A Random, Happy Tuesday for the Start of the Holiday Season

 Happy Tuesday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus, and Random Tuesday Thoughts is hosted by Stacy at Stacy Uncorked.

I've been so busy, I forgot what day it was!  Forgetting is one of my specialties.  If you count Thanksgiving, there will be 4 weekends of travel.  Two down, two to go! 

Thanksgiving with my mom, sister, and my sister's extended family. (And shopping with one of the daughters.)

A weekend with another daughter, her husband, and the grandbaby-which was relaxing and enjoyable.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the beautiful Dallas Arboretum all decked out for the holidays as well as Texas' #1 Christmas store, Decorator's Warehouse with still another daughter.

Then, a 4-day scrapbook weekend.  And in between these, lots of crafting, sewing, and creating, not to mention Black Friday and cyber-Monday shopping from the comfort of my home. (And I have got to put the tree up soon!)  I love retirement!

Side note: Here's a little bit of happiness if you're shopping with Samsung this holiday season.  5-10% off when you shop this link. I don't get anything, but you get to save a little money. Plus I'll be getting lots of cash back by using Rakuten.

On to the funnies!

Hahaha! Cracks me up!

Online shopping is really the way to go!

One more GOOD reason to shop online!

At least they HAVE decorations in their yard!

And last, but not least, this darling picture of one of our daughter's cats under their tree:

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving - Grateful for all we have

 

1.  I am grateful I still have my mom and my husband still has his dad. I miss my dad every day, and I know he misses his mom.

2.  I'm thankful for all of my family!

3.  I'm so grateful that I was able to retire December, 2019.

4.  I appreciate my eyes. I would hate to miss all the beauty in our world.

5.  I'm grateful I have things like a home, food, a vehicle, things that many other people struggle with.  I have a comfortable life.

6.  I'm grateful for my cat, Lacy.  A pet's love is unconditional.

7.  I'm blessed to be able to read.  I can take adventures or solve crimes without even leaving my house.

8.  I'm glad I have hobbies to feed my creativity:  scrapbooking, sewing, coloring, taking pictures.

 

9.  I'm thankful for hugs!  They're good for the soul.

10. I'm so glad to live in this country where I am FREE to be ME.

11. I am grateful for the people who make our lives safer and better:  doctors, nurses, farmers, delivery drivers, police, firemen (and women), military, and so on.

12.  I'm thankful for the best meal of the YEAR!  Turkey, gravy, cornbread dressing, and cranberry sauce.

13. I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ.  Even when I have troubles, I make it through due to my faith.

Find more lists at Thursday Thirteen.

Fun Photos!

These photos were taken at the Abilene (Texas) Zoo back in 2015.

Hey, look!  It's Mufasa and Sarabi!

Flamingos are almost more orange that pink. They get the color from eating shrimp, or at least that's what I heard.

This little primate looks so sad.

Rhinos are interesting, but I wouldn't want to be too close to one!

He sure was pacing a lot on this day.

For more fun photos, visit Image-in-ing and Wordless Wednesday.

Random Thoughts on Happy Tuesday

Please visit Random Tuesday Thoughts and Happy Tuesday for some fun blog hops.

Thanksgiving is almost here!  I can't wait to eat turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and gravy!  It's my favorite "food" holiday of the year.  Side note:  We call it dressing whether we stuff it in the turkey or cook it separately.  It's just dressing, and ours MUST contain cornbread.  Maybe that's a Southern thing.    Do you call is dressing or stuffing? Do you use regular bread?  Oysters?  I'm so curious!

In addition to the food, I love a good parade!  Our city's parade was cancelled in 2020 like most others, but it is back this year.  I like to record it and watch it back on my own time.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, did you know that the date has been changed more than once. In 1939, the last Thursday would have been November 30.  President F. D. Roosevelt was worried that Thanksgiving being the last day of the month would shorten the Christmas shopping season making it more difficult for the economy to recover.  So, he moved it to the "second-to-the-last-Thursday of the month.  Some of the states refused to accept the new date, so for two years, there were two different Thanksgiving days in the US.  In 1941, Congress voted to move the holiday back to the last Thursday of November, and it has remained there ever since.

Now let's get funny...

Who thinks of these things?

For those of us whose families are sometimes"dysfunctional" ...

This is right along those same lines...

Last, but not least...

