The Chronicles of Nani

Capturing The Season

2009-12-19T13:12:00.004-05:00

I’m just stopping in before I venture out into the snow. Oh, there’s not a lot of it, not like some will be getting tonight (Poor Edna!) But when it’s not really melting, it’s rough walking! I’d stay in, but tonight is out party and while we’ll stop at the Kroger right next to the restaurant for sodas before we get back for UNO and dessert, we’ve planned a balloon release ceremony for John before dinner for anyone who can get here early, before dark. I really thought about not doing the balloons and rescheduling that, but I really want to do it tonight when we are all together and for Christmas. John loved Christmas. It was one time of year that he could be his generous self and no one tried to advise him against his own nature! He also always thought the balloon ceremonies were very special and he always tried to make a point of being there when we did one for a tribute people or pets. It really is especially fitting that we have one for him. I did all the research and even though the mylar balloons may shrink a bit, they will still float up to heaven when we release them. So, I will venture out into mall insanity to get a Christmas balloon for him.

Other than that errand that I need to do, I’m pretty much ready to go. All the dessert trays are done, the candy assortment mixed and the bowls full. We got the tree up and lights on it, but the ornaments will be after the party but before Christmas. I had a couple of very late nights getting things done and I was tired and cranky this morning and was a bit upset about the cleaning and decorating not being perfect and declared this was the last year I’d do the party. I’m still not happy about it, but it would just kill me not to have it anymore. This really is an important event to me. I’m going to be a little naggier next year about taking time off of poker and scrapping before Thanksgiving to get the cleaning done. Well, I’m gonna try to be a nag anyway!

Week four in Capture the Season has begun. I’ll be taking my photos and recording some quotes tonight for the week 3 layout, so I’m technically not behind in being ahead there. It’s just that my subject for week three didn’t happen until week three was over. That happens sometimes with scrapping in the now!

What I do have to share is finally week two! Here are the instructions for week two:

Assignment # 2: The How
The use of evergreen trees, boughs and wreaths around Christmas has its roots in ancient festivals celebrating the return of the sun at the Winter Solstice, affirming the ongoing cycle of life. These meanings and symbols have evolved through history as cultures have interpreted them in connection with their own traditions and beliefs. Use images of your home’s holiday décor to explore the personal meaning of traditions in your family.

My week two is not so much the things you see that transform our home into a holiday home, but the things you smell and as result, feel. It’s a little bit introspective, but I think it’s a good bit of introspect to document too!

Here is the layout I did for Capture the Season, Week 2.

Home for the Holidays

Credits – Deck the Halls by Skrapper Digitals,
November Template by MamaBee, Word art by Bele15,
Christmas alpha by NorthernStarCa

When we think about decorating the house for Christmas, the first things that come to mind are the lights, the tree, the wreaths and garland, the things we see with our eyes. But holiday tradition and the things that create Christmas in our homes often affect more than one of the senses in creating vibrant memories. The journaling was very important to explain how a 36-year-old double boiler is such an important part of the holiday transformation in our home!

Attitude is everything and if you look for it, you can always find the peace you need, for me, even in a dented old pot or a messy house. No matter what, it’s the holidays and the smiles of Christmas past hold us up in the bustle of Christmas present to create the memories that will warm us in Christmases future.

Okay, break time is over. I MUST suck it up and venture out with the crazies at the shopping center for my balloons!

Break Time..s

2009-12-18T18:38:00.005-05:00

I’m taking a break from the second round of baking to rest up my knee. My knee gets sore. It happens. I break up what I’m doing and rest it so I can do more. It works pretty well for me and I can do almost as much as ever for getting holiday ready. Yes, I’m sore by the end of a few batches of cookies or washing the dishes and vacuuming needs to be done one room at a time, but I do okay and the soreness goes away while I’m resting and taking in the accomplishment, be it a tray of brownies or a sparkling dining room. That’s my optimist’s approach to the holidays.

I also have a wonderful man who put this roof over my head while I’m educating myself to start a new career and vacuums before he leaves for work when it’s crunch time before a party! David is awesome. I tell him that but I don’t know if I shout it from the rooftops as often as I should. I overheard him bragging about my baking to a friend on the phone and it made me feel so good. I guess I hadn’t even thought about it but he even describes my cookies and knows the Davinities names I give them. I guess that’s true with a lot of relationships. You find out just how awesome your significant other thinks you are when you hear what they say about you to their friends. If I’m so great, we’re a very lucky pair because we have mutual greatness! It’s always good for a relationship when each partner believes they are the one who got lucky. That’s when they’re both right!

Okay, let me tell you about the photo. First off, cats are supposed to sleep 17 hours a day. That’s what the average cat does. Carla is SO not average! I was talking to her earlier when she was looking out in the direction of the entrance to the dining room like she was expecting Kaline to come in and growl at her because she was jello-catting all over me. Jello Cat is what I call her when I pick her up. It’s like she just lets her muscles stop and trusts you not to drop her. It’s like trying to hold Jello. Jello-catting is when she does that and kinda slithers all over you. I promised her that Kaline and Baggle were asleep somewhere because cats need the sleep and why was she always awake? She played a little more while I was switching brownie pans in the kitchen and came back for another cuddle. Then she sprawled in between my laptop and external keyboard and NOW she’s sleeping. She’s just enough on the keyboard that if I take the base of my hands off it, it rises up just a touch.

Peace is coming to the world of cats here. Kaline and Carla still scuffle a little, but I think there’s more play than hostility in it now. Last night Kaline was trotting through a room Carla was in and hissed lightly without looking at her as if to say, “Busy Sis, but I’ll come hiss at you later.” It’s not quiet and soothing yet, but Kaline is calming down and beginning to come back to normal. The other night, David went down for a middle-of-the-night juice and found Kaline on the couch on the way back upstairs. He brought her up and put her on my hip where she stayed for a while, even after Carla came back to the room. They can even sit inches apart and both purr now. Baggle seems pleased with all of this, but he still wants the number of treats they were all getting when no one got along!

I just took the second batch of brownies out of the oven. Two more brownies and Mr. Goodcookies to go for the first part of the day. We went to Connecticut last weekend for Christmas with the East part of the family and Davinities Brownie Madness was very well accepted. When I first met David’s family it was for Christmas and I asked David how many homes we’d visit so I could bring Davinities for the family. When it was said, in between “mmms!’ that I obviously had lots of time on my hands, I said it was my holiday labor of love and was told not to stop! I haven’t and I always look forward to bringing Davinities with me when we go to David’s “home for the holidays.”

We left New York City early on Tuesday morning, hoping to avoid rush hour. We kinda did. It was still crowded on the city streets, but it’s ALWAYS crowded on the streets in New York! Fortunately, once we got to the freeway, everyone was headed into the city and we were headed out. Looking at the parking lot on the other side of the median, I was glad we weren't headed in! After a few grocery stops to search for scrapple and my elusive panetonne without candied oranges, we headed fairly straight home. The weather was not train weather. We did find the scrapple in Pennsylvania, a different brand than we usually get but it was very good when we had it for breakfast Wednesday morning.

I found my big box of Baci in the former Harmon Deli, but while I found panetonne in a few places, I couldn’t find it with just raisins. I found a small Pandoro, which is panetone with no fruit in it at all. I had that for breakfast this morning, but my Dad is getting me the large one from his Italian store so I have my annual fix of Italian breakfast bread! Now, when I got Dad that prosciutto end from my Italian store, where they don’t charge full price for ends, all I asked him for was some of the minestrone he was making and a date to learn how to make it with him the next time I bought him an end, but I’m getting the panetone as a trade for that and still getting the minestrone – bonus! I don’t really need to do a minestrone cooking day with him. I watched Noni make it and learned how the same way he did, but we have a great time when we cook together and it makes for a good excuse for Nani-Popsie time!

---break for frosting brownies. Please enjoy this photo of my fireplace!

