Thankful…

Holidays now are ghosts of traditions past, but yesterday felt right. Rita and Kim did the cooking, kept it simple but delicious, and all the feelings were mutual. Three people in one room on the same page makes for a relaxing observance and we enjoyed it all.

In the afternoon, Rita went to a movie with friends and we flaked out with football, isn’t that how it’s done? We missed getting a picture of Kimmers, but he snapped one of us for posterity since the hope of “next year in Jerusalem” is never guaranteed.

*****

And oh wait… here’s Kim on yet another beautiful day this November… 💙

We hope everyone’s gathering was peaceful, all hearts grateful, all ties intact. That’s a lot.

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Catharsis is good…

Here we are in the doldrums, the no-man’s land between Christmas and New Year’s. Nobody ever knows what to do with it – do we have our employees work? (Mom & Pop shops) How many hours CAN we crank out of our employees? (NOT Mom & Pop shops). It’s clearly a dilemma for all concerned, and for me personally it just feels weird. The world outside my windows looks gray and listless, like everything’s shut down, but maybe that’s only because it’s 13º out there, all things considered, and I’m a drama queen. I’m sure I can find bright shiny things to get me through until December 31st, I’ve managed every year until now, and as soon as the KIMN8R gets home from the gym it’s all good anyway – he brings the party with him, yes it is that way, that’s why we got married, to spend all of our best minutes together.

Just for grins, I could get an early start on the resolutions I will knowingly break in 2019. I’ll fail to measure up in various categories throughout the year, but with these I’ll squirm when it happens, having named them publicly. Sooo, off the top, and in no particular order…

  • Stop letting email pile up in folders. You are NOT going to retroactively deal with a fraction of it.
  • Stop procrastinating. Do it now. It’s not like you have carte blanche on the future, so face reality NOW.
  • Stop NOT playing your piano. PLAY it. Like every DAY play it.

I see three stop signs I put up there that are really GO signs, so for starters, today will be about (the process of) dumping several thousand emails (again, yes) and also taking the cover off my beautiful little concert grand. It’s a story inside a story inside yet another story, but for now I just need to sit down and play it because since I first learned how to make a melody happen, that’s been my truest form of catharsis.

Whatever makes you feel better and frees your heart to hold more happiness, start doing more of that and less of whatever doesn’t make you feel that way. So simple, and it has nothing to do with failing or succeeding. Whatever’s ahead for all of us is on its way, and it’s good.

We’re going with that until further notice, tribe.

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Christmas Eve 2014

 

ChristmasEveFrameKeep it sweet, share the love.

 

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Winter Solstice

WinterWelcomeCoffee

Ready for snowy days, fireplaces, and nesting.  

 

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Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Pie

Because I hung up my apron ten years ago when I married a cook, I don’t post recipes that require 37-million ingredients and tedious hours to assemble — I figure most people are as cranked about that as I am.  Not all, I get that — but it’s cool for the rest of us to have a few go-tos that are within the realm of quick-ish possibility.  Ergo …

CPB Pie

CPB Recipe

 

CPB Comments

 

From 12 Tomatoes.  Check them out here:  http://12tomatoes.com

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Pumpkin Bread with Caramel Filled DelightFulls!

 

PBFrame

https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/146152/pumpkin-bread-with-caramel-filled-delightfulls/?

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Just in time …

… for the annual “War on Christmas,” a handy flow chart from Christian blogger Rachel Held Evans, who writes “The whole story of Advent is the story of how God can’t be kept out. God is present. God is with us. God shows up—not with a parade but with the whimper of a baby, not among the powerful but among the marginalized, not to the demanding but to the humble. From Advent to Easter, the story of Jesus should teach us that God doesn’t need a mention in our pledge or on our money or over the loudspeaker at the mall to be present, and when we fight like spoiled children to ‘keep’ God in those things, we are fighting for idols. We’re chasing wind.”

Whatever your take on all of that, or mine, she also says, “For a long, long time Christianity was dominant in the United States and represented the civic religion of the country. But America is about the people who are here now, and that is a much more diverse group. And that’s good! It is time to stop insisting that everything revolves around us. Instead, let’s join the wider circle of the many traditions that make up our country. Besides, any Christian knows that Christmas is not about displays in shopping malls, or capitols, or schools, it is about a spiritual event that we honor most in our families and our homes.”

persecution

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A Truckload of Christmas Spirit

Christmas Frame

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Making a list …

So Tuesday around here is evolving into a day for thankfulness and dancing, but will one day a week be enough?  I think not!  And on that note, I hope you’re making only HAPPY LISTS this winter.

XmasList2

 

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Yes, Virginia, there really is a December, and it’s here!

MME_HelloDecember_layout2

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Do this!!

Thank you to my friend Jeffrey Frank for this excellent idea.  Terrific way to use leftovers.

If all the dressing vanished on Thanksgiving Day, make your favorite stove-top stuffing mix and bake it into waffles.  Tear turkey into small pieces and heat with the gravy.  Pour over waffles and top with a scoop of mashed potatoes with more gravy drizzled over the top.  Be thankful.  Again.  Some more.

 

waffles

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The giving of the thanks …

A hearty … Boy-We-Sure-Put-One-Over-on-Those-Stupid-Indians Day … to one and all!  

“Fine meal, chaps.  Burrrp.  The corn was a nice touch.  Sweet little country ya’ got here.  

Be a shame if somethin’ were ta’ happen to it.”

 

feelings

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No pumpkin-carving experience is complete without a near-fatal knife wound

A timely post from Ned. Ray Villafane, eat your heart out.

Ned's Blog

imageCarving a jack-o-lantern used to require little more than a pumpkin, an oversized kitchen knife, and a tourniquet. It was a simple matter of plunging a 10-inch French knife into the gourd of your choice and creating a triangle-eyed, square-toothed masterpiece of horror.

In those days, the trickiest thing about making your jack-o-lantern was deciding on how to light the candle.

Option one: Light candle, then attempt to lower it into the pumpkin without catching your sleeve on fire.
Option two: Put the candle inside the pumpkin first. Then attempt to light it without catching your sleeve on fire.
Option three: Accept the inevitable and just light yourself on fire, then go find a candle.

After a quick trip to the emergency room for stitches and some light skin grafting, you could return home and set your jack-o-lantern on the porch, where it would remain until gravity and molecular breakdown…

View original post 532 more words

More Memorial Weekend 2014 …

MemDay Collage

A Memorial Day tribute.

Robert Latta, US Army Infantry, S. Viet Nam. My husband for 34 years and John Latta‘s dad.

Kim Smith, US Navy, USS Somers (destroyer), coast of N. Viet Nam. My husband of 10 years and happily counting, and John Latta’s stepdad and friend.

Memorial Weekend 2014

My grandpa enlisted in the Army at the age of 17 and served at the front during WWI.  His six sons were all military men, Army, Navy, or Marines.  The three Marines, 18, 19, and 21 were in the Korean Conflict at the same time, in the same general location, and under miserable conditions.  All seven returned home intact in body and went on to raise families of their own.  Many of my cousins have also served with honor in the military and none have been lost to war — cause for much thankfulness as we remember all those who have been.

Reese Family

 

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