A little of this, a tad of that....

I finished the beard/beanie for my grand nephew.  T-boi is six months old, he needs to keep those chubby cheeks warm this winter.  I love crocheting these quick projects. 

Mr RA has been showing his hand again.  I thought I was going to share a story about "no see ums" or "chiggers" is what my Gma called them. About a week or so ago,  I ran out to the dock  to gather a couple of items.  I elected to go without wearing my flip-flops or tennis shoes.  A super no no for me, cuz I'm that person at the picnic, beach or outdoors somewhere, and those dang pesky insects find me before anyone else,  ravish my body with their minuscule teeth. 

With no regard to imminent danger.  Exposed outside naked, in a since of not coating my flesh with bug-off spray. Barefoot, no foot ware.  Thus calling to all the venomous prey my available endless supply of sweet blood.  Here I am, come and bite me, one and all. ..... Sweet blood, come get your sweet blood a endless supply yours today for free....

A day or two later these little bumps appear around my ankles.  Curious, I say to my self?  Hum, what are these little itchy bumps?  When did I go....O U T side?  Seriously?  I was only out back for a few seconds, hardly a minute.  Dang, these little beasts of prey... I will call the pest control company again, let them know the beast exposed themselves earlier than our quarterly 'control' agreement.

A few hours pass, the song from Jungle book running through my head...

Bare necessities..... The simple bare necessities forget about your worries and your strife, I mean the bare necessities....

 As I swagger around the home rubbing my body on anything available to ease the intensity of those nasty itchy bumps.  They have now multiplied, creeping up my legs, and my arms now have bites on them.  I RAN OUTSIDE TO THE DOCK, just a couple of seconds...geesh!...It's not like I rolled around all over the ground for hours.  Why do these little guys keep biting me?  

By now I have purchased an antihistamine, along with cortisone anti-itch cream, lathering my body from head to toe.  Waking up every few hours to apply more anti-itch, doubling my intake of antihistamine.  Nothing, nada, zilch they keep coming in pairs of two.  A set on the right side upper arm. later to follow a set on the left side upper arm...mimicking each other.  What the heck????  Hold the phone..

Remember a while ago, I stated how I'm surprised to find out Rheumatoid is what ails me.  I will always make an excuse, that a pain in my joint must be because I hit it on something.  Find an excuse, until some mysterious light bulb appears...Oh, it's the 

RA...again...Stomach pains for day's and days...Oh, that's not gas, or internal bleeding RA is flaring my intestines.  Did I stub my toe again, nope here's Mr RA saying hello.  How about the time my eye was all bloody.  Yep, you guessed it.  Mister RA will ALWAYS show his nasty self in one form or another. Flaring joints, blood vessels, tendons, organs, skin rashes, this list goes on and on.  Such ego, what a drama queen Mr RA is, has to make an appearance whether payment has been met or not.

With the holiday upon us.  A doctor visit was out of the question.  The ER? Well, maybe if my glands were swelling, making it difficult to inhale oxygen, something I'm very fond of by the way.  No I've elected to slather my body with tubes of anti-itch.  I will make a call to my doctor.  I'm sure he'll want a visit. Praying he will give me a  steroid injection to tell Mr RA he has made too many encore appearances, time to take a hike off the stage, until his next unscheduled appearance.  Another new drug cocktail to mix.  Mr RA has grown use to the current supply, obvious showing his nasty self.

My immune system is weak, but Mr RA will not rob me of my sense of humor, though he has made it difficult I admit, but I will act as a Wimbledon champ, fighting every serve.  

Meanwhile, ....Now when you pick a pawpaw, or a prickly pear and you pick a raw paw......Oh, those bare necessities...

borrowed from the web

gotta humming that tune now eh?

Holiday finale....

With the holidays complete, we are slowly getting back to our daily grind.  We had a excellent Christmas this year, not in the way of gifts.  It's never about the gifts for me. It boils down to emotional health.  Last year was a deep pit of ebony darkness. 

This year is a vast improvement on our moods.  There are too many things that have happen to our lil family over the past 12 months, coming through a dark storm to see the light of day is remarkable.

At one point I thought about packing my marriage, for no other reason than to leave a ugly atmosphere of feelings.  I thought if I physically moved away from my family I could find peace.  Along the way this would/could bring happiness to them as well.  I was desperate to improve our emotional health.  Incredible how your mind works during a trying period.  I'm glad I did not act on those feelings of emptiness and despair. Why I gave this a seriously thought behooves me today.

Our Christmas day started with hubby allowing me to sleep in late.  Usually the gifts are all ripped open before the crack of dawn. Eldest loves Santa, he writes a note each year.  He talks about what Santa is doing, where he's going..etc.  We live with adult six year old. This holiday means everything to him.  He brings a certain joy to the our celebration.  So, with hubby telling him not to disrupt me, because I had a terrible night with my RA keeping me awake.  Finally when I awoke, I immediately felt sad that I had let them down.  I jumped out of bed, scurried to the family room. Only to find the boys smiling faces.  They all said good morning, hubby went to get me a cup of coffee.  Eldest told me he was waiting for me to awake to open the presents Santa had delivered.  He looked at all the presents under the tree, sharing with me the excitement this brings,  I had just received my 1st gift of the day.  To think that I had seriously thought about leaving this group to find happiness, realizing it's  been with me all this time. I just needed to open my eyes.  