Isn’t my fireplace great? Rite Aid for $3.99 and the computer or TV becomes a fireplace with crackling fire sounds or classical or Christmas music with the natural fireplace sounds. I used to have a Holiday Yule Log VHS tape that got lost in the move, but the only VHS deck I have is hooked up to my transfer suite upstairs. I found that the little $250 piece of equipment is the reason my video business lasted almost a year at all! Transferring VHS to DVD was a popular service. Now it’s a contract that I take once in a while.

I have all the brownies baked now, 2 of them frosted and decorated. I won’t have the Mr. Goodcookies done by the time David gets home, but I’ll get then done tonight after we put up the tree and finish the cards. It’s been a hectic and kinda stressful end of the year and we’re a bit behind on things, but if we get the tree and cards done and I get the cookies finished tonight, we’ll be back on schedule! YAY!

Tomorrow is UNO and The Fabulous Dessert Bar! I have a grocery list for the sodas, chips and a veggie tray for tomorrow morning. Then there is getting the sweets trays done and if time permits, I’ll do a crostada. The big traditional thing with the Crostadas is the relatives gathering on Christmas Eve. I usually give one to Pop and Aunt Judy and one to Dave and his family. I bring a hostess gift for my cousin too and this year, since my Aunt and Uncle and cousin and his family from San Marino will be here. I think I might bring an extra crostada to add to the desserts since all three of Noni’s kids will be together for Christmas and my crostada is my best effort to duplicate Noni’s. Those things and gift wrapping are Monday-Tuesday things next week, so I might feel tired, but I’m pretty close to on schedule. Wednesday will be the groceries for Christmas dinner for David and me. My back is sore but my heart feels good!

Okay, now I have time to scrap a page before David gets home while my back and knee rest!

Photoblog Wednesday

2009-12-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Smell of Home for the Holidays!

This is part of the notes and photos I‘ve collected for week 2 of Capture the Season. I’m hoping to get the layout done this week and you’ll understand how Krisp Kringles are a big part of traditional “decorating” for me!

I'm Growing My Own Cereal

2009-12-16T07:23:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Wheat Food Council. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of the cool things David and I get as an added bonus of railfanning is seeing lots of great American agriculture. We see the plants sprout and grow and watch the harvests. It’s very cool! I just checked out a site called How Wheat Works where anyone can visit and learn about those amber waves of grain.

The site gives you a “Farm to Fork” lesson about wheat through an interactive wheat field you grow. Harvest and make food with. Through the program, the Wheat Foods Council not only teaches about their very versatile food staple, but the give back. For every person who signs up and grows a virtual field of wheat, they’ll donate a real 2 pounds of wheat flour to OperationHomefront.net, which provides assistance to US Troops and their families in need.

As a virtual wheat farmer, you’ll get to choose wheat to grow and harvest. There are 6 basic types of wheat. I didn’t know that! I just thought, wheat is wheat, ya know? I’m growing soft red winter wheat with the plan to make cereal in my virtual what field! My soft wheat is also used to make pita bread and of course, that means pita chips to go with my red pepper hummus! It’s such a Nani crop! If you are growing one of those Facebook farms, how can you resist this? It’s an opportunity to farm, learn and give back!

Holiday Scrapping Cheer and a Freebie!

2009-12-10T08:36:00.009-05:00

Merry Christmas in Italian
From It’s Christmas All Over The World by Digitalegacies Designs
Available at Discount Digi Designs

Now I’m getting to the point of balancing my ambitious plan to continue doing a layout a day during Christmas Crunch Time and taking the valuable tips from Capture the Season to heart! I have a ton of notes for this week’s layout for Capture the Season, which is focusing on the changes you make in your home to prepare for the holidays. We have our new tree, but we haven’t put it up yet, so I don’t have the photos I planned to take! Also, my journaling notes are NOT about the tree. They are about a different annual change in our home that hit me when I was making the Davinities. So, I believe there are two major things that change our home into a Christmas home and that will probably be a two-pager in the Christmas part of my scrapbook for 2009. I’m still going to work on that when I get a chance, but since the tree won’t be up until just after week three starts, I won’t have it done early! But stay tuned! I do still plan to get it done “in the now” and I’ll share it when it it’s complete!

When David got in last night I asked, “Poker?” That means I asked him if it was an online poker night for him, which Wednesdays often are. The great thing about that is that while he plays poker, I do the Speed Scrap at Designs in Digital. I was very busy with baking and gift stuff yesterday and hadn’t done my layout for the day yet. Speed Scraps are a great opportunity to fulfill that commitment! So last night I did a Christmas Day page from last year.

Credits: Under The Mistletoe by Gone Scrappin’ Designs,
Holiday Sugar Cookie Blog Train contributions from AliSarah Designs
and Litabells Designs and Gingerbread Christmas by Desertgirl Designs

Christmas is usually a combination of a trip east to celebrate with David’s family, a trip north to celebrate with my family and a quiet day for just us on Christmas Day. That was especially nice last year since we got married two days before Christmas. David worked the night shift on the day we got married and there were last minute stops and dinner with my family on Christmas Eve. It was especially nice to have some time for a nice dinner at home n the good plates and wine out of Mom’s crystal. It’s going to be two pages. The dinner page and another with the tree and gift time, but I need to wait until we u the tree up this year. We got a first married Christmas ornament when we were in Connecticut last year, before we were married, so it had to be kept a secret! It’s a frame ornament and I slipped one of the photos I picked up on Christmas Eve into it, the one the judge took of us at the courthouse. I could have sworn I took pictures of that ornament on the tree. I really thought I did, but, there are no pictures of the ornament in my Christmas file! Things were a little involved last year, but in a really good way!

There will be one more Speed Scrap before Christmas. There won’t be one on the 23, because everyone figures to be busy with Christmas prep. David and I are making plans to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, so I don’t think I’d make that one anyway!

There is a great bloghop scheduled for this weekend with the SAS designers! Like last year, they are doing Christmas song inspired mini kits, which were awesome last year, so be on the lookout! If you haven’t stopped at Veelana’s blog lately, why not? She’s giving away gifts from her advent calendar that coordinate with her Jultid kit every day. Be sure to check that out!!

While I’m talking about my favorite designers, the ones I‘m so fortunate to create for, remember when I mentioned Darlene’s Dear Santa kit? Well, she sent me the kit to play with! Here is a two-pager I did for UNO and the Fabulous Dessert bar 2007.

Credits: Kit – Dear Santa by Darlene Haughin,
Blocks template by Digitalegacies Designs

We had a good turnout in 2007 because Christmas Eve was Monday, so we had an additional three nieces from out of town. There were lots of pictures, many that only differed slightly, but I wanted to make sure I got all of the people in the layout, so I created the blocked templates and with the help of some of the elements in Dear Santa placed over and under them, it gave a nice 3D look!

That brings us to the Freebie!! I said before that when I was selling, my templates were definitely my best sellers. I love working with templates too and often make a template as I’m designing my pages. This was one of those times. I made the template first and then tweaked it as I needed to fit my photos. I often customize templates a little to suit my photos and journaling, but boy, what time savers they are to get you started!

On the Blocks template set, I used one color for photos and one for papers. I didn’t even really stick to my own template! Also, on these ones, I left the grids on them; just turn them back on in the PSD file. With the grids, you can resize any of the bocks to fit your own photos and elements and stay within the placement and sizing of the blocking. Here’s a hint too – you can also copy the grid onto a new document and use it to create your own blocked layouts from scratch!

click preview to go to download page
password – drawfour

I’d love to hear any comments, preferably here since I don’t check the 4shared comments too often, but I do eventually read all the comments you leave! If you use the templates on a layout, I’d love to see them! Send me a link in comments or at thechroniclesofnani.gmail.com.

Now, it’s back to baking, cleaning, decorating and gift-finding!

Photoblog Wednesday

2009-12-09T00:50:00.004-05:00

"PLEEEEEEEEASE?"

Although the chair in the kitchen was put there so I could get off my knee from time to time while cooking, Baggle and Carla seem to think it a kitty seat at the hamburger bar!

