merry Christmas everyone!

 

Some presents are under our beautiful Christmas tree!

Today was a good day...it was damp and chilly and dark and rainy-ish, but it turned to snow and looked so absolutely Christmas-y!  Sonja, Charlotte Claire and Camille were at their Christmas party/sleepover with their friends, and Jonathan went out to our church property to work on the winter projects.  Paul, Mariel, and I went to one of the apartments we are going to rent out.  The guy moved out, and left it a bit messy.  We've painted it, Mariel cleaned the oven and stove, and we painted the cabinets.  When we're done I'll post a before/after.  (The kitchen cabinets were white, but had gotten quite grubby and yucky, we painted them with Benjamin Moore Brittany Blue, which goes nice with the walls, which are painted Cotton, by Sherwin Williams). New floors will be installed, new blinds, a new shower curtain, we'll clean out the refrigerator, and scrub the bathroom, and it'll be done.  

We came home, the girls were here, and Paul grilled some of his venison, and a steak from that piece of cow we bought in the spring, oh so good!  The girls had made a barbecue chicken pizza, it had just come out of the oven when we walked in the door.

After dinner, we made the five pounds of fudge recipe from the back of the fluff jar.  Five pounds!

Tomorrow is our church Christmas concert....with desserts.  Heaven help me, it's a rough time of the year for those who cannot afford to eat sugar!  Tonight, I had maybe 20 Hershey kisses...oops.  I only had a tiny little taste of fudge though....tomorrow, I'm wiring my mouth shut. 

We're planning a small, teeny, amazing little Florida trip...the older girls are so kind to include me in their vacation plans.  They would like to go to Phoenix, but we're thinking Florida because Grandma is there, and she loves our visits.  Planning the trip is half the fun.  Linda, when you move down there, I'll visit you!  :)

 

just tell me the truth, that's all I want...

 

As I mentioned to "anonymous", who asked where I got that number of 18,000 deaths, it's from the VAERS website, which is run by the CDC here in the United States of America.  It's higher now, however, with the updated info, almost 20,000.  Usually when a vaccine is introduced, if there are say...five deaths, there will be a review of the vaccine.  Within the first month of these being released, there were 180 deaths, and some doctors were crying out, but...nothing happened.  People continue to die.  There are estimates that the actual number is five times higher than this, so around 100,000, because doctors are not required to report to VAERS.  These are each verified, by the way.  

It's sad, and it's scary, but it's all there for anyone to look into and read about, it's not a conspiracy theory, and I am not an anti-vaxxer.  There have been early treatments which have worked well in other countries, and have been swept under the vaccine rug here in the U.S.  

Much of the info I've gathered here is from Dr. Peter McCullough...

and that's all I have today...

the weather outside is delightful, but in here, my house is frightful...

 ...but since you all love me so, let it go, let it go, let it go!

That's not how it goes.  I know.  Does anyone else walk around the house singing?  Real words, made up words, there's a song for every situation.  Sometimes I but the H out of my kids by singing all responses.  The bad thing is that I know darn well that I cannot sing well, but I no longer let that stop me.  

Today I am going out and about with Sonja and a few of her friends, they are buying food for a very fun girls' party, and I am buying some gifts for a small activity club party next week.  I have a few other gifts to get, but mostly, I am done.  Mostly.  Most of what has arrived here via delivery, or that I have bought is wrapped.  I am itching to get started on Christmas baking, but...next week, so it'll be fresh for Christmas.  This weekend, a big batch of fudge, for our Christmas concert at church on Sunday.  

Sometimes just a word can make me so nostalgic I could cry.  Today's word was pram suit.  When Emily was born, in January of 1985, someone gifted me a 6-12 month sized pram suit.  Back then, I had no infant car seat, just an infant-to-toddler model... (car seats were brand spanking new to the parenting world.)  Ours was a big honking vinyl covered contraption, complete with the padded armrest thingy in the front.  Tiny newborn Emily just swam in that thing, just like she swam in the pram suit.  I was 19 years old, we had HUGE college loans, and Paul had a rather low paying job, so we didn't even consider for one minute going out and buying a smaller one.  We used what we had.  I just remember though, putting her in that and rolling up the sleeves, and her being so small and cuddly....we had to carry her in the stores because the car seat was huge, we didn't bring it out of the car, back then.  

Why is this sad?  Not because it was too big, but because once upon a time, Emily was so small.  I was so young.  I treasured her.  I treasured all of my babies.  I loved them so much it hurt.  It was my life's work, to sacrifice and give and nurture and comfort and scold and praise and feed and clean and cuddle them.  As they've grown, I've come to see things that are valuable to children:  attention, positive attention of course, to know that they are indeed special, to be listened to, to know they are wanted and loved.  These things were sometimes challenging to me during those crazy busy years.  My head was spinning, and the one thing I would question:  do they each KNOW how much they mean to me?

Now they're growing up, the youngest is 14, and I still