Yep, 2014 was a good Christmas.   

Holiday cheer...

 It's that time of year, Christmas is here

Everybody's back together again

Spreading the joy, spreading the cheer

Toasting to another year's end

So thankful for all of my friends

'Wish' I could claim responsibility, but the above 
paragraph, they are lyrics from a  NSYNC Christmas song.

Just know that though the lyrics are not my own, the words ring true. I truly am "Wishing" you all joy. For your holiday.  I pray you or your loved ones have safe travels.

"Wishing" all the peace & love this season.  We all have our own issues to deal with, prayers for health, a healing heart, or if your bound with stress.  Know that it can be all taken care of with one pray.

'Wishing' Santa brings you the gifts you've been dreaming about, but let us remember the children, elderly, our soldiers.  Those that can not be with us, and pray for their healing or stresses that they have to endure. 

'Wishing' you all a Merry Christmas.

Holiday treats...

This year I'm stepping out of the comfortable "traditional" box.  EEk!  I will be making something different for our Christmas eve dinner.  I know, total craziness.

I have always made the same super size meal. Rib roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, fried green beans with bacon, sweet dinner rolls and to top off the desserts, yes plural desserts for our Christmas eve meal.  I told the guys this year, I am making it easy for myself.  Merry Christmas to me.  I will make baked ziti, served with a nice green salad.  Simple easy peasy.  

The menfolk were a tad concerned, but I did not mess with Christmas day meals.  I do know my limits.  For breakfast the traditional menu will be intact:  French toast casserole, sausage meatballs, fruit salad.  Egg nog, and COFFEE.   This will only last til mid day.  For lunch my plan is   hot ham/swiss sammies, chips & dip. Christmas day dinner will be  hot wings, french fries, fresh vegs.   

I not only broke with our traditional Christmas eve meal. I did not make the normal cookies, fudge, frosted flake wreaths, lemon tarts, and all the other sweet treats I normally exhaust myself baking the week before Christmas.  I must say I rather like this "easier" traditional.  I should have started with this easier version as our family tradition years ago.  What can I say, I guess I'm a slow learner.  I did bring out a old recipe this week.  I made raisin tarts. 

This recipe is from hubby's gma.   Though Hubby grew up in So California, his family is from Michigan, and Canada.  This recipe represents the northeast very well.  She shared her recipe with me when we were newly weds.  I rarely make this overly rich, sweet treat. Thus keeping them special when I bake them for the family.  Whiskey sure warms your inners, so I would recommend making them during the bitter cold wintry nights.

Recipe:  Raisin Tarts

1# raisins

2 eggs

1 c. brown sugar

1/4# butter melted

pinch salt

Soak 1# raisins in warm water (or whiskey if preferred) while making the pie crust.  

Roll crust , cut tart size portions, place crust into greased cupcake or tart pans. Mold accordingly.

Mix together eggs, sugar, salt and butter.  Drain raisins add to mixture.  Spoon mixture into pan.  Bake 375 degrees until crusts brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Makes about a dozen.

Holiday movies...

I generally enjoy movies year around, but especially so during the holiday's.  The corny romance finding Christmas love stories are the best.  Hubby laughs at me, wondering my fascination.  He will reply with; You were just watching the same story, but with different actors.  I know, but I like them.

 I would rather be entertained with romance, or comedy than anything scary.   White Christmas is a favorite.  Hardly a reach there.  Denzel and Whitney in the Preacher's wife is another with a perfect mix of love, laughter.  Miracle on 34th, It's a wonderful life.   I could go on and on.  Oh,  if the TV billionaire guys would create a Christmas channel that played movies year around I would be tickled red/green with joy.  Hallmark  has a variety of Christmas movies, always corny and cute.

It's not just the story.  With the older movies I love the wardrobe. The girls with their big shoulder pad suits, high waist pants.  Oh, my the accessories, matching furs, purses, shoes, hats.  Ooh la la.

We are nearly ready for our own Christmas movies.  I've dusted off the old digital camcorder.  Our little family Christmas will be filled with love, and a few surprises.  I see friends announcing they will be grandparents, some celebrating their 1st Christmas as man/wife.  Others excited about their 1st grandchild's celebrations. Some will even mourn their 1st Christmas without their loved one.

I love sappy corny Christmas love stories.....

Holiday projects....

 

I crocheted this Minion/Capt America afghan for a buddy of Po-boi.  He will be receiving it as a Christmas present.  Just big enough to snuggle.     

 This was my 1st attempt at a Graphghan.   I had to create the pattern, so that was a bit of a challenge.  There are a couple of websites that convert your jpg file to a graph.  I made my best guess on the size.  I'm marking this project as beginners luck, very pleased on the outcome.   I have been crocheting for 35-40 yrs. Generally I shy away from Afghans.  They are so time consuming, and the A/C must be running on full blast when working of them.  The weight of a blanket while living in Fl....Oy!   I like quick projects.  Not necessarily easy projects.  I have to change the stitching up,  otherwise I get bored.  For years I would only work with the fine thread material.   Doilies,  coasters,  or  wooden clothespin Angels. 