Holiday Baking Day

2009-12-08T15:40:00.004-05:00

Mmm... Fresh out of the oven Mr. Goodcookies!

This is officially holiday baking Day 1. It’s break time after finishing the Mr. Goodcookies. I’ll have some soup for lunch and then go on to start the first batch of brownies. This year, in addition to the Davinities staples, Krisp Kringles and Mr. Goodcookies, the sweet theme is Brownie Madness! There will be four different gourmet brownies. I bake in segments so everything is fresh when presented. I give or serve Davinities in three places. UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar, which is the Saturday before Christmas and for two family gatherings, one in Michigan and one in Connecticut. I’ll bake the same Davinities twice and then I do a pair of Crostadas twice. I’ve been taking some pictures along the way too!

The greatest thing I’m getting for the Capture the Season assignments is remembering to take pictures of the little things, the steps in between. I have a digital camera. It’s not like I’m wasting film! A long time ago, I read in the Mensa magazine the greatest tip for taking fantastic vacation pics– shoot like there’s no film and don’t be afraid to throw away the runners up. That was the hardest part for me. I have a strange, almost ancient Native American, feeling about pictures of people. It’s almost like throwing the person away! Thanks to digital, I can use the best photos, throw them all on a CD, date it and store it. You never know when you’ll want to resurrect those memorable goofy-faced photos that you didn’t use in the scrapbook or when a major physical change will warrant fishing out those less flattering photos for a stellar before and after. Think about weight-loss or gain, the braces/glasses that flared from the flash or too long hair unkempt and in a face would even be a good one to use after a new coif. So throwing all the photos whether or not I use them on a storage CD works for me. I can usually fit a full year of taking tons of pictures on a storage formatted DVD. I also pay a LOT less for all those shots, take more and get better “keepers!”

So, here is the result of shopping for holiday baking:

And here are some of the fruits!

I got a knock on the door while I was making the Mr. Goodcookies. It was a knock and then gone before I could put they tray I’d just taken out of the oven down. That’s the way deliveries are made, especially at this time of the year! UPS knocks so you come to the door if you’re home, but the package is left on the doorstep. Today was the first of my online treasures to arrive this year. I won’t go into details because, as my friend, Edna noted on her blog, you never know who is reading!

I love cyber-shopping! My knee and back walking problems notwithstanding, it beats battling traffic and crowds in the stores, hoping to find what you seek from the bin of picked over merchandise. From the special gift I could only find in Virginia a couple of years ago to gift cards from stores they don’t have at Giant Eagle, the world is my Mall and I can bake or scrap while I shop! I was reading a customer review for the item that came in today and was a bit confused at one comment. The commenter said it was a great item, but one he would NOT buy online because he bought one in the store and most of the ones they had were scratched and one was even broken. That was certainly enough to tell me it was something I’d ONLY buy online. Direct from the warehouse to me with no one else looking through all of them and scratching them up. I took this out of the box and it’s perfect, no scratches! I have a little more I’m planning to add to it, but I can’t wait to give it!

Taste of the season!

I know if David reads this, he’ll comment to me that it’s ALWAYS pumpkin season for me. Not true! Pumpkin is a fall through about the middle to end of January. That’s about when the stock of seasonal stuff I’ve collected dries up, but it’s special because it’s NOT always pumpkin season! There are just some things that are especially good when they have that seasonal tag on them. After groceries yesterday, I had my McEggnog Shake. I may have another one, but I really have to have just one to feel official about it. The McDonald’s Eggnog shakes aren’t like pumpkin spice coffee, but I sure like them! Eggnog is one of those flavors that is really a just for a couple weeks flavor craving. I do like the real thing, but an eggnog FLAVORED shake has far less cholesterol than that yummy concoction that I don’t want to see made!

Okay, now it’s brownie time! I’ll check in a bit later.

Monday Mug Shot

2009-12-07T20:43:00.004-05:00

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This Mug is from Stratford, Ontario. Stratford was a favorite vacation spot many times after that first trip with Mom just before I turned 16. Dream, as the play is abbreviated in the play schedules and nicknamed was one of the plays I saw the first time I was there. That time it was at the Third Stage Theater, where the younger, less experienced but no less talented actors played. I saw it again at the main Stratford Theater a few years later. I’ve also seen it played outdoors at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. I’ve also watched several television and movie productions in color and black & white and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it. It’s easily my very favorite Shakespeare play.

It’s a comedy with fan6astic subplots that all join together in the end for the finale. I love the fact that William Shakespeare’s work is timeless. I’ve seen the play set in classic Elizabethan style and interpreted in several different eras and countries. I think part of what makes Shakespeare’s work so timeless is that so much of the modern day entertainment world built from that core of theater and comed7y. When I think of the comedians I like so much, they have in common the ability to carry a joke all the way through the act, whether it’s a good comedy movie that still has a solid plot or a really good stand-up routine, that very Shakespearean ability to bring everything together for a grand finish is key to leaving a lasting impression on me.

Think about it. A Midsummer Night’s Dream combines the world of fairies with regular people, sort of like witches and wizards with muggles. The comedy of an enchantment that gives a mortal an appearance that frightens his friends, yet he doesn’t know why they are frightened. I’ve seen that in Bewitched, Sabrina, even an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And of course, all of this mischief surrounds the fact that the Queen of the fairies had taken a shining to a mortal and the King of the fairies was jealous. Now that’s a theme that’s pretty much everywhere in entertainment… and many of the actors, even real life.

So, thus mug in particular, doesn’t give me a specific memory, but a culmination of them. It’s my favorite Shakespeare Play, done in my favorite colors, but it’s to me, a simple reminder of how all parts of history repeat themselves with a modern twist, but the really bad and the really good always come back in a new form. I’m happy because my Bard will live forever!

I’m leaving you with a bonus video in the Mug Shot this week. The timeline only goes one way, but oh, if time travel was possible and we could bring today’s culture back….

The Bragging CT

2009-12-05T09:57:00.006-05:00

This is from last year - need to get a new one with the shorter hair!

I create for and have created for in the past some wonderful designers. A bug part of my philosophy in life is that surrounding yourself with quality creates quality in you. I still remember the warm smiles last year when I gave the family history books to my brother and cousins. Everyone was sitting down with their books and sharing them with their spouses and kids. That’s where I believe that giving is not completely self-less. I couldn’t pay someone enough to buy the way I felt inside. They were great gifts and the quality from Darlene Haughin, RC Mama Designs, Beckie Wallace, Tirza’s Treasures, Veelana Designs and the host of other designers whose purchased and free kits with kits designed by me, Digitalegacies Designs, all made that great gift and wonderful feeling possible.

Yeah, I tend to get warm and fuzzy in general at this time of year. Well, okay, there are those who say I’m warm and fuzzy at ANY time of the year!

I wanted to do some CT cheerleading, something for which I am also known! First off, Scrap Bird is celebrating its first birthday this month! They have some great games and freebies and the whole store is 45% off! They have great designers; of course, Darlene and Veelana both sell there! But in addition to my bias, there are other talented ladies with whom I worked before I retired from professional designing. Believe me, a 45% off sale is an EXCELLENT opportunity to try out a new designer!

At Stone Accents Studio, also where both of “my” designers sell, there is much holiday bustle! Darlene is busy working on the upcoming bog train. The Christmas Carol Blog Hop starts December 11. I was so busy last year that I didn’t get to take advantage of too many of the sweet mini kits when they were free, but I’m going to try to have some time this year. We’ll see how bogged down I get with baking! While Darlene is busy with the blog hop details, be sure to check out the sales in her SAS store! Christmas favorites like Dear Santa and Frosty are on sale as well as some of her other kits!

Veelana has a wonderful new kit at SAS!

Jultid is classic Christmas shades with silver, which gives a very classy touch! She is doing an advent calendar freebie on her blog right now with a new freebie created with Jultid every day until Christmas! Definitely visit Vee’s blog if you haven’t yet. The brag book pages are just stunning!

