Bwahhhlaahhh

Uh. Still not feeling so good, but

even spilling hot wax on my writing table is better with googly eyes.

Sweet Lil' Thang

Poor man's Reese's

Appliances

We've bought several new appliances for our new home, big and small. We've had the refrigerator for a month, and the freezer still doesn't work, though at least the problem was finally diagnosed this week.

A nice surprise was this little 2-slice toaster.

It works great, and is very expressive.

Creeping Crud - Day 7

Still weak. Still dragging my ... assets.

Today's wonder drug is caffeine.

I also managed to finish reading my book.
And learned to use one of my Christmas gifts.
And set up my writing/meditation corner in the bedroom.
Those are silver linings.

Ho Ho Ho No

Eye see there are still more Christmas decorations to store away. Epiphany is today ... my traditional deadline for completing this task.

Who am I kidding? I haven't even started removing decorations due to feeling unwell. I get winded by simply walking upstairs. Guess I'll get to be cheered by this happy wide-eyed soul for a few more days.

On the good news side, I ought to be able to finish reading my book today. So there's that.

When Gnomes Peek

They didn't know I was watching them

On the Mend

Another quiet day at home. Feeling a little stronger today.

Grateful for my friend Rex ... (Rx)

The simplest things keep me amused.

This May Last A While

Still feeling under the weather, so I'm keeping company with my friend Harry.

I finished listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this afternoon.

.

ugh

I feel cruddy

Worn Down

Me today


... except without the teddy

20 in '20

Since I had such good success with my 19 goals in 2019 (I completed 25 goals and had two more in process by the end of the year), I decided to give the idea another round this year. Here are my 20 Goals in 2020, in no particular order.

.
1. Transcribe session from last year's Skamania Celebrate Your Life retreat
2. Create a watermark for my photos
3. Memorize the names of all the U.S. presidents in order
4. Make one baked treat or a batch of cookies each month
5. Find a new doctor and a new dentist
6. Go through each photo folder, renaming images into my conventions
7. File all new digital photos once per quarter
8. Zero out email box once per quarter
9. With Dale, update our will, medical power of attorney, etc.
10. Learn to cook six vegetarian dishes
11. Find 20 geocaches
12. Watch 20 movies from my Netflix / Netflix DVD / Amazon Prime / Hallmark queues
13. Complete 20 older projects that are partially done
14. Read / listen to 20 books / audiobooks
15. Write 20 #throwbackthursday blog posts about my 2006 and 2007 projects
16. Create a preliminary design for permanent furniture and fixtures in my Studio
17. Master bedroom closet organization 
18. Convert audio cassettes into digital format and/or get rid of them
19. Paint some rocks (with kids next door?) and place them around town
20. Buy furniture: couch, loveseat, glider, dining room table

I've attempted to have a varied list. Some "gotta do" items, some for fun, some things I've intended do for years, some one-shot activities that will take a small amount of time, some that are designed to last all year.

I also have another 25 alternate goals. My daughter Jeanne calls it her "Grab Bag." I like that name. If I feel like any of my original goals no longer make sense as the year rolls on, I can substitute a goal from the Grab Bag to take its place.


I also chose a "Word of the Year." Last year my phrase was Whittle a Little and I did great gangbusters with that. My word this year is Settle. My use of the term is not like settling for something that's simply "good enough." No, the settle I'm committing to has to do with growing roots, nestling into my new surroundings in Oregon, establishing my home, finding satisfaction, burrowing and snuggling into life here.

Kermit's New Year

https://www.facebook.com/muppets/videos/2669291373298000/

(I hope you all can click through to this Facebook page!)

Happy New Year!

It's a Process

Later this week we'll be picking up the last of our belongings in Post Falls. Let's hope that 'one thing' we've been missing will show up.

The Grands!

Look who Dale and I had the pleasure of spending time with this morning! It was gift delivery day.

Melody is already mastering the balance steps

Annie is crawling like a pro, can stand with support, and showed us her stepping skills with her walker.

Such a joy to spend time with Julie and Jeff's family and see their new home.

Today We Welcomed ...

the newest member of our household. She's so pretty and shiny!

This appliance joins our new washer and dryer, and refrigerator. The first two work well. The third ... grrr. Freezer still isn't fixed and won't be for another week. sigh

Sundown, Christmas Day

The clouds and light put on another beautiful display northwest of our back yard.



There is a school, soccer field and track right behind our home. That's what all that fencing is about.

