreen. He often asks me, "You still live in Mazon, don't you?" He tells a story about how he and his mother would be taking a ride into Morris to do the shopping from their farm on Waupecan Road and they'd would stop at Aunt Noreen and Uncle Bob's in Mazon and pick up my cousin, Bobby. His little sister, Cathy, would cry and want to go along, but she was too little, so Bobby would tell her, "Don't worry, we'll bring you a treat home." LOL  A nice memory for Dad, he tells that story a lot, laughing.

On the way to John's Dad mostly talked about how big the fields were, the usual. We saw lots of tractors and field work, he loves that. And about what a long ride it was. And how fast was I going? We drove by the old farm, which burned down years ago, and then came up to Aunt Mae's house. Dad said, "Aren't we going to stop at Aunt Mae's!?" and I said maybe we will on the way home, it is too early to take Aunt Mae a beer now! LOL At John's he kept asking John, "Did you paint all this!?" over and over. LOL  We told him Donna's hubby did the painting, but he still kept asking.  I think the whole day tired him out. He slept most of the day Sunday and seemed more confused than usual. He said he had weird dreams Saturday night. Sometimes I think the weird dreams are about living in Morris! LOL He's back to (the new) normal now.

The clouds have been pretty funky at night lately. Last night the clouds made it look like we were coming up on a mountain range. I know it sounds looney. But it gave me thoughts of being on a vacation, coming up to a hike. I told Bernie I thought it looked like we were coming up to some mountain range, and he said, "Well, I was going to say the same thing, but I didn't want you to think I was losing it!" LOL  What a hoot. It seems when we get back from a ride I am always his daughter, because he says the same thing . . . "I like the rides Kay. I like the rides." I like them too.

My knee is a little better I think. Knock on wood. I'm tired of being so sore and limping around. Hopefully the vitamin D is kicking in and helping things along. And the gait therapy helped too. Now I think I need some strengthening. Life has been a real blast since I turned 50! ARGHHHH

I got a problem with Finn and my Crazy 8's Lichen chair. He seems to have become mystified and beguiled by the Crazy 8 pattern. He sits in the chair, seemingly relaxed, having a bath, and and all of the sudden the pattern catches his eye. His head moves up and down and side to side as he tracks the Crazy 8 pattern up the back of the chair. His butt starts to shake as he gets ready to pounce. He looks very kitten-like when he does this. Though the thought of a 17 pound kitten is kind of scary. He then attacks, clawing the 8's and then he starts biting on one of the big buttons! Arghhh. My new chair! With teeth marks on the pretty buttons!!! It's so cute too. I have it all covered up now, and it brings back childhood thoughts of plastic covered furniture at a relative's house . . . am I OCD!? ARGHHHHH For now it is still covered, but que sera sera, whatever will be will be . . .

Hera approves of John's new sheers.

I scared Poor Finn when I yelled at him for attacking my chair, and he pouted under the bed. Yes! I use under the bed for storage. My feng shui is just fine thank you. I think . . .

I guess it is sort of mesmerizing . . . the button he is trying to kill is the one on the upper left.

That's all folks.  Winter is here. We are in for wintry mix today. Yuck!

Kay :)

Is it fall . . . or winter!?

Isis still has claws in the back John! LOL   John just turned his heat on . . . all the way up to 59! Seems his house was 54 degrees. The kitties remember about the heat vents, they were on them right away! LOL I best pack up some warm duds for my visit to his house this coming weekend . . .

Wearing long pants, socks, and real shoes, all in one day, for the first time in months! Yuck! And I just finished my last vine ripened big tomato from the garden! Boo hoo!

I realized that yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of my surgery! Two years sure went by fast.

59! Please turn up the heat! LOL

Fajita nachos anyone?

Blustery October Saturday

A first for Kay . . . I used my AARP card at Walgreens to get a “Senior Discount” (Sigh). I guess it was worth it to save some dough on TP and Purex. Maybe.