While I was working on some pages with the new kit, I couldn’t help but play a little. I came up with a Jultid freebie to share too!

Click the preview to go to the download
Password is holiday-stories

You all now how much I like to talk, well, talk in the written sense, so my freebie is a few places to journal a little to go with the spectacular pages you’ll create with Jultid!

Jultid is on sale at SAS for 25% off its already low price!

Well, now I’m off to have breakfast and continue work on getting the house spruced up for decorating and entertaining and getting my shopping lists ready for Monday. I’ll still find scrap-time too. I’m sticking with my page-a-day commitment. This time next year, I hope to be scrapping 2010, not 2007!

Holiday Crunch Time Has Officially Begun

2009-12-03T21:34:00.006-05:00

I turned in my last assignments this morning and my semester is complete. Now, I am a couple weeks of school behind on my Christmas stuff. Yikes! But I’ll manage.

The biggest crunch of everything is cleaning the house up and getting it ready. The kitchen counters will get a good scrub, but I’m not going to do the grout with the DT this year. That’s too time consuming and hard enough on the back without rushing it! So, no dead toothbrush scrubbing tiny circles in between the 1950’s design tile counter this year. That will make up some time!

We haven’t seen snow yet. I’m okay with that! This afternoon was an odd weather thing for me. I heard the rain. It was just a few windy pelts on the window, so I pulled up the shade. It was raining right next to us, but not on us. I looked out the front at our street and I could see the line where the street was getting wet, then it stopped. That was pretty cool!

The neighbors across the street and next door have some great lights up already and that prompted David to say that he might want to throw some lights on our bushes. I’m not die-hard on the outdoor lighting because where our tree sits, you can see the lights from the street and I spend as little time outside in the winter as I can, so I don’t see the outside of our house much at this time of year. But I totally enjoy the neighbor across the street’s lights from our living room, so I think it would be nice to return the spirit.

We want to get a new tree this year. We had one of those prelighted ones, but a huge chunk is burned out and we filled it in last year with a string of lights. It was more wires than ornaments I think! We do still have that tree just in case. I’d rather use it again than not have a tree if we don’t get a new one. But I’m definitely going to add getting a tree to our schedule. Maybe we can do that when we get our ornament for 2009.

I have baking and one meal to plan. I’ve been picking up a few of the sweets I serve at UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar, but I haven’t heard back from anyone yet, so I’ll be sending out the second email tonight or tomorrow with the RSVP request.

Did you see the picture at the top of the blog? Pumpkin Spice Almondina! Almondina are delicious cookies that I enjoy munching for a quick snack when I’m multitasking. I don’t have to cook or prepare them and they are low in calories too. 4 of the thin cookies are only 120 calories. They’re also great dipped in my coffee. They’re kinda pricey, but SO worth it! I hadn’t seen the pumpkin spice ones before, almonds and pumpkin seeds with fall spies, oh my! I found them when I was getting a prosciutto end for Pop. MY Italian store deeply discounts the ends while HIS charges full price. So I’m his supplier. Sofo is on the way, sorta, to his place, so I called ahead and asked them to hold the end they had for me. Good thing I called too. The guy right in front of me in line asked about the ends and they said they sold the last one already. That was to me, on the phone! Pop asked how much he owed me for it and I told him I just wanted some of the minestrone…and a day to spend cooking with him to learn how to make it!

One of the other things I’m working on is my Wife 1500 plan for January. Now, my wedding outfit still fits, but it’s not loose like I wanted it to be. My anniversary is three weeks from yesterday! The past few months have been hard on me and food was the last thing I was thinking about. For me, that’s key for controlling what I eat and losing weight. I have to think about food all the time. Sounds a little different, huh? But I need to think about what I’m eating and plan what I’m going to eat all the time. That keeps me planning and eating good tasting food in proportions and variety that are good for me. If I don’t think about food, I pop things in my mouth and don’t even realize I’m doing it. That’s how I am an emotional eater. When my mind is obsessed with something else, I don’t think about doing what’s right for me. For the Holidays this year, I am going to concentrate on food during the week and plan what I’m going to eat the day before and let myself relax on the weekends. I find that I can’t totally relax from the food obsession on the weekends once I’m in the swing of it and that’s good too!

Capture the Season

I wanted to share a layout I wasn’t supposed to have done. When I asked in comments about Capture the Season at Simple Scrapper about the template and if it was a tool or if we had to use it, I got a reply that it was a tool and the program itself was a tool to gather things to scrap in January. Hmmm…. In January, I’ll still be scrapping 2007. I try to do a layout a day in my catching up plan. I wanted to do Capture the Season to document some of this year while it is still happening. That’s ultimately my goal, to catch up and be able to scrap in the now, while the memories are still fresh and complete. So, I’m going to bend the rules a little. Can you imagine? Me? Bend the rules?? Perish the thought!

Stop by Simple Scrapper and join in for Capture the Season. The tips for collecting your thoughts to scrap when you have time are great for any time of year and wonderful if you want to collect thoughts and supplies for a wonderful crafting day in January too. But I’m doing the assignments in real time and sharing my layouts with you to encourage you to check out the great tips they have. Maybe you’ll find that keeping up with the program is more than you want to do while you are doing other holiday things, but give it a read anyway. You might find a few things that will make your scrapping easier and better moving forward!

So, here’s the assignment for week one from the site.

“The cornucopia is an ancient symbol of abundance and is a common image around the time of Thanksgiving. Share what is in your personal cornucopia basket this year with at least 4 photos of what is important in your life. Use a list format to detail all the goodness that fills your life with joy and love.”

Keep in mind the actual rules are to collect things to work on them in January. For me it keeps me motivated for my holiday planning and work, to take some time out to scrap the small stuff so I don’t sweat the small stuff. I just enjoy all the small stuff in a big way!

Here’s my first layout made with parts of the Pumpkin Pie Spice blog train from last year. Yes, I guess I do love anything pumpkin. Hmm….

Credits: Pumpkin Pie Spice blog train kits

from Eden Lane Designs and SPinkD

Be sure to check out Capture the Season at Simple Scrapper!

Links

Almondina

Simple Scrapper

Photoblog Wednesday

2009-12-02T08:56:00.003-05:00

PROGRESS!

All three of them on the bed with Daddy, no growls or hisses for about five minutes Sunday morning! We're getting there!

The Next Semester Starts Soon!

2009-12-02T08:50:00.002-05:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

I got the rough draft of my paper for school done yesterday. Like I said I was going to do, I stepped away and will finalize it today. I have on e set of case studies to finish up tomorrow and then I’m done. I tallied my grades and I know I passed already, but the last two assignments just might earn me my A!

The coolest thing about taking my term online has been the flexibility. I have made dinner while doing class work, taken a break to run to the store in the middle of a review and yesterday I did 2 loads of laundry. I bet I can even fit that multitasking ability in as a plus in an interview. Well, at least for an internship – I can research a problem AND get coffee for the boss!

Now I know not everyone reading is an aspiring change-of-careers computer geek, but in this tough economic time, isn’t it a good idea to make your bottom line worth more, not less? Less is what your job market value is if you are out of work for an extended time and it leaves a hole in your resume. But if you are stagnant jobwise from a bad economy and school is increasing your knowledge and abilities in the workplace, your value increases and it puts you in front of everyone who’s waiting for things to get better when the market starts to open back up.

Okay, maybe you are working now. Ever wonder how much easier the holidays would be if that first number on the paycheck was a couple notches higher? Hmmm? An online class or two that you can wrap around your work and family schedules could open that door for you too!

If you have a teaching degree and are in the teaching field already, you can earn a Masters of Arts in teaching as a USC Trojan without ever leaving your current job, working around your life and choose to do it in as little as 12 months through their accelerated program! As a USC student studying online you’ll have the full status and all the benefits of a regular student in an education program that ranked #22 in the whole United States, with the invitation to walk in the commencement ceremonies and a free lifetime alumni membership.

