Mutant Root Vegetables

The Claw vs. Mega Carrot, and Methusacarrot.

More interesting garden veggies. Weird and delicious.

No Roommates for Midgie

My cute display in front window before Midge  . . .

I thought I'd tuck my smiley face Santas in the door of Midge's cat tree. Kind of cute, huh?

After Midge!

But Midge will not have it! She never gets in that little house in the cat tree, but she will not share.

Isis supervising puzzle assembly.

The delightfully non-anorexic Hera wants us to do a puzzle with a bigger box.

Cookie Day at Mar's yesterday. A lovely time had by all.

Mar and Mark, the twins, with the Super Cool Lucas, Mark's son, Mar's newphew. There will be a pop quiz later.

 

 

Photobomb! That Donna Lou!

In other news I lost my glasses in Streator. I super glued a drawer to my hand.

Kay :)

Uncle Jim

Uncle Jim, Aunt Kay, Dad and Aunt Joan.

Brothers at the reunion.

So sad to lose Uncle Jim this week. Cousin Peggy had a lovely celebration of life (94 years!) for him yesterday. He is back together with Aunt Shirley now. And what a joyous reunion in heaven, back with his family. The world would be a lot better place with a lot more Uncle Jims. Like Dad his faith was strong, and his morning prayers took a long time as he prayed for everybody by name. He knew someone wherever he went and could talk to anyone. He would call and check up on the happenings in Morris. I will really miss that. And he wrote the best cards and letters. I remember Dad sitting at the kitchen table, reading a card Uncle Jim sent. Uncle Jim advised Dad to "root for Notre Dame, stay loyal to the White Sox, and vote Republican!" Dad laughed out loud at the thought . . . of voting Republican! LOL  Uncle Jim had a great memory and even this past year laughed as he remembered one time when he was at our house, gosh over 30 years ago I think, and we always had cats around, and one of the cats, Pudgie, was showing off for him on the end table in the living room and settled in for a nap . . . with his head in the ashtray! lol A wonderful and generous husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, a another tremendous loss to our family. And Cousin Peggy losing both her folks within 6 months, that is heartbreaking. I commented to her that we were sure lucky girls to have had such fathers for as long as we did.

We cousins were and are lucky to have such uncles. The best ever I think. John remarked at the funeral dinner yesterday that all the male cousins resemble the uncles, but not necessarily their fathers, and it is true.

Cousin Peggy toasted her Dad yesterday, and remarked that she couldn't wait for 2015 to be over and the entire family heartily concurred!

Dad's birthday today, he would have been 96! So thankful he is in heaven, whole in mind and with his beloved family.

Peace.

Kay

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's what's happening around the homestead . . .

I paid $20 bucks at the Y and got this t-shirt. If I maintain my weight within 2 pounds until the final weigh-in on December 28th (I better have lost some by then!!) my $20 goes toward my next years membership. If I don't maintain, my $20 goes to charity.  I should say WHEN I maintain my weight (and lose some!), my $20 will go toward my next membership.

I think there is a scary Y-Man that could pop out and make me feel guilty if I go to the bakery. Or maybe "he" is Santa. Not sure

More kindness from friends. I'd like to thank Sue, Bonnie and Connie for the outing. Thanks to Sue for organizing, and for the company, and to Bonnie for the shrooms and to Connie for treating me to dinner and drinks. It was fun.

Also a shout out to Sue for helping me get my feet out of the rowing machine at the Y. That's all I have to say about that. What happens at the Y stays at the Y! I hope . . . I certainly don't want some of my shenanigans following me home . . .

I cleaned some more drawers and floors, and knocked down some cobwebs. I hauled a window with a broken seal to the glass shop and ordered a new one. Why didn't I do that when the weather was nicer lol?

I had a fun outing with John's work friends to a trivia event in Streator. The beer was great! Our team suffered from the absence of one team member (Diana!), but a good time was had by all.

I got my first unemployment check. I certified myself on Tuesday. I'm certifiable I guess.

I made Finn a kitty condo. and he moved right in. I think he went out in the rain multiple times last night because he loves getting toweled off.

 
I job hunted.
 
I cooked some good stuff.

Food is hard to photograph. That is pork with a mustard cream sauce . . . made with leftover half and half from the mashed taters (Pioneer Woman recipe). Those reheated wonderfully today for Thanksgiving dinner. The sweet potatoes are glazed with bourbon and dark brown sugar. Wow. Delicious. I know, two starches. That's just the way I roll sometimes. Not pictured is a hot buttered roll . . .

One day after John went to work and I turned his thermostat up to 59! Maybe even 60.  His kitties meowed in thanks and each ran to a heat vent lol. Hera is doing great. Anorexia is a distant memory, thank goodness.

