Thinking of Christmas

For many years I’ve not been at all excited about Christmas. We have a whole passel of grand kids and had no money to buy them anything. Then Mr. C started chemo a day before Christmas Eve a few years ago and that made my Christmas Grinch come out even more. But this year I’m thinking of Christmas with a renewed happiness and hopefulness. This year I am thinking of Christmas as a post-ghosts Ebenezer Scrooge!

Dreams and reality

Since Mama left us that little insurance policy I can’t stop dreaming about putting a bathroom down here in the basement. Climbing the stairs is getting more and more difficult. Right now the hardest part is dealing with dreams and reality because they don’t always go together!

Everything Starts Somewhere

When we moved to my son’s basement I was overwhelmed with trying to figure out how we’d ever be able to make it a comfortable place to live. It’s dark since the “living room” windows face north. The basement itself is only half as big as the first floor. It has concrete block walls and a concrete floor. I had no idea how to even begin making it cozy. But everything starts somewhere!

Happy Thanksgiving

Each year it has been our tradition to name a few things for which we’re thankful as we’re gathered at the Thanksgiving table. When the kids were young it was usually giving thanks for vacations or new pets. As they grew older their perspectives changed and they were thankful for the things that are kind of easy to take for granted. This year, as I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, I wanted to share the things for which I’m truly thankful this year.

Just one more thing

The past year or so hasn’t been high up on my list of great years. Losing our home, being diagnosed with a potentially serious heart condition, and losing both my nephew and Mama put this year near the bottom of favorites. But there is always room for,  as a television character used to say, just one more thing.

A Very Irish Girl

We have a new granddaughter. She’s our eighth grandchild and sixth granddaughter. I adore this child but we’ve come, in the six months she’s been here, to learn that we have on our hands a very Irish girl!

Slumber Party

Each evening, after the grand kids are in bed, Mr. C, Pete, Andi, and I gather to spend a few minutes together. We talk about whatever happens to come up. We might talk about hunting or plans for the basement. Sometimes it’s about what’s coming up on our household schedule. This week it’s about our granddaughter’s birthday. It’s her first slumber party and, typical for this family, things got a little weird.

Starting from Scratch

Did you get it? Starting from scratch? A chicken scratch reference? Okay. It was a stretch but I laughed. And we really are starting from scratch here. The basement we’ve moved to is small, dark, and almost totally unfinished. But I have plans!

This Chicken Can’t Fly

There was an old television show called “WKRP in Cincinnati” and they had a really funny Thanksgiving episode about a turkey give-away that went horribly wrong. The best line in this episode was, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” Monday I discovered that, along with turkeys, this chicken can’t fly.

The New Comfortable Coop

Mr. C and I are settling in at the New Comfortable Coop. We made the move in late August and are still working on sorting through boxes and finding places to put everything. The issue with the new comfortable coop is that it’s shared with our youngest son’s family so there are some (a lot) of duplicate items, especially in the kitchen!