Now you must be thinking of the prestige of belonging to a student body like that, for life, the convenience of earning your Masters of Arts in Teaching online and the MORE MONEY it will bring you after you complete the degree! I’m on my way to geekdom and I’m excited a out the thought of this degree. I‘d love it if just one of my readers got the program informationand gave this a try. Could you be the one leaving me a comment a year from now with a link to your photo at commencements? Or maybe you'll be telling me about the first paycheck at your new job that’s twice the last one from your previous job? I’d love it if you were!

Holiday Sugar Cookie Blog Train

2009-12-01T11:00:00.002-05:00

I really hope they’ll let me remain part of the designers group at DST when it’s time to renew my dues. I’m a retired designer now, selling a few retired items at discount prices, but not active in a store. I’m concentrating on catching up my own scrapbooks, but I still enjoy doing blog freebies and I really love blog trains! The DST Designer forums are where I join with other designers to work on the biggies! It’s not a DST blog train, but DST is where we all have the opportunity to network and create these huge kits for you to collect all of, or select the pieces ala carte for your own personal stash!

I so loved being part of Christmas Around The World last year and for my holiday party this year, I’ve collaborated with 99 other designers to bring you Holiday Sugar Cookie!

Every addition is the designer's own style and interpretation, but the same theme and swatch, so at a minimum 3 papers and 5 elements from each...you do the math, 100 designers offering that or more! The kit is huge and the possibilities endless!

Check out the full list of designers at the Blog Train Blog.

Here is the Digitalegacies Designs contribution:

Click on the preview to go to the download page
PW gimme-sugar

I hope you enjoy this 100-car mega train and have fun creating wonderful layouts with it!

Next stop Color With Caryn.

Turkey Soup For The Soul

2009-11-28T16:59:00.009-05:00

Star from Christmas Evening by Jodiann Cates

I’m taking a break in this busy Saturday to check-in. Oh, I’m, really just giving myself a break because my head isn’t in the school zone right now. I’m not in panic mode. The project isn’t due until a week from Monday. I’m really in okay shape if I take the rest of the weekend off and get to finishing my rough draft Monday morning. My study goal is to have everything done and turned in Friday night.

Dinner tonight is planned to be easy – Thanksgiving in review! We split the leftovers with Pop and Aunt Judy, so it gives us a great (and easy) dinner for tonight. Of course, I’ll get to wash all the dishes the leftovers came in, but dinner will be worth it!

David is out railfanning without me today. To be honest, I felt just awful this morning and that awful stayed with me into the afternoon. Around noon I took a couple of Advil and a B12. Golly B12 is wonderful stuff. It helps the brain and nervous system and in the formation of healthy blood. It really does help reenergize me and it clears my head, helps me focus. It just helps make everything feel better. I have a pretty full plate of life right now with the challenges and responsibilities I’ve had added with Grandma and losing John, which I wasn’t prepared for. I’m hoping that once my project is complete and thus, school is done for the semester, it will help. Of course the cat adjustment situation weighs heavy on me.

Carla is better from the respiratory infection, just a little weeping from her eyes still, but a lot less than she had! She goes in for a check-up Monday. She’s adjusting to the house and other cats now, although she is balanced by extremes. She either walks slowly and tentatively near either of them afraid to get them agitated or she is having so much fun playing she runs right into them and a hissing fit and fight ensues.

Baggle seems to be adjusting the best of the incumbent cats, but he adjusted to Kaline better than Chester did when they all first met too. He still will hiss or swipe a paw at her when she is being rambunctious too near to him, but he tolerant. Last night Carla was sitting on David’s lap and Baggle was next to him with no growling!

Kaline is really the last holdout. This is breaking my heart. She hasn’t been coming in to sleep with us and seems a little mistrusting, even of me. I just can’t stand that! She does sit next to me during the day and often plops down on the table behind the laptop, but she’s just not comfortable a lot of the time. She spends a lot of her awake hours watching or looking out for Carla. Now, that being said, earlier today she was sitting up on my desk upstairs and Carla jumped up onto the scanner, just a couple feet away. She growled at Carla. I growled at her. I matched her moan for moan and growl for growl that she gave Carla and she calmed down. I know that sounds silly, but it’s always worked with Kaline. If I “speak” to her as an angry Momma cat, she stops whatever she’s doing and gives me that “I’m growling at you in my mind” look. It helped get her through growling at Azreal when they met and through hissing at both Chester and Baggle when the girls met them.

Kaline has to revisit the vet about her tummy problems. To be honest, we really haven’t been able to administer the medicine for it, but she hasn’t been throwing up any more since the shot she got at the vet. The medicine is supposed to help her calm down and help her tummy. If she goes nuts and gets all worked up when we try to give her the medicine, how is that helping her? So David and I decided that the medicine would be there if she started having issues again, but we wouldn’t add to her problems by hogtieing her and shoving icky tasting liquid in her throat.

I want to share a link to a website/blog, I discovered! Simple Scrapper just started a six-week program yesterday that is fabulous for scrapping the holidays! I’ve downloaded the workbook and first template. The program is called Capture The Season and this week’s layout is about the things you’re thankful for. You’ll get prompts, ideas, templates and tips to make your pages better and quicker! There’s even a link for journaling tips too. I know a lot of people say they would like tips on doing that! I’ll definitely be showing off my first layout when it’s done, so if you don’t download the free workbook and template for week one today, be prepared to be tempted again!

::Deep Breath:: Mmmmm!

One of the best gifts I get from Thanksgiving is the turkey carcass! We used to have Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s and Mom would get the turkey carcass in the soup pot and make the stock Thanksgiving night. On Black Friday, instead of the outlet malls, Mom and I would go holiday shopping in Tawas, MI. Black Friday in a small lakeshore town is like being there in the summer. Small town means, just enough people for it to feel festive, but few enough fellow shoppers to talk to people and be greeted sincerely by shop owners. I loved that!

Now, there is a Walmart that’s killed a number of the businesses and what Walmart didn’t destroy the economy has really pressured. I don’t make a secret out of my dislike for “The Evil Empire.” Walmart is bad for local economies. It’s nice to save a little money, but I don’t think it’s worth seeing my next door neighbor stocking shelves at Walmart for minimum wage after his store was driven out of business. Kinda kills the Christmas spirit for me.

But back in the pre-Walmart invasion in that area, it was a wonderful day free from the sales hounds to really get in the holiday spirit. It was usually cold, sometimes gently snowing, but always fun in a classic Christmas way. When we got back to Grandma’s for dinner, we set up the turkey congee with that homemade broth and leftovers. It was just ambrosia, food of the gods! Now tomorrow, I’ll try a congee light-style for us. David isn’t a fan of the heavy veggie and meat soups I do. He likes a simpler brothy noodle soup. Cool thing is, congee can easily be both, so that’s the plan for tomorrow!

Okay, need to go stir the soup and adjust the seasoning. I do know the smell of that soup just washes over me with the holiday spirit and makes me feel good! Whatever part of the holiday season you partake in, in the face of the economical woes and the state of so much of the world, let the joy and peace of this season consume you. Happiness is contagious and we should do all we can to make it spread!

Links:

Simple Scrapper

Turkey Congee Recipe

Let The Shopping Begin!

2009-11-28T09:55:00.007-05:00

I hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving and those who are into it had a successful Black Friday! Ours turned out pretty well, cooking the meal at Dad’s and transporting the whole thing 20 minutes north to Grandma’s apartment. I had fun with my turkey hat too. The family dining area is private in that the door is closed, but all glass walls in front so people can see in. I joked that it was like we were the Thanksgiving zoo exhibit, but we weren’t bothered and people who walked by smiled and waved. Okay, maybe some of the smiles were at my hat, those ones where they pointed at me and smiled. I smiled back, said Happy Thanksgiving, and it was usually followed by a wave and a wish for the same. It was pretty cool. The turkey hat is very me, but I also knew that wearing it would get some laughs or smiles at the senior apartments by residents and workers alike. That’s my selfish side of giving. Sharing a little joy and making people smile when they are residents in the memory care unit or working on a holiday just feels good!