Mom and Joe take Dad to church on Sunday mornings to the 7:00 mass. Mom has not been looking forward to the idea of getting up that early and leaving the house on cold winter mornings (mom hates cold!), and has been thinking about switching to Saturday night mass. She has been somewhat reluctant because dad has his “buddies” at church that he sits with on Sunday a.m. and he is really a creature of habit. Not to mention change isn’t good for dementia sufferers. Well, she tried it out tonight for the 5:00 mass. There was piano music and drums, and Dad liked it. Problem is he thinks it is Sunday now and he is all confused.  He wanted to go to the bakery after church, and he wants his Sunday paper! LOL

Dad and I took a ride to Braidwood today, to Mar’s catering shop. She had some goodies for us (yum). Dad loves taking a ride and seeing the farmers in the fields and he loves Mar too. He got lucky and her hubby and 2 sisters were there too, to fuss over him. Mar’s catering shop is across her driveway from her house. As we were leaving, Dad whispered to me, “Mar’s house is very small!” lol. I was just backing out and was able to show him her very nice house and point out that it was different from the smaller  shop where she works. lol Dad wanted very badly to stop in Coal City and see Uncle Pat, but I told a white lie and said Uncle Pat is away on a trip to visit his son. Dad was in such a good mood I didn’t want to put a damper on it. He was pretty tired out on the way home, so I’m glad we didn’t make any more stops. Except at Donna’s, which was right on the way, to drop off her goodies from Mar, and Dad just freaked over the size of their lawn and how do they mow it so nice! LOL

I’ve been working on ripping out the garden and pulling down morning glories. I’m still getting tomatoes! It was the best tomato year ever. I even made more roasted tomato sauce. Yum.This brisk weather makes me want to have the yard work done! Seems like it has finally turned to Fall weather for good.

I found out I was deficient in vitamin D, so I’ve been taking some big supplements of it and I think I’m feeling better. Definitely was not too peppy. Might help out with my aches and pains too. Still doing therapy on my knee, and things are looking up, I hope!  Though I’ve been driving to Joliet so much I feel like a commuter. lol

John is doing physical therapy too. Turns out he was deficient in vitamin D (he is the one who suggested I get mine checked). Well, he started feeling better, and started walking again. He was out on a nice hike, and tripped over a wire fence that had fallen. He hooked both feet in that fence and went down hard, injuring his wrist and shoulder. Nothing broken, but doc ordered some PT for his shoulder. Mallaneys. What can I say? LOL

I'm all sore from washing windows and babying my sore knee! I need my pjs and a blanket, it is getting late . . .nearly 7:00 p.m. lolol

Kay :)

Fall Cookout - ***EXTRA*** Anatomical Tomato

Uh oh. John is coming home for a cookout . . .

I 

Midge, can you find the grill?

I did a lot of work in the yard/garden yesterday. I'm a little sore but not as bad as I feared. I hate to take the morning glories down, but I love a good grill meal!

You should get some dressing on that right away . . .

 Kay:  I'm surprised you don't have anything to say about these shoes John.

John:  They are fine. Just fine. But they aren't going to slide very well at the bowling alley anymore if you keep wearing them outside.

Taters and a brussell's sprout I guess. Picked it off my cabbage plant. lol

Midge doesn't know what to make of the freak show tomato.

Apples in the crisper drawer (Thanks Mark and Donna!), what the heck! Peel them and get the sugar and cinnamon!

Fried green tomatoes with a horseradish/mustard/sour cream sauce. Is that a Weight Watcher's commercial on the telly?

Oh boy.

Temp has dropped about 20 degrees. Kay likey.

Government still on strike. Campground closed. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Dad keeps asking about the Cubs and Sox. I told him neither made the playoffs this year. And do you know what Bernie said . . . "Shit!" I'm pretty sure he just meant that about the Sox . . .

 Midge doing her PT . . . and showing off her french pedicure.

How YOU doin . . . ?

That's all folks!

Kathleen