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JenniferA couple weeks ago I ordered a box of yarn.
Today I finally cracked it open.
Why yes, it is only 8 days until I need to have a lot of this turned into All The Things.
And yes, I am suddenly questioning what the heck I was thinking.
But I have my needles and my pattern and my grim determination.
Let the games begin.
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Somebirdy is in for a nasty surprise.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
This afternoon we hosted a board game / cookie exchange gathering. We’ve got a regular group that’s met monthly for a while now, and when I suggested we do a cookie exchange for December, everyone was enthusiastically on board.
There were cinnamon coffee cookies, eggnog cookies, lemon bars, dark chocolate cherry cookies, and gochujang caramel cookies, and mini gingerbread whoopie pies with cream cheese filling.
Also there was a veggie tray as a nod to health, but let’s face it, today was all about the cookies.
I was also going to make the one remaining GBBO bake (opera cake) but ran out of time so instead I made some tiramisu fudge, which although delicious, didn’t completely set, so was more like thick frosting than fudge.
The crowning glory of the afternoon, however, was the Cat Butt Pie.
Why no, none of us made jokes about probing things when the pie was cut, because we are far too mature…oh who am I kidding, probe jokes *abounded*, because we are all grown adults with senses of humor.
Anyway. Many cookies were consumed, and games were played, and more than once we were all laughing hysterically, so it was a very good day.
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Oops, I don’t think this car care set is going to be up to the job.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
I’ve got some social events coming up that include cookie exchanges, so today I cranked out a whole mess of cookies in preparation.
I also went out to dinner with a friend (delicious Thai food), and we attended the Kitka concert in Davis.
Kitka is a women’s ensemble based out of Oakland, CA. Their main focus is on Eastern European style music. Tonight’s concert was a series of songs from the country of Georgia, which they visited recently in order to attend a festival and learn from actual Georgian choirs.
They are absolutely fantastic, and have an incredible sound, with all the voices blending perfectly together. Here’s just a few of the songs from the concert to catch your interest.
If they perform anywhere near you, I’d highly recommend checking them out.
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This fox looks quite pleased with herself.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
We put the trees up a week or so ago, with the usual assistance.
Today we finally got around to decorating them.
Here is the tree for the cats.
It is decorated with jingle balls, and also cats.
And here is the tree that is also for the cats.
The decorating scheme for this tree includes sparkle balls, crinkle balls, and large grey ornaments that move amid the branches at will.
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This lady doesn’t seem all that thrilled with her brand new lawnmower.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
Time for another Great British Bake Off bakealong post.
The three challenges for the finale were:
Neither my sister or I were interested in doing the tea service or the hanging cake, so we decided to do the scones. I should note – for the purposes of this challenge, we went with British scones, which are pretty much what we in America refer to as biscuits.
I decided to make lemon scones for my sweet ones, and cheese scones for my savory ones.
Because I knew I wasn’t going to be eating them right away, I didn’t time myself, although I know I would have been able to complete the task within the 2 hours because making biscuits is….not at all difficult. I suppose I could have used a biscuit cutter for more uniformity, but one of the lovely things about doing this at home instead of in the tent is that sometimes, I just don’t have to care about what Paul or Prue might think.
I made both batches this past weekend, then tossed them into the freezer for later in the week. So today we had lemon scones with generous dollops of homemade lemon curd for breakfast.
…and then savory cheese scones filled with curried tuna salad and thinly sliced apples for lunch.
Of the two, I preferred the lemon scones (which are really just a basic biscuit with a little sugar and lemon zest added), so since we have the prolific Meyer lemon shrub in the backyard, I foresee this recipe entering the normal breakfast rotation. Delicious.
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Santa really seems to have a vendetta against snowmen!
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
This morning, as I was puttering around filling food bowls and scooping litter boxes, I heard the telltale sound of a cat getting into something they shouldn’t. I turned around to find a cat (Timmie) on the dining room table, industriously pawing at the open doors on Richard’s dinosaur advent calendar.
Me: Um, excuse me. What are you doing?
Cat: Treasures!
Me: No, those are not things for cats!
Cat: If not for cats then why shaped like fun?
Me: Hey, come back here!