Have a great week and a happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Synopsis

 

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer by Harold Schechter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I purchased this book for a steal (.99, I think). It was worth maybe twice that. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

The book chronicles the story of Andrew P. Kehoe, a school board member and farmer in the community of Bath, Michigan. In 1927, Kehoe opposed a tax in which all community members would pay a school tax. He and his wife had no children, so Kehoe felt they shouldn't have to pay it. He also had an ongoing feud with the superintendent, and he had lost his bid to continue performing the task of School Board Treasurer.

Insight was offered into the mind of someone who could murder so many people and injure so many more. This is done through vignettes of other killers which seem irrelevent to the story of Kehoe excpt by way of attempting to explain why some killers become killer. The sign Kehoe left alluded to the perception that killers are made, not born. He was practically blaming other people for his own destruction. Kehoe set a bon on each side o fthe l

Parallel with this incident is the story of Charles Lindbegh's historic nonstop flight from New York to Paris. Inclusion of this was irrelevant except to point out the news of the day. It served no other purpose that I could glean.

Since I had never heard of the Bath massacre, I found it interesting and disturbing at the same time. The author promised to explain how the "Modern Mass Killer" was created. He did not deliver on that promise. His writing style was disordered and jumbled. Perhaps through his research he found there just wasn't much to say except that Kehoe blew up his own home, his wife, many school children, and himself, and perhaps he was grasping at a way to include more content for the book. Whatever the case, it was lacking.

View all my reviews

Friday - Friendship and Friendly Fill-ins

 

Hello everyone!  I have been pretty crafty the last couple of weeks, so I want to show the Friendship Friday readers at Create with Joy two things.

First is my Autumn centerpiece.  I bought a wood trough at Michael's (one of my top 3 stores for craft supplies). I did some decoupage on the sides and ends then filled it with things that remind me of Fall, like moss, neutral flowers, acorns, pinecones, orange accents, and a sage-colored candle in a small hurricane glass.

Second, I made this cute little Ho-Ho-Ho sign for one of my daughters.  I saw it on Pinterest, but that person had used a round sign (makes sense, because Santa is pretty round).  I used what I had on hand.  A thin, rectangular piece of unfished wood, twine, paint, silver and white cardstock, and ribbon and fake pine needles for the bow. I love how it turned out!

And speaking of Michael's and my favorite craft stores, when I shop online, I get cash back from Rakuten.  It's really easy.  This month I am getting $39 just for buying things I was going to buy anyway.  See if they have your favorite stores!

Now, for Friendly Fill-ins!  These are hosted by Four-Legged Furballs and 15 and Meowing.

1. I am thankful for ______________, _____________________ and ________________________.

2. I look forward to eating ________________ on Thanksgiving.

3. I didn’t realize _________ until _________.

4. There’s no shame in _________.

My answers:

1.  I am thankful for God, family, and retirement.

2.  I look forward to eating turkey, cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, and cranberry sauce - the jelly kind -  on Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite "food" holiday of the year!

3.  I didn't realize how much I could miss family members until they moved away.😭

4.  There's no shame in seeking assistance for mental health issues.  At least, that's what I try to tell myself.

Have a great weekend!  Good books, good crafting, or whatever makes you happy!

Randomly Happy

I will be linking up with Stacy Uncorked and Comedy Plus today. 

My sister and her husband are cruiseaholics!  It started on their honeymoon 35 years ago, and they have gone on 1-2 cruises every year since (except 2020 for obvious reasons).  I've only been on 3 (maybe 4, but I can't remember), and that is totally fine with me.  I get seasick - yes, seasick - yes, on a huge ship.  I have to take medicine the whole time I'm cruising, and sometimes that isn't enough.

People say, "You can't even feel the ship moving," to which I reply, "I most certainly can!" Especially when I try to lie down to sleep.  But I've been on a few, and who knows... maybe there is another one in my future.  HOWEVER,  If I book a cruise, something I DON'T want to know about the ship is how much it weighs!

From the Houston Chronicle

" Twenty years after the Carnival Jubilee became Galveston's second Carnival cruise ship in 2002, another Jubilee will sail into Galveston.

Four times the size of its namesake, Carnival's newest cruise ship weighs 182,800 tons, takes 5,400 passengers, and will call Galveston home when delivered in 2023, the cruise line revealed at a travel conference on Thursday.

A gargantuan amount of steel and over 5,000 people does not give me confidence!

Now, on to the good stuff:

Enough Ship Jokes!!!!!!

This is my kind of humor!  Middle school humor!

The comment on this post is hilarious!

I'll let you know when it works!

Last but not least,

Have a great week!