On the meal front, everything tasted so good! The stuffing was exceptional this year, if I do say so myself. At one point, Grandma asked me if my Mom was coming to dinner. Pop was great as he seamlessly got her immediately on another subject, but I was thinking to myself, “Grandma can’t you taste that she was touching the stuffing when I made it?” That was the hardest part of dinner, when Grandma asked if people were joining us who only could in spirit, but there was enough good food and conversation that she didn’t dwell on those questions before another topic came up. It really was a very nice and special dinner.

Now after that recap, I’m wanting some cranberry relish. Is cranberry relish okay for breakfast on a weekend during the holiday season? (Someone please leave a yes in the comments so I feel better about it because I’m gonna do it!)

Now that Thanksgiving is done, I’ll be officially adding the Christmas music. I’ve been listening to some hit and miss for a while with those all Christmas all the time stations that start the first of November, but it’s now officially Christmas Music season! As always at The Chronicles of Nani you can click the off button on the iPod to the right. I always make sure it’s high enough on the page that it can be easily turned off if a visitor doesn’t want to listen. Just think, if this were a real time coffee shop, you’d have to BUY your coffee and listen to whatever is on the overhead speakers, which means Christmas music even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, or if your taste in Christmas music is just really different than mine! So, I welcome you all once again to enjoy the sounds of the season or enjoy being able to NOT enjoy them when you visit my cyber coffee shop!

And to go with that cyber coffee, here’s some festive calorie-free black forest cake! (Festive because black forest cake makes any blog entry a party!)

A Freebie With A Twist!

Actually a freebie with several twists!

I have so many attempts at the photo in the center of this layout that I wanted to include a couple to document my struggle and eventual success! 2007 was my first Christmas Day in Toledo and I wanted a Christmas Day picture of Baggle and Kaline together. It was almost 20 shots before I got one where they were both looking at me and there were no glowy eyes!

This was originally a layout for a challenge at Designs In Digital, but that challenge required several things and there was to be no journaling. The finished product was not to my liking, although it fit the challenge criteria. I loved the template I made for it and decided to strip it down and redo the layout with the same pictures but different everything else, including journaling. Now I like it, but it wouldn’t have fit the original challenge. It did qualify for the Out of the Box challenge at Digital Freebies, though!

So the freebie is that template, with the twisted mats and photos that don’t quite go in the frames! I call it Twists! I usually use a mish-mosh of colors that don’t really go together when I make a template for my layouts because it’s easier to tell which layer is which in the layers thumbnails in Photoshop CS. I’ve even recolored traditional shades of gray templates when I’ve worked with them for that purpose. It’s especially handy when it’s a template with lots of layers, like this one. If you have a strong opinion on the colors of the layers in a template, one way or another let me know in the comments. I could have taken the color out, but that takes extra time and, like I said, I think it makes it harder to work with. Feel free to chime in!

Click preview to dowload
Passwords is kitties

Of course, I love to hear from you if you have a moment when you download. The comments here are pop-up style, so you can comment and download at the same time. I hope you enjoy the template and I’d love to see what you make with it!

Okay, I’m really craving some coffee and that cranberry relish now! Bye!!

Photoblog Wednesday

2009-11-25T07:31:00.000-05:00

Getting There!

We still have growling, hissing and chasing, but a week ago I couldn't have taken this picture I took Monday of Kaline and Carla sharing the same couch for nap-time. After taking the shot I went over and smoothed out the blanket between them so they could see each other. They looked up and saw the other cat and went back to sleep.

Baby steps! But it IS getting better in the world of cat-peace!

Changes Behind the Scenes

2009-11-24T19:40:00.003-05:00

Well, there are those who say ANY change is bad. There are also those who believe it but don’t say it, they just loudly suffer when there’s a change at work, home or even a store they like to shop at. My Dad swore up and down that he’d never use a computer and that computers were the bane of modern existence. Now, he uses the computer to check his schedule for work and is smugly proud of his accomplishment every time he does it. I don’t think my Dad will ever shop online and I’ll never hear him say anything that starts, “I was IMing with someone who….” But hey, he could surprise me!

As any of you who regularly read The Chronicles of Nani know, I’m a big time believer that change is good. I have to be to be back in school and changing careers at 43 years old! But in those 43 years, many things have changed that have made things much better. I mean, I seriously wonder what my technophobe Dad would do if he couldn’t heat up a cup of coffee in the microwave? Change is good to the last drop there!

Ah, but one of the things we are learning about in school is being properly prepared for change! One of the scrapbooking sites I frequent, or anyway, did frequent, is going through a major change. It’s pretty much an annual change, not fond of that. It’s not good for brand recognition to change your site look all the time. But this time they are suffering from a ton of stuff that’s not transitioning smoothly. About half of their challenges didn’t happen this month, they pretty much missed DSD and they are STILL swamped with the things that aren’t working correctly! Ultimately, that’s bad, really bad, for business in a saturated market!

One of the great tools we have learned about in class is virtual systems. Someplace that mimics the online network, but is not part of the working network. It’s a place you can try out everything before it goes online to make sure everything that needs dotted or crossed is done right. As I’m winding up this semester and getting ready to collect data and write my term paper and as I’m getting ready for my few weeks break before the next term begins, I’m applying what I’ve learned so far.

Not to bore anyone who isn’t a geek with the details, but I’m collecting data to explain how the Sever OS we’re studying works with multiple formats. This is close to my heart as I work on a Windows Vista OS on my laptop and Mac OSX on my desktop! I figure I have a head start to really understanding the eccentricities of combining the platforms on a network because I understand them both, but I’ve also worked for a company that did art and video work on Macs with the accounting and library on Windows machines with a load of custom software and documents that were shared by the whole building. My job at that company wasn’t one of the more exciting ones, but it gave me lots of time to cause trouble for the IT department trying to figure it all out. I even found it exciting to stay late and stressed the night the server crashed. I got to figure out how to finish up our department’s work for the night, but I also got to hear the IT guys stress and toss ideas to each other out loud. I didn’t understand it then, but it was exciting to me. Yes, I’m a geek. There is a certain rush out of fixing problems!

But, that was ten years ago and the IT department was a 3-man team working on the problem. My holiday break project will be a just me endeavor, so I’m going to be careful. I don’t want to be a month working on major problems! The Chronicles of Nani has been on BlogSpot for two years now. I’m not planning on moving, just redecorating. I have learned a lot reading Easy Custom Blogs and seeing what other bloggers have done with their blogs. I’m in the mapping stage right now. I’m going to decide what I’d like the Chronicles to be able to do, then see if I can do it! It’s not going to be a huge change, as I’ve said, that’s bad for recognition, but I will probably update the header logo and glitz up the appearance a little. Now, I have learned a thing or two. I already have my virtual blog set up. As I get ready to put together the skeleton code, I’ll be able to try it out to make sure everything works. Then I’ll add the pretties and make sure it looks good and still functions the way I want it to. Then I’ll be able to cut the whole layout code and transfer it over. I’m kinda hoping it will be a glitch-free transition and the new look will go online and be working at 100% instantly. Keep your fingers crossed for me! The nice thing about doing the change on a virtual blog first, is I don’t have to make any changes until it’s ready to go, there will be no interim look, just the new look.

Now I’m asking my readers for some input! What types of things would you like on The Chronicles of Nani that would make it easier to read or navigate when you visit? Are there any tags you’d like t the top of the blog for easy clicking? How do you feel about the Monday Mug Shot or Photoblog Wednesday moving forward? Should I continue them? Would you want one regular day for scrapbook freebies or layouts? You don’t need to suggest a real time coffee machine that dispenses real, not cyber coffee. I’m working on that and if it’s possible, The Chronicles will be the first blog to dispense real coffee! But anything else you would like me to consider, please, let me know what you like about the blog now and what you might enjoy as the blog grows. I’ll take every suggestion into consideration!