Cat, scurrying off with tiny dinosaur in mouth: Ith friend thaped!
Me, hastily rescuing the tiny plastic dinosaur: No, it’s a choking hazard!
Cat, stomping off in a sulk, because humans are SO MEAN.
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Uh oh, I know how *this* movie ends.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
Is there anything better than soup on a cold day?
How about soup with a big hunk of freshly baked soda bread?
I made a batch of ginger carrot soup yesterday, plus a rustic loaf of soda bread. Both were super easy to throw together, both filled the house with delicious aromas, and both made enough for a very comforting and satisfying lunch today.
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Took me a moment to figure out that this guy is on a boat, which is why the gift is so disturbing.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
Aside from Cartwheel, who is a special case, we’ve been foster-kitten-free for nearly an entire month. The last batch went to the center and were adopted in early November. Since we were traveling for Thanksgiving, we knew that, aside from any emergency short-term care, it didn’t make sense for us to take on a new litter, since the rescue would then have to find someone else to keep them while we were gone. So the morning after we got home, I texted the foster coordinator and said “Bring on the kittens!”
Say hello to Winter and her six babies: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Solstice, Hanukkah, and Yule.
Momma was taken in by a very kind person, who looked after her while she gave birth, while simultaneously working hard to find a rescue group who could take them in. She did a fantastic job of keeping momma and babies happy and healthy, so now it’s our turn to finish up their journey before they’re ready to be adopted (likely in January).
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Is it wrong that I am finding Santa’s dark side of gift giving highly amusing?
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
Today we had a whole lot of chores we really ought to have been doing. But instead I hurriedly finished my second Clapoti, because I needed to have it blocked before my main blocking space is no longer available.
I started this at the airport while we were waiting for our flight up to my sister’s place for Thanksgiving, because I knew I needed a knitting project that required very minimal thought, and this pattern definitely fits the bill.
We also binged the entire first season of Human vs Hamster. It is a ridiculously silly little competition show, pitting humans against hamsters in species-scaled mazes and obstacle course (including eating contests), interspersed with educational facts about hamsters.
If you’re looking for something fun and fluffy to take your mind off the impending doomscape of a second shitbiggon administration, I highly recommend this. It is an absolute delight.
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This puzzle is very silly, but I admit my first thought is ‘How does a creature with only hooves put a hat on their head’, and that probably says a lot more about how my brain works than you wanted to know, but there we are.
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.
This is Cartwheel, one of our foster kittens. She’s about 7 months old, and ridiculously sweet, plus a serious lovebug (she adores cuddles). We got her and her two brothers Tumble and Somersault back in May. Her brothers were neutered and have long since been adopted, but the spay/neuter clinic refused to spay Cartwheel because she has a very serious heart murmur (a 5 of 6, for those of you who have any knowledge about such things, which we definitely did not until this).
She’s been checked a couple times since then, since I guess in some cases, heart murmurs can resolve themselves as the kitten grows. But the last check, there was no change, and the only way we would get any additional information was to have an echocardiogram done.
That kind of procedure is expensive, so to offset, I ran my very first GoFundMe campaign to raise the money. Once that was done, we scheduled the appointment. The first one available was going to be in January.
Except last night I got a call – they’d had a last minute cancellation and could we get her in today?
So this morning I drove her out to the vet clinic, then drove back out at lunchtime to bring her home. And this afternoon we got the verdict.
Her heart murmur is caused by a pretty serious heart defect – something she was born with.
There is some good news. She’s otherwise a completely healthy little cat. She doesn’t need any medications. And best of all, they *can* spay her, although it will be a more involved procedure.
We don’t know what the future looks like for this little girl. She very likely isn’t going to be adoptable, not without someone clearly understanding the medical issues she has, and the potential things she could face. It’s possible she will only live for a few years. They want to do another scan in 9 months time to see how things are progressing.
In the meantime, she has a home with us for however long she needs. She has no idea she’s ‘broken’. So we’ll do our best to give her the best life, because it’s nothing less than what she deserves.
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This jigsaw puzzle advent calendar is starting to get a little dark – this is the second one where the gift has not only shattered the window, but wreaked havoc once inside. Perhaps this is what happens when you outsource to drones?
‘Tis the season for Holidailies.