Turkey Jerky

As noted in the last post, my part of the country has been hit with Arctic weather. It has not been fun, and keeping the house warm has been a challenge. I decided to take advantage of a Christmas gift from my son to warm things up. It was a good decision.

He was waiting with anticipation for the first bite.

It was worth the wait.

Everyone stay safe and warm no matter where you are located. 

Thank you all for your concern for my family the past few weeks. I appreciate it so much! 

Marie Kondo

As you all know, I have been up to my neck going through my parents' house.  Because of months spent organizing, divvying up things, donating carloads of the good, and purging 2 dumpsters and a full dump truck of the bad, I've lost my desire to keep almost everything.  With my folks' house empty. my house is now bursting at the seams.  I share my parents' tendency to keep things, though not quite as bad.  They grew up during the Depression, so their reasons for holding on to things were more valid than mine. 

Last week, DH and I watched a few episodes of Marie Kondo's show on Netflix.  She's the author of the book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up."

When her book first came out, I remember commenting here about it, and we all got a laugh at her KonMari Method which had us ask ourselves "does this item bring me joy?" to decide whether to keep it.  While her new show isn't too exciting, it was enough to inspire me to start going through my stuff around our house.  I started with the storage bins under our bed.  I found my copy of Marie's book in one of the bins!!  I filled a contractor bag with the things I no long needed or wanted, and I still have more to go through!  I kept a few items and filled the "To Donate" box.  This process actually feels great.  The "stuff" was really weighing me down, and DH hated the clutter.  He's so happy that I'm dealing with the mess, and is being very supportive.

Let's share how we deal with clutter.  Is it easy for you to let go of things?  Do you have a strategy for dealing with the stuff that makes its way into your house?

Happy Weekend!

I came across this picture and got a laugh.

I then went down the rabbit hole of cats on the internet and found more of these big kitties. I hope they make you smile.

Happy Weekend, friends.

Small Pockets of Joy

Yesterday, one of our dear What Time friends told me, 

"I am trying to find small pockets of joy to counteract all the nastiness in this country. "

I started thinking about that... and little by little that sense of panic and fear and despair began to lessen. 

Some Pockets of Joy...

• The warm feel of Little Mo snuggling on my chest this morning...(He hasn't been Luci-fur since he returned from his stay with my friend!) 
• Going to yoga
• The lovely sweater a lady made for me to give to Barbie's granddaughter
• The texts from my girls telling me they were both home from work safe and sound after yesterday's freezing rain
• A nice hot bath
• Nancy Pelosi's Kick Ass Attitude
• Duncan's beautiful face
• Knowing Mike can still get out and shovel the snow in the freezing cold -without pain

• A kitty in the window

All little things...but so very important to recognize their value. 

I hope all of us can find some little pockets of joy these days...

Super Blood Wolf Moon

Wow, that is quite a name! The eclipse was beautiful here near Chicago. It was a clear, starry night so the visibility was very good. Unfortunately the temperature was below zero, so I froze a bit while trying to capture some photos. My camera isn't the best but I did manage to get a few decent pictures.

Moon doggy 😃

Have a wonderful Week!

A winter day

Last Sunday the weather was nice and sunny after snow on Saturday. We decided to visit the Morton Arboretum to enjoy the day. Some of the snow had melted but it was still really beautiful, very peaceful and stark with limited foliage.

I can't wait to go back in the spring when everything is blooming!

Interpretation

   This is a genuine ad when WD-40 was first released in 1964.
          

Thanks to Amy for contributing the first one, and inspiring me to find more! 😊

Something Familiar

In the lobby of our hotel, there was a painting that looked very familiar.  I knew immediately where I'd previously seen the artist's work.  Does it look familiar to you?

Look a little closer...

Even closer...

It is a painting by Craig Alan.  Regina's post, Human Pixels, from 4 years ago featured some of his paintings.  You can read about the artist here.

This is an interactive link to one of his pieces.  It's a pretty neat way to explore his work.

Here are a few of his works.  

Silly fun

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hello again

Duncan has not visited the blog for some time, so here are some recent pictures of him taken by my youngest daughter. He loves to hang out in her room with her and snuggling up with her blankets. He just may be a teeny bit spoiled. Sweet as ever, he makes us smile on a daily basis, much needed in recent weeks for sure. Pets are so good for that, as all of you know!

Have a happy day 😊

I'm hungry!

Today is Tuesday. Let's have tacos!!

We will need something to drink as well.

Enjoy! Have a wonderful day.