Our next door neighbors have a pergola in their back yard. They have twinkle lights strung all across the overhead crossbeams. It's so pretty at night.

Cats, birds, and squirrels all scamper across the top of the fences that line the neighborhood. Watching them brings endless enjoyment.

From Our Home to Yours

Merry Christmas!

First Christmas in our new home in Eugene, Oregon

~  Dale and Margaret

Clear Blue & Snow

It's been raining for days, as one expects in an Oregon winter. We got a respite this afternoon ...

and were rewarded with this scene through our dining room window.

Who Gets the Next Makeover?

This guy!

I so love this snowman that my mother-in-law made for us. He's hung on our porch for years and years. He looked just right at our house in Post Falls. Now, in Eugene, he's due for a makeover to go along with our silver and blue color scheme

I started by removing his maroon scarf. then I painted both stars, changing them from gold to silver. I added a bit of glitter so they can glow at night. (I need to up my glitter game to learn how to keep it from getting splotchy).

I even painted the bell with a light coat of silver paint, just to tone down the brassiness.

Finally, I made a new scarf out of blue felt. I fringed the ends, just like the original scarf. Then I added some blue and silver snowflake charms to dress up the scarf a little more.

He's back in place now, guarding the front door and welcoming visitors.

I heard one of the neighbors whisper to him, "Did you get some 'work' done? You look so fresh and fabulous!"

Fashion Snoaux Pas

Guest Blogger Jodie Delsere

Don't'cha hate it when you show up to the party wearing the same thing?

Mom and I spent a giggle-filled day making these cute snowman ornaments for the family.

The project was billed online as being "for kids." Sure, I have tiny baby hands. But we most certainly didn't need to be kids to enjoy this!

We used paint pens and sharpies to give them each distinct facial expressions and personalities. Those personalities came into play when we started posing them for pictures. Before long they were at a snowman party... And one of them maybe had too much egg nog.

Are you okay there, little guy?!

It doesn't take much to entertain us.

--

Inspired by Easy Peasy and Fun on Pinterest

Turkey in the ...

Well, this happened today



Earlier in the week, Dale and I got a new refrigerator installed. It's stainless steel and pretty and doesn't have the weird odor like the one that came with the house. It's bright and shiny and the fridge works great.

Not so much the freezer. Sigh.

Jodie and Ken gave us a spare frozen turkey they received for free around Thanksgiving. It's been in the freezer, awaiting a proper celebration point to defrost it and cook it. Unfortunately, because the freezer isn't working, our turkey started to thaw.

I popped in a meat thermometer and found that it was still at a safe temperature -- if I cooked it right away. So that's what took up a lot of my day today.



Over the last several years, daughter Julie has been the main turkey cook at Thanksgiving, so I haven't prepped a bird in a while. Our new cupboards don't have all the spices that we had in Post Falls, so I had to make it up as I went along and use what was on hand.



The ovens, though, weren't cleaned before we moved in. So I removed some shelves from the double ovens when I put the turkey in. I gave the three shelves a good scrubbing and they're much better. One was so gross. It looked like a bbq grill with dried meat sticking to it. I don't know what it actually was, but it's gone now. I'll clean the main part of the oven before too long.

The turkey looked good as it came out of the oven. Dale carved it up and it tastes good, too.

After the turkey and oven shelf ordeal, I made eight dozen triple toll house cookies. They taste good too.

Let's just say that these days, I'm not used to being on my feet in the kitchen all that much. I'm pooped tonight.

I hope Jodie has a little extra room in her freezer to help us out. She's welcome to as much turkey as she wants, but I'm sure there will be much more to freeze and use later.

Sigh.

I want my freezer to work. We can't get it fixed until the day after Christmas. Happy holidays to us.

(maybe)

Oh. And this morning the offer on our Post Falls home fell through, so we're back to the drawing board to get it prepped to sell.

We're just rollin' with the punches here, folks!

Debate Construction

Dale and I took on a little job while watching tonight's Democratic presidential candidate debate. I think of it as a fun jigsaw puzzle ... with an allen wrench.

Ta-Da! We have a new shoe/coat rack for our laundry/mud room. The hooks will be a great place to drop off our coats. The hanging rack will make it easy to pull shirts out of the dryer and hang them up right away, and there's room for about six pairs of shoes. It seems we have two or three pairs hanging out in that room at any time.

We made fairly easy work of it and didn't make any errors along the way. (I was in charge of the instruction book -- and I like me dem 'strucktion books!)

