And Speaking Of Christmas …

Since moving to Northern Arizona, I have not been able to get us our annual Christmas Haul. 

Around Thanksgiving or so, at the Mall in Southern Arizona, I could go to a Hickory Farms Pop-Up store and buy all our favorites. 

That ain’t happen’ here in Cowboyville! 

So what’s a gal to do? 

Thank you World Wide Web!  

AH YUM!!! 

DH just about had a kitten when he saw the credit card charge, but heh! “This is our Christmas gift to ourselves”, I exclaimed. 

Ummm, he changed his mind once I set out his first Snack Plate of the Season. 

😄

Cook for your friends and family!  (and buy them fabulous food gifts too 😉) 

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Christmas At Our House

Okay, so I told you about Halloween, now let me show you how I did our house for Christmas this past December. 

But hang on a minute, let me preface all of this. 

I have been so very, very ill for MONTHS and finally have enough energy to make it “Jolly And Bright”. So let’s decorate! 

I have oodles of decorations for each holiday, and this has been therapeutic for me. 

Cook for your friends and family (and hug them all tight) ! 

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Christmas For Someone Else

I know that I’ve told you folks that we moved my Mother into a Senior Living Community. This past Christmas they had a large Tree in the main lobby, decorated with “ornament cards”. 

DH & I have been in a long discussion on “Random Acts Of Kindness” and what better time and way to do this. 

Once I had brought home all the requested items, DH said, “Were there any cards that had been left on the tree? Let’s go back and make another elders Christmas joyful.” 

AWWWW! Did I say my husband is a great guy? 

Unfortunately, the cards were all gone, but I was chatting with the Community’s Coordinator, and she had told me that there might be one card returned, as the donor felt later that they weren’t able to fill that wish. 

HO HO HO! 

🎅🏼🤶🏼

I didn’t snap any photos of that wish, but I went to Wally World and found a Dog Bed on sale, some Dog-o treats and a huge box of assorted Christmas Cookies for another Veteran. 

My dearest husband and I have been so very blessed and fortunate in our lives, we wanted to pay it forward, and I’m sure that we will be doing it again in the future. 

Cook for your friends and family!  

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Halloween At Our House

I just love Halloween, it’s all great fun, even for adults. 

My Neighborhood Gal Pals and I, along with our husbands, gather together for a Potluck Linner (late Lunch/Early Dinner) and then pool our booty of candies all at one of our houses.  

We situate ourselves out in the driveway, put out the candy and wait for the kiddos. Some of their costumes are adorable! 

I like to decorate our table and have a cooler full of small, bottled water for those thirsty Trick ‘O Treaters. 

This past Halloween, I found a huge bag of assorted Chocolates at Costco, buying it long before October 31^st, because it was so reasonably priced… 

Rooky mistake!  

😄

I thought that I had hidden it well from DH, but .. oh well I went back to Costco and fortunately they still had more. 

Cook for your friends and family!  

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Another New Kitchen Toy

Not long ago, one of the neighbors had boxes and bags full of fresh Apples sitting at the curb with a big sign … “Get a bag and take as many as you want”. 

Hmmm 

🤨 

I always have those reusable grocery bags in the back of our car …  

I scooped up 22 pounds worth of Apples  

😎 

NOW! 

Have you ever peeled and cored 22 pounds worth of Apples by hand? 

I tried, that’s my stubborn side. 

I gave up after one round, and ordered this  

It worked okay I guess, but for $20 I expected a little better job, but ah, it’ll do. 

… if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Where On Earth Does The Day Get To?

Ah, that age-old question that so many people ask themselves. 

Since DH and I have retired from the working life, this is what we talk about just about every single dawg-gone day! Before you know it, you look up at the clock and say, “HEH! What happened? It’s 5 o’clock already. MAN!! Where on Earth does the day get to?” 

But then on the other hand, when we were working, the days seemed as though they dragged on forever! Is it 5 o’clock yet?

😄

We’d come home and discuss what we’d do once we did retire. 

Now, our days are chocked-full, but don’t get me wrong, it’s never a dull moment `round here, that’s for sure! We’re so busy that I have to keep a calendar to stay on top of what’s what. At the end of each day, my Dearest Husband aka DH, asks me, “what are we doing tomorrow?” 

I’m not the sort of person that has to keep to a rigid schedule, such as laundry-day on Friday, grocery shopping every Wednesday (when the new store ads come out), ya know. Things get done when they get done, it’ll be there tomorrow. 