These angels  area at least 10-15 years old. I think I made 20 or so, attached them to Christmas gifts for family/friends.   I also made our Christmas tree skirt. Five panels of snowflakes. It's really pretty. I'm surprised it's still intact.   

For years Gma would make the scrubby pads you use to clean your dishes.  She would buy yards and yards of nylon netting.  Whip out tons of them at a time.  As she aged, the family started requesting them from me.  Which I'm reminded I haven't made any for a while, I better put nylon netting on my shopping list.  That material is awful to work with, so abrasive, wonderful for scrubbing pots/pans.

I found an organization that collects scarves for our troops.  After the holidays I will be making some to send for our troops.  I heard of the project through Home/Family on the Hallmark channel.   You can find other ways to donate.  Here's the link if you're interested.  

Operation Gratitude   

This was a fun project.  The online crochet group I joined, had this in last year's Christmas challenge.  Now our front door jingle bells when you open/close.  

Wishing you the best with your Holiday Projects.....Fa la la la la la 

Holiday sharing...

When I was in elementary school, I remember we had 2 girls (sisters) in our school whom taught us about Hanukkah.  I was so excited, once the school bus arrived at my stop, I ran home, bust through the door,  I told my mom I was Jewish.  I knew that receiving presents everyday sounded like a much better plan.  Mom wasn't shocked, she figured I had learned about the family up the street.  Told me to tend to my homework, and chores.

 Learning about peoples cultures, religions, heritage is logical to me.  Common sense tells me if I learn about you, I'm less likely to harm you or your loved ones.  I did not look at the girls any different, but came to understand that their worship was different.  They were very shy, intelligent and dressed impeccable.  Nothing remotely in common.  I was all tom-boy.  Give me a jump rope, soccer ball, or bicycle.  Dresses were worn for Sunday school, which I did not like, because I had to wear dresses.

We played a game.  It was a funny little blue spinning top.  That was fun, because playing games at school was way better than studying.  She also shared some food, I can't remember what we ate, but to this day I remember I thought it tasted so delicious. Give me a good meal I will always remember you.   She finally got around to lighting the candle thingy.  I related to this, because my own family would light candles during Christmas.  At first I thought advent was something only families of 5 such as ours we do.  Four red candles, and one white one. Thus giving each child the opportunity to light a candle every Sunday, saving the white candle for Christmas day.  My best friend never celebrated advent, but they only had 3 kids.  Later was bless to realize what our parents were teaching us.  So, when she explained the Menorah, I thought this is a great idea. I could be lighting more than one candle, given the opportunity to use more matches was thrilling.  All tom-boy remember.

  Unfortunately a friendship never evolved with those girls.  God did not place them in my life to become friends.  Their gift was of great importance. I was given a life lesson never forgotten.   I call that a blessing.

It's the Holiday season.....

Waking up to chilly mornings, Ahhh the change of season is so minimal in the land of tropics.  I love it.  Just enough nip in the cool morning air to give your body a little jolt awaking the senses.   Though each time we get a slow moving cold front, my RA says hello.  Every time I wonder why my aches/pains are stronger, lasting longer than the last.  Then when the front moves on I have an ah-ha moment.  Such is the case today.  The past 2 days were miserable, but grateful today I'm feeling better.  

Hubby finish stringing the lights around the dock. They make it so pretty.  I might be tacky enough to keep them year around.  We have our Christmas shopping done.  All the cards have been mailed out.  I need to complete wrapping.  I'm very early this year, but living with a disease that will change your daily habits, I've learned to get it done when capable, not when everyone else is doing things.

All the kittehs are enjoying the Christmas tree.  They are also partying around the house at night when all hoomans are sleeping.  I awake each morning to find an ornament or two on the floor.  Today the battery operated candles I have displayed in our front window were knocked down, and the angel in the Nativity set took a spill as well.  lol Oh, such joy.

Mercedes (background) & Bentley

 I took this picture mainly to get a shot of Bentley.  His very camera shy. So to see him cuddling out in the open I had to jump on the opportunity.  Usually he is under our bed sleeping.  I blame him mostly for the ornaments being knocked off the tree.  He bats at them more than the others.

Sylvester

Here's Sylvester wearing the antlers hat.  He's not too pleased, but I can get him to do anything for the entertainment.  I'm the only one he will not fuss at, anyone else he'll give them what for.  lol

Stella

Finally Stella wearing her winter cap.  Po-boi holding her, why she was somewhat tolerant of the portrait.  She's such a character.  We still need to keep Mercedes and Stella separate.  If Mercedes had her way she would rip Stella's heart out of her chest.  Stella understands this clearly, thus her trust issues when we bring her out of HER room.  Each morning after she's had her breakfast, I bring Stella out to the lanai.  Let her enjoy the day away from Mercedes.  Stella usually growls, fussing as I carry her.  I remind her I've got this under control, she stares back at me with a glaring a reply: You better hoomans! ftts, ftts.    lol