Links: Easy Custom Blogs

Monday Mug Shot

2009-11-23T19:27:00.003-05:00

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland
Frankenmuth, Michigan

I’m in a bit of a funk right now and sorta running on auto-pilot as far as the holidays are concerned. I’m usually all abuzz by now with preparations for Thanksgiving and our Christmas cards, getting ready to plan for our annual trip East and plans for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but this year I’m a little overwhelmed with things going on, school, Grandma, missing John and now the trauma with the cats adjusting. Where I usually don’t listen to Christmas Music before Thanksgiving, I have a Christmas CD in the stereo and I’m writing about a very Christmas mug. I just need a kick!

Thanksgiving dinner was served at our house when I was younger, but it moved to Grandma’s house after Papa died in 1994. Mom and I usually had things scheduled right at work so that we both had a day or two before Thanksgiving off and we drove to Grandma’s together, stopping for a few hours at Bronner's. The day after Thanksgiving you can’t move at Bronner’s and it is pretty much that way until Christmas, but just before Thanksgiving, it’s a lot less stressful, with all the new stuff out and ready for the busiest time of the year for the huge all Christmas store and Christmas music playing with it just quiet eno0iguh top hear it complementing he treats for your eyes!

When I say huge, I mean huge, a few football fields worth of huge Christmas displays. We always browsed the tree trimmings and decorations. Mom always added a few new ornaments for the tree and she always decorated every stocking with a new ornament. Several of the ornaments on my tree are collected ornaments from my Christmas stockings. Mom was a shopper. I’m not, but I did always enjoy shopping with Mom at Christmastime. It was like shopping with Santa himself! She found such joy and was so careful with selecting gifts. She was certainly infectious!

The opulently plush garland that decorates my tree now was Mom’s. She had bought commercial grade garland and Bronner’s was absolutely the only place she could find more of it. She started the custom of our named ornaments. We had gotten the Mom and Dad ones for Pop and her and then she found the Dave one and had one special ordered for me since Davonna is not a standard stocked name. We had a named ornament for every member of the Family who was there on Christmas morning. There was another special order when Dave married his first wife. Deanna wasn’t a stock name either! Mom ordered two ornaments when we stopped at Bronner’s on the way to Grandma’s house that first Thanksgiving up north. She had two new grandbabies with unusual names that would need their ornaments special ordered to be sure they arrived in time for Christmas!

The pre-Thanksgiving stop at Bronner’s always included a break for coffee or hot chocolate at the Bronner’s cafeteria, near the international displays. I enjoyed looking at the Polish and Italian displays, my heritage. Something about recognizing my heritage and family traditions made me feel warm inside. It reminded me how special and important the traditions of the Christmas season really are. It’s why I have to have certain Christmas treats, even if no one else eats them! The stop in Frankenmuth was a great mother-daughter day for us and the spiritual fuel I needed to officially kick off the Holiday Season!

This year we’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner at Dad’s and bringing it up to Grandma’s apartment. I’ll be there for part of Wednesday and then I’ll be back with David the next day. It’s going to be different but different is change and this change means we’ll still be able to have Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s. It’s good.

As for my holiday current funk, I’m resisting change. I still need somehow to grasp a little bit of my traditions to perk up the spirit in me. Tomorrow Kaline has a vet appointment in the morning. After I get Kaline home from her vet appointment, I’m going to go out the the Italian store. It’s not too early to buy the nougat candies, panetone and Baci that are traditional Christmas sweets from my childhood and maybe a nice capicola sandwich for lunch will wake up that inner child and the holiday spirit she embodies in me! I think I’m ready now!

Drink Your Tofurky and Gravy

2009-11-20T19:55:00.008-05:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Isn’t my Thanksgiving hat awesome? I am SO wearing it to Thanksgiving dinner. It’s just so, so…so Nani!

It was part of my Thanksgiving Postie Pack from IZEA, the parent company of the sites where I find my sponsored post opportunities. The gift is from them and Jones Soda. The other part of the gift was a sample of Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda .

When I first got the email telling me about the Postie gift coming, I thought they were kidding about the soda flavor, but I really wanted the hat!! But the soda is the real deal too.

So, I tried it. It really wasn’t what I expected at all. I thought it would be a mostly sweet beverage, but it’s really not so sweet and there is mostly a seltzer water taste with a mild yet dominant flavor of something with gravy! I’ve never tried tofurky, so maybe that was the rest of the flavor. It’s interesting, but I don’t know if I’d buy it for me. My brother would drink it and honestly, my Dad might like it. He isn’t a fan of sweet sodas but he wants flavor with his fizz, not just club soda.

For me, I love Jones Soda Zilch, Black Cherry. Yep, zilch as in no calories and sweetened with MY favorite no headaches lo-cal sweetener, Splenda! I saw on the Jones site that they have pomegranate now too and they offer a sampler of the black cherry, pomegranate and vanilla cream soda Jones ZILCH. (Hey David, if you’re reading…)

So, if you have a family member who loves tofurky or someone who goes for the less sweet tasting or more eclectic flavor of soda, try the Jones Tofurky and Gravy soda! If you prefer to drink on the safer side of the soda adventure, Jones has a huge line of great flavors in pure cane sugar, natural flavors and sucralose-sweetened to give you something for every taste to complement your Thanksgiving turkey, or tofurky, this year!

And now for some news briefs…

2009-11-18T23:21:00.002-05:00

Cat Piller - a bit of genius!

See the picture? That’s a Piller, it is a pill plunger that shorts pills down a cat’s throat. It is the coolest thing, as cool to a human as a can opener is to a cat. Poor Carla has to take two pills in the morning and two at night for her respiratory infection. We’ve been fighting with her tooth and claw for almost a week. She is so good at figuring out innovative cat ways to spit them out. This morning she bit her tongue fighting us and it was bleeding. That was enough for David and me.

The vet’s office where we took Carla last week is in Sylvania, nearly in Michigan, but that’s where her records were and where we had a free visit after adopting her. David was home today and he and I went to visit Grandma, so we stopped at the vet on the way. We were hoping to trade in the pills for some kind of liquid equivalent. They can’t take pills back once they leave the office, so we’d have to buy all new liquid meds or try the Piller. The Piller was less than $4, at the Vet’s office, so we gave it a try.

First try, ack, plunge, remove – the pill went in the cat, no fuss, no stress. Carla didn’t even leave her Daddy’s lap afterwards. If you have to medicate you pet, this is such a small investment to save a ton of hassle!

The kids have been blogging up a storm! Check out Behind Orange Eyes for Kaline’s first impressions of her new sister and the column at that site, written by Baggle, Behind Green Eyes, for his point of view.

Grandma was happy to see us today. She looked great, good color in her face and she was in a very upbeat mood. I’d promised her I’d bring some more Snickers bites and I found a bag of holiday wrapped ones on sale plus a cute green square bowl with snowmen on it to keep them in. She had a candy basket for Halloween, but needed a seasonal update! She’s always happy to get Snickers! She’s looking forward to the family coming there to have Thanksgiving dinner at one of the “Party Rooms,” which have full kitchen facilities. Dad is making the dinner plans, so I’m not sure on what side of traditional we’ll be this year. I’ll be chatting with him tomorrow to see what we need to organize.

Glad We Make Our Own!

In the news, Kellogg’s, makers of Eggo Waffles has an Eggo shortage right now! Between a shut down of their Atlanta plant due to flooding earlier this year and some major repairs being done on equipment at their largest bakery in Rossville, TN, there will be a scarcity of Eggos for a while. They don’t expect to return to pre-shut down levels in stores until mid-2010.

I’m so glad I married into a waffle iron and David married into my flour canister! Together we make beautiful waffles at home! I admit, on waffle days, David makes breakfast, but he couldn’t do it without the flour in my canister set!

Links:

Behind Orange Eyes - Kaline and Baggle

Where to buy a Piller

Eggo Waffle Story

They’re Only Cute in Cartoons!