All that remains is the remains. A little trash, a little recycling, very little work.

Fireside Noel

The second re-purposed craft made this week is my set of framed "NOEL" letters. They started out like this:




My goal was to transform them into our blue and silver color scheme.

I found a couple rolls of blue wrapping paper in my stash, one matte and one shiny. I removed the red/silver paper and replaced it with the shiny blue paper. So pretty. But as I worked, the "N" decided to fall off the glass. I used my heat gun to soften the old glue on the back of the wooden letter, then reattached the letter to the glass. I'm crazy pleased with the result:




I added my Noel to our fireplace hearth. It looks nice sitting beneath the wreath:




Next up? Finish decorating the tree.




It's a nice change to have a home where we don't need to worry about kids or pets knocking over floor decorations. It's also nice to have a spot of visual respite in the midst of the chaos of cardboard moving boxes.

Now if we only had a couch and love seat to sit on to admire the view! Patience. We'll eventually get them.

Fireside Wreath

It feels like getting things done around here takes longer than expected. The unpacking and finding places for our belongings continues apace. I wish I could go at a faster pace! I'm missing the creative aspects of my life ... making new things! Yesterday Dale suggested that I take a beat and allow myself time to get my creative juices going.

I guess I needed "permission." Not from Dale. From me!

So in the evening while Dale was at a work dinner, I played in my Studio a little. For Christmas, we're moving from a red and green color scheme to a blue and silver color scheme. So I used materials I had on hand to convert decorations I previously made into ones better suited to our new home.

Last year a took a sparkly wreath from Dollar Tree, added a red and green plaid bow made from this delightful wired ribbon and knotted with a piece of velvet. It was a simple and festive piece. Dale and I both really liked it.

To make the wreath fit the new color scheme, I changed out the bow. Replacing the bow was more of an ordeal than you'd think. I had some gorgeous sheer blue ribbon with silver snowflakes. But once I put it on the wreath, the bow "disappeared."

I tried a second time, doubling up the sheer ribbon with a silver ombre satin ribbon. That didn't work either.

Finally, I backed the original ribbon with some blue felt. I auditioned a few shades of blue until I found one that allowed the ribbon to sing. Combining the ribbon with the felt was tricky because most adhesives I tried showed through the sheer ribbon. I would have sewn them together, but my sewing machines are not set up yet. Finally, I decided to use double-stick tape only behind the silver snowflakes. The snowflakes covered the adhesive so it didn't show through very much.

I added a hook to the mantle and hung the wreath over the fireplace. Now the bow stands out and adds just the right sparkle.

High Clouds, Low Clouds

Soft evening

Redemption

Guest Blogger: My daughter Jodie Delsere


After yesterday's pizzelle debacle, I was eager to redeem myself as a cookie baker. Mom was eager to spend more time together. And Dad was eager to enjoy his favorite holiday treat.

So: it's oatmeal cookie day.



This time the only cookie complication was the unpredictable temperature variation in Mom's unfamiliar oven. But oatmeal cookies are pretty forgiving, so we got in a rhythm and ended the day several dozen cookies richer and with big smiles all around.

Next: Will we tackle Triple Toll House? Or will we conquer pizzelles once and for all? Either way, it's sure to be delicious.

Baking Up Some Fun

Jodie came by today to make Christmas cookies with me. We had ... a problem. The cookie dough was the wrong texture and didn't bake correctly. So we tossed the dough, cleaned up our workspace, and replaced that disappointment with something fun.

Jodie taught her dad and me to play Catch Phrase. We played it as a group -- not in teams and no competition. That's my kind of game. We had so much fun making our tired brains try to come up with good clues. It made for lots of laughs and camaraderie on this rainy day.

We're going to try baking cookies again tomorrow.

Shifting

Watching the clouds crawl across the sky is becoming a favorite pastime.

Click for larger image

Oohhhhhh!!! Christmas Tree!

Awww. This is much better.

It only took all day and a broken thumbnail to remove the dead lights and add the new LED lights.

Maybe we'll decorate it tomorrow.

Uh-Oh Christmas Tree

It appears our pre-lit Christmas tree limped into Eugene. After setting it up, we learned that most of the lights are out. Poor thing looks pathetic.

If all goes as we hope, that will be remedied tomorrow. We bought some band-aids for it tonight.

Combo Mombo

Tomorrow's task:
Combining office supplies from four rooms in the Post Falls house, to one room in the Eugene house.

When I put on fun music while doing it, I can dance the Combo Mombo.