Isis

Hera

I have to pick a healthcare plan from the marketplace by December 14th. I find the decision strangely hard. I'm going to pick one by Monday. And not with a dart or anything. 

First Thanksgiving without Dad. We had a nice dinner, turkey with all the trimmings, carrot cake for dessert. I burned the garden carrots I so carefully peeled and sliced. Tsk tsk. 

Prayers for Uncle Jim in the hospital and Cousin Peggy and for my whole family after a sad, bad year. Not that it was all bad, but a lot of bad things happened, that's for sure.

Peace. 

Kay :)

Unemployment is Painful

My ass does not like Gentle Yoga. Ouch! Everyone in class told me it would get easier. Except one old guy. He said, "I won't tell you it will get easier. I will tell you that it will get better!" LOL  Actually though my ass did not like it, I did. LOL

Finn is turning into quite the daredevil, sleeping on the edge . . .

I couldn't clean up, didn't want to bother Finn.

Did you know they make coloring books for adults now? The one I have is designed to relieve stress. I hate to break it to anyone, but staying in the lines is hard, and STRESSFUL!

Time to check the job postings!

Kay

Sunday

Things you can do while you are unemployed:

Harvest your garden vegetables. Plus make a mental note to remember to thin out the carrots next year. I'll leave it to my readers to caption this photo . . .

Chillax with Finn.

Work a puzzle.

Try to fold some laundry.

And enjoy Mother Nature.

No photos, but: clean out 9 drawers; cook stuff that has been hanging out in pantry for too long; haul some stuff junk to the Goodwill; wash cat nose prints off a window (twice); apply for unemployment; check out Obamacare;  let your good friend buy you lunch over your strenuous objection (thanks Donna!); update your resume; go to the YMCA and work out, and try your first yoga class and, on sudden impulse,try a Cardio/Weight class. Thank God no photos exist of these endeavors! 

Ciao. 

Kay :)

The First Fifteen Minutes of Unemployment

Well, as of 4:30 I'm officially unemployed.

Here is what I know about it so far . . .

People feel bad for you and want to cheer you up and buy you lunch.  Not just people but friends. Friends are good. Thanks for the doughnuts Bonnie.  Friends give you good pep talks. Thanks Sue.

You might get an e-mail from a Fat Camp friend that makes you smile and feel better. Thanks Maureen!

Family sends you the sweetest card and makes you feel better. Thanks Cousin Peggy and Uncle Jim.  


Unemployment is scary.

I'm going to miss going to work and seeing said friends. I'm going to miss my paycheck and my insurance and my benefits. It's perfectly OK to grieve for those things.  But not forever. Suck it up cupcake and carry on!  Two weeks might be a little soon to suck it up, but I'm trying . . .

Unemployment is scary.

But my luck may be changing! This weekend I ran off to John's to lick my wounds and went to a fundraiser for Streator Unlimited, Food for Thought,  and had a great time! I felt it my civic duty to participate and vote in the Chili Cook Off, 6 different (and delicious!) chilis prepared by paramedics, firefighters and police officers. And I got my photo taken with 2 of John's clients!

Some people just got one bowl of chili at a time! Not the Mallaneys! Here I am with Anthony and Eric. And my chili.

And I won a door prize! Frankly I don't remember putting my little slip in this drawing for this basket, maybe it was adjacent to the candy bar flower pot I really wanted to win? Not sure. But I do like it and I certainly can use a hydrating facial masque (oh shut up, I know I can probably use more than one!) and some healthy energy drinks to balance and revitalize and do other good stuff to me!

And look, I was barely unemployed maybe 1 minute, when a parcel came to the door. Seems I won a prize in a Scotties Sweepstakes I entered on line! Wow. And good to replenish the old tissue stockpile, I went through quite a few last couple of weeks, I must admit.

Look at that! 8 boxes of Scotties! Woooo hoooo. I'm sure my good luck will continue.

Money will creep into your thoughts when you are unemployed. I shopped the clearance, and made some cheap, delicious food.

Clearance gnocchi. Who knew how good it could be!?

Love the clearance at John's Kroger! I'm told I'm Irish but I really wonder if there isn't some Italian in there too . . . ?

Scrapple, or scrapplin' as Dad called it. Boil up some pork neck bones, pick off the meat, and sift cornmeal into the broth and let it set. Dip it in flour and pan fry it. I hated it when I was a kid, what was I thinking! It's delicious. Dad said that Grandma Mallaney would make milkpans of the stuff after pig butchering on the farm during the depression. She probably did not fry it up in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle on some clearance parmesan, and some Vulcan Fire Salt from The Spice House though.

Anyway, next on my unemployment list is to sign up for unemployment and check out Obama Care and update my resume.

In other news Mom turned 78! Happy Birthday Mom.

That's all for now.

Kathleen A.