2009-11-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Victor® Rodent Control. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was 17, I got a cute little runt of a beat up cat, Ritchie. Ritchie was a very lovable runt of a cat I met in my Noni’s alley. I picked him up and he put one paw on each of my shoulders and started licking my face! He must have learned that from one of the alley dogs!

I brought Ritchie in to Noni’s house, where we had just had dinner and Noni’s neighbor friends were over to play cards. I fed him some scraps from the table and showed him to my Dad. “Can we keep him? He could catch the mice we have in the house!”

Noni gasped and moved me in the direction of away from the card game. She told my Dad, in Italian, “just let her have the cat so she shuts up about the mice.” Dad never questioned a direct order from him Mother and I got to keep Ritchie. I didn’t realize what a taboo admitting we’d seen a mouse in the house was!

Ritchie turned out to be a pretty good mouser. He caught two in his first week there and we didn’t see a mouse again.

Now, I’m not saying to get a cat if you have mice in your house. Not all cats are great mousers, but if you do want to get a cat, check out some of my cat posts! What I want to talk about is un-mousing your home!

First off, if you have mice in the house, it doesn’t mean you don’t keep a clean house or that you’ve done anything special to attract them. Mice are attracted to food and someplace warm to sleep. And they are quick! They can scamper in when you are walking in the door and you won’t even realize it. We had mice in the garage at the time Ritchie came home that were attracted to the food dish we had in the garage for our dog! You can’t stop feeding your pets to keep the mice away!

Now I’d like to introduce you to the Victor® Sonic PestChaser® PRO! The Victor® Sonic PestChaser® PRO uses sound waves to repel rodents. Now one of the first things I wanted to know was how ultrasonic repellents workand are they safe to have around pets!

The Sonic PestChaser emits a sound wave that rodents are sensitive to, but it doesn’t repel non-rodent pets. If you have hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs or other rodents as pets, you want to keep them in a room that does not have a Sonic PestChaser unit installed.

This method of pest control is so much better than traps or rat poison. It’s a humane way of telling rodent pests that you have No Vacancy at your house! A mouse can suffer in a trap before it dies and you have to dispose of it without knowing for sure that it’s really dead! Plus, trap can set if you knock them with you foot, which can break toes, or when the family dog or cat noses at the bait.

Poison pest control makes the rodents suffer and they die a slow death, usually some place in your home. Don’t worry; you’ll be able to follow your nose to find the bodies. Also, remember that unwanted rodents are attracted to food, especially nuts and grains. Do you really want a box of rat poison next to your kids’ cereal boxes?

Finally, the website dispels some myths about mice and rats and gives some great tips on the things you CAN do to rodent proof your home. The Victor® Sonic PestChaser® PRO is a better way to get rid of rodents in your home without dangerous traps or poison and you can just keep the cat for purrs and playing!

Now, I just want to get the frequency for spiders!

Photoblog Wednesday

2009-11-18T07:46:00.003-05:00

Kitty Siesta Time in front of Cat TV

Things are getting better, but you still only see truly peaceful scenes when it's Kaline and Baggle or Carla alone. Give it time!

Sweep Up On Cyber Monday

2009-11-18T07:40:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hoover and Dirt Devil. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know who Dirt Devil is. It's those wonderful vacuuming machines, regular stand up or hand-held machines that get the surfaces in your home dirt and dust free. But this year, Dirt Devil is here to help you clean up on savings and pick up even the hardest to clear spots on your Holiday Gift list too!

I just checked out the Dirt Devil Holiday Gift Guide and it is fantastic! They have tips for online shopping for just about anything. Expecting to see a giant ad for just Dirt Devil products, the first couple things I noticed included sites for music and sports cards! There is also a list of places to look for online coupons before you buy and the ever important portals to shortcuts to get you free shipping, because why save all that money just to spend it on shipping?

I do a lot of shopping online for the Holidays because one trip to get decorations is enough shopping immersed in lights and music to get me juiced and more than enough crowded stores for me. I’m definitely using it as a gift idea guide and to direct me to the extra savings I hadn’t even thought about. It’s definitely something I want to share!

Christmas is Coming (So is a Freebie!)

2009-11-17T22:39:00.003-05:00

Christmas is coming, or It came way back three years ago. I am happy to say that I have one more page I’m working on for Christmas, I think two for New Years and I think I’m going to do a mostly journaling page about moving to Ohio, that’s right, my scrapbooks still think I’m a Michigander. Then I’m done with 2006 before 2009 is over, so I’m ahead! Well, I mean I’m not three full years behind anymore which is how I started the year!

I bought the Santa Digi Express bundle from Designs in Digital last week, when it was still only $3.50 for the bundle of mini kits. I did one of the Santa’s Express challenges so far and I won a prize for that, elements featuring stitching with lots of journaling pieces. My kind of prize! I’m going to try out another challenge or two this week too. We’ll have to see what I have time for. There is a $5 gift certificate to the store for completing all the challenges. I don’t know that I’ll finish all of them by November 26, when Santa’s Digi Express ends, but I’ll try to do a few more, but I really want to do challenges that will fit into finishing 2006 right now too. We’ll see what I can manage!

I did do this page with one of the mini kits in the Santa’s Digi Express bundle!

Credits : Kit – Candy Cane Lane by Tiger Lily Digis,
Template 111709 Blog Freebie by Digitalegacies Designs

The Christmas Barn in Wilton Connecticut is where we got our 2006 dated ornament. As the caption on the layout says, it was David’s idea that we get the cardinal in 2006, the year the Cardinals beat my Tigers in the World Series! Humph still! But it is a pretty ornament!

You probably noticed if you read the credits for the layouts that it was done with 111709 blog freebie template by Digitalegacies Designs. Hmm… Could that be what the freebie is all about today? You bet!

I very often make a quick template and move the pieces around until I like the design for layouts with multiple photos. I really liked the way this template turned out. I chose not to use the layered background for the final page, but I left that in the template.

Click on preview to go to download page. Password is Connecticut

As always I’d love to see any layouts you make with the template! You can email me or leave a comment with a link to your blog or gallery Of course, I love your comments, preferably here at The Chronicles of Nani rather than at 4Shared, but all comments are welcomed and appreciated!

Great Cat Mews!

2009-11-17T17:47:00.002-05:00

Yeah, that pun never gets old to my silly self! But there is wonderful news in the cat world!

First, two nights ago, Kaline came in and jumped up on my hip in bed at about 4 AM and purred as she settled in. This is all very normal for her. That would be worth celebrating as is, since she hadn’t come to bed like she usually does since Carla moved in. But what made it even more celebration worthy for David and me, is that Carla was not just still here, but she was in bed with us and Kaline knew she was there. She kept her eyes on Carla, but it didn’t stop the purr. Now, I don’t expect to see Carla included in their “cat pit” in the next day or two, but peace is coming and they are staring to tolerate each other. YAY!

Kaline and Baggle are curled up in the living room right now and Carla is probably upstairs asleep, but for now, that’s okay while Carla is still nursing that kitty-cold.

Shannon will be HOME for Thanksgiving!

I talked to a volunteer from Paws and Whiskers for a while last night, yeah, get cat lovers talking about cats, I know. But what’s great news is WHY she called me. Shannon, the cat David and I sponsored when we adopted Carla, was adopted! Remember, it was down to deciding between Sassy, who became our Carla, and Shannon. Since black and black & white kitties were on special for only $40 in October, we put the other $30 we planned to spend on the adoption on Shannon in hopes that it might help her stand up to the competition of the cute kittens who’d undoubtedly be able to find homes easier than a 3-year-old. We so would have taken them both if we could have only had the time to bring two more cats in and give all four the attention and quality time they need. We know that three is our limit and I am so happy that Shannon will have a loving home to be thankful for next Thursday and her new family will be able to add her to the things that make their lives full! Buy her a can of turkey cat food, okay?

Paws and Whiskers
See Shannon’s Profile Page