I’d rather enjoy our days together, doing whatever strikes our fancy. Take a ride, go out to linner (late lunch/early dinner), go over and visit with my Mom at her place… time is flying past us far too fast, do what makes you happy, today! 

Cook for your friends and family!      

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Another Kind Of ‘Never Have I Ever’ ~ #2

I am just about to turn … harumph – mumble mumble mumble … years old and I have never, I mean EVER done this … 

… BURNED MYSELF! 

🤬 

NO, REALLY! 

💩 

I had reached across a screamin’ hot pan and just barely touched the side of it with my forearm.

It didn’t hurt much but I’m grateful that I have always had an Aloe plant in our house since moving to the “Mainland”.  

This one I’ve had for a LONG TIME, and it even produced a baby plant. 

I simply snip off a small piece from one of the succulents leaves and give it a good ole squeeze. A green ooze comes out, no joke, and you carefully schmear that on your burn for a few days and – bingo bango – your wound will be better in no time. 

Now, back home in Hawaii, every home has an Aloe plant growing somewhere and we pronounce it differently from you folks here on the Mainland. 

Ah-loy  

Ah like Ha with a short A sound and loy like boy. 

I know that you can buy Aloe products, juice, gels, etc. But the original plant does me just fine, thanks. 

… heh, if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.      

MAHALO! 

Just a general meandering …

 

DH & I had to go check on my Mother today, her cell phone seemed to be out of order, again, and she hasn’t got a clue what’s what. 

Once we were finished, we headed in the opposite direction to fill up the gas tank in our car. 

WELL! 

What else is along that path but See’s Candies!  

🥳

We finally have a permanent store here in Cowboyville Arizona (it was seasonal pop ups only previously). 

I grabbed a basket and we started to pick out our favorites. 

As we’re waiting for our turn in line to cash out, all, and I mean all of See’s Candies Nation wide had a huge IT problem … their computer systems went down – kaput – frozen – Houston we have a problem!  

So everyone else in the store put their candies back on their shelves and left. 

NOT ME, I’m stubborn and I wanted some See’s Candies, damn it all! 

I stood there, chatted up the nice folks behind the counter, had ourselves a nice time … about 15 minutes went by and still it was a no go. 

So they asked if I would be back in the area again some time soon and I said yes I would. 

They took my name and phone number down to i.d. my goodies later. 

They kindly put my items in a lovely bag and gave me about a pound’s worth of samples to tide me over.  

And I’m not kidding! 

When we got home, I weighed my bounty on my kitchen scale, yup, they gave me just shy of a full pound of candies. 

Do you have any idea as to how much that would have cost me to put together what they call a “Customized Box of Candies” at See’s?

$35 that’s how much. 

😯

The folks were so kind, they said that I was so nice and patient, waiting for their systems to come back up. 

I said as I did finally give in and leave, “Watch, you watch, as soon as I leave it’ll start working again!” 

Sure enough, as we were driving home my phone rang, “Are you still in town?  We could ring up your purchase now.” 

😆

… if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.     

MAHALO! 

Wildfires!

California had been having fire after fire after fire! 

(`Member now, we’re still talking about 2022 here) 

It was getting so bad that loads of smoke was even blowing our way in Arizona!

😮

And as I recall, the smoke could be seen from the Space Shuttle. 

So glad that we got Mom out of there. With smoke like this, it wasn’t doing her any good. She was forever getting sinus infections. Well, she was living in the valley, so that made things worse for her. She spent a lot time indoors because of this. 

Let’s all be safe out there! 

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.    

MAHALO! 

My Automatic Dishwasher DIED!!!

😲

That may not sound terrible to a lot of people, but for me that spelled trouble with a capital T! 

(Please recall that we are still talking about what happen in the previous year that I was absent) 

😉

I was feeding three adults, three times a day, you do the math.

😆

I called “Our Guy” to see if possibly he could fix it. Granted this was the fourth time he had to fix the dang thing AND it’s only 5 years old.  

It had something to do with the electrical panel that was a known problem with this brand. He recommended just buy a new one and gave me a list of dishwashers he liked. 

Don’t ‘cha know that I was on the hunt for a new one IMMEDIATELY! No resting on my laurels. 

It took me a while, but I finally found a good one, ordered it and had to wait SIX WEEKS for delivery and installation. Any idea what this did to my hands? And no, before you even ask, I was not smart enough to wear rubber gloves.

🙄

Out with the old, and good riddance I say. 

🤬

And in with this new, gorgeous, well worth the money machine that will be around for a long time. “Our Guy told me that this the same one he has had for many years with no issues whatsoever. 

👏🏼

Wash the dishes for your family! 

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.    

MAHALO!