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Once again, the newsletter is a tad late. I doubt that many noticed as most of us are recovering from the holidays. 2008 is here, but wishing everyone a Happy New Year this late in the month seems....strange. But I do hope that everyone has a safe and successful 2008. I have often wondered when the cut-off date is for such salutations? I survived this past Christmas, although not without some depression. However, my dear sister-in-law did have me over for dinner on Christmas Day, which I enjoyed. And our usual gathering at Hammer and Kath's house went off rather well, even though John's presence was greatly missed. New Years Eve was also difficult for me, but I stayed with tradition and had a bottle of Baby Duck wine. This is something John and I did every year, and I could not see me not doing it. In a strange way I found it comforting, and actually enjoyed the wine. In fact, it had that 'moreish' taste, but I had purchased only a small bottle. In retrospect, that was probably a smart move, as wine hangovers are deadly! While I did have a few invites for holiday visits, I went to very few. I found it hard to face places that John and I had gone to together, so I avoided them. I am sure my friends understood, and I do have plans to visit them soon. I did make it up to Cambridge over the holidays to visit my dear friend Maureen. She prepared a lovely scottish dinner, we had a few drinks, and exchanged gifts. I have had a few complaiments on the necklace Maureen gave me. The following week, I drove back up to Cambridge to spend the day with Betty and take her out to lunch. Betty used to come to the store I did demos in, with her daughter and son-in-law, when she visited from Ireland. Since she and I are both rather chatty, we became friends. When she comes to Canada, twice a year, she always made a point of coming to visit me at the store. We had made plans to get together for the day in June, but with John's passing, we had to cancel. It was a beautiful winter day, so I fancied a drive. Betty and I had a nice visit, and got caught up on family gossip over lunch. I am looking forward to her return this summer, so we can visit again. While in Cambridge both days, I visited grocery stores where I had worked before my transfer closer to home. This was great for my ego, as store staff, and some of my favorite customers came up to me to give me HUGS! Anyone who knows me, knows I love the hugs! Many store staff told me how they missed me working there, and begged me to come back. Even though it upset me to hear of some of the problems they have had with some of the demonstrators who have replaced me, it was an ego booster to hear how they thought I was the 'bestest' sample lady ever! January did not go so well for me. First off, car troubles. I had to replace the ignition switch, and have the door fixed due to wind storm damage. The wind storm also took down my fence and ripped the storm door off the front of my house. Bo came by and fixed up the fence so the dogs could go out and run. He will fix the door at a later date. Then last week, I was trying to pick up extra work and help out the area manager for K/W area, and my car got hit! Yes, while I was inside working, and the car was parked, some idiot hit the rear-end. SO now I need to replace the tail light, and get the fender and bumper fixed. Plus all of this resulted in a flat tire. Thankfully my friend Marianne came to the rescue with a can of 'Gunk', to inflate the tire and get me home. My attitude at the end of 2007 was, "2008 has got to be better!" Well, after this month I have decided to set my goals a little lower. Maybe asking for a good year was being greedy. So now, my new saying is, "Next WEEK has got to be better!" I think these small goals are more easily attainable. And just think, 48 more (good) weeks to go till 2009! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHATTER NEWS: *Our sympathies go out to Kleo and her son Fullback. Kleo lost her mother-in-law (Fullback's grandmother), at the beginning of the month. *Our sympathies also go out to LadyAnn who lost her sister earlier this month. *Hammer is recovering well from a work injury. He cut the inside forearm, damaging muscle and tendons. It took 2 1/2 hours of surgery and 56 stitches to repair and close it up. With hard work and physio, he should regain 80% use of his fingers. *Our hearts and prayers went out to Gngrbrd and NOLady (and family), who went through an ordeal with son Billy. I am happy to report that so far, Billy is recovering well. Anyone wishing to check out Billy's illness, surgery and recovery, is invited to vist a website that has been set up. http://www.nolady.net/billy.htm Best wishes Billy for a speedy and full recovery! HUGS *Congrats to Cerberus! He informs us that he is a new uncle to a beautiful, green eyed, redheaded, 2 yr. old baby girl! He is proud as punch. And a special thank you to his sister and her husband, for adopting this precious child! May their lives be filled with years of love and joy...... *Speaking of Cerberus....is it shocking to anyone besides me to learn that he has talent? Apparently he can play the bagpipes, clarinet and sax! And here I thought the only thing he was good at was typo! :) *Jenni tells me that in less then two weeks the cast will come off. And none too soon for her I imagine! Even though she is dragging around an ankle/foot cast, it has not slowed her down any. She still hobbles off to work each day and puts in a long day in Health Care. *Poliwogg's got a boyfriend! This is why we seldom see her in chat these days. Her new man, Mark, takes up alot of her time. Poliwogg still phones me on a regular basis, and while she says she misses all of us in the HOUSE, she seems happy. Good for her...but Poli you should get him into chat too...cuz we MISS you! *Good news from \\Tiger. He will not need any more radiation or chemo. He is learning to walk with the aid of his walker, and should be out of the wheelchair soon! *Pat^ has survived her first round of treatment, and is about to enter her second round. She is doing well with chemo, and still manages to pop in and visit with us, although she does tire easily. HUGS to Pat^...Keep the Faith woman! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOME DECOR TIP: *This idea comes from Teebreaux. She tells us that she had some beautiful pictures in calendars from 2007, and she did not want to toss them in the trash. Since most calendar pictures measure 12x12, she went to Michaels, and purchased scrap book page frames, which also measure 12x12, for under $10! This way she is able to save and display beautiful 'art' on her walls at a fraction of the cost. She also points out that now is a good time to purchase calendars for 2008, as store reduce the price about now. Good idea Teebreaux! And I happen to have a few old calendars kicking around..... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JOKE: Thanks to my friend Rhonda for this little gem. A man moves into a nudist colony. He receives a letter from his
grandmother asking him to send her a current photo of himself in his
new location. Too embarrassed to let her know that he lives in a
nudist colony, he cuts a photo in half and mails it. The next day he
discovers that he had accidentally sent the bottom half of the photo. For a while he's really worried but then remembers how bad his grandmother's eyesight is, and hopes she won't notice. A few days later, he receives a letter from his Grandmother. It says: "Thank you for the picture. Change your hairstyle. . . . it makes your nose look too short." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECIPE: (great idea for SuperBowl entertaining) SHREDDED BEEF SANDWICHES
INGREDIENTS:
1 (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs.) lean chuck roast
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 or 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 (10 1/2 oz.) can of tomato soup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot ground pepper mix
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Trim fat from beef and cut into 4 or 5 large chunks to fit
in crockpot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over beef.
Cook in a crock pot for 8 to 10 (4 to 5 on high) hours on low.
Pour juice into a small saucepan and simmer on the stovetop
for 15 to 20 minutes to reduce and thicken. In the meantime
shred beef with 2 forks or potato masher. Return thickened
sauce to the beef in the crockpot. Keep warm and serve with
buns and coleslaw.
Yield: 6-8 Servings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ February 2 — Groundhog Day/CandlemasOn February 2, some people think only of those critters that look for their shadows: Punxsutawney Phil in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ontario. In fact, there is a bit more to the day than that. February 2 is also Candlemas Day. In the Christian tradition, it is the day that a year’s supply of candles is blessed. February 2 is 40 days after Christmas and is known as the Feast of the Purification among Christians. "Februa" was the month for cleansing, when Yule greens were removed from homes and churches, and old brush and debris were burned to prepare the fields for the next sowing. February 2 is exactly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Oh, about those groundhogs: If they see their shadows, expect six more weeks of winter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THANKS: I would like to take this time to thank a couple of online chat friends, who helped make my holidays a bit brighter. Thank you to Poliwogg for the Pug ornament, its SO cute! Thank you to Makk for the lint roller and refills. Made me giggle, and I am sure you paid more to send it then for the rollers. They will come in handy. And thank you to Jenni, and her girls Snoopy and Lil'Snoop, for the bath set and jeans. And Jenni, my favorite sweatshirt is the red Indiana one! It is SO warm and cozy! As well, a special thank you to the chatters who sent Christmas cards, Christmas emails and who called me. Your thoughtfulness was very much appreciated!
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Hi! I am Momma (also SweetTater) and this is the website for #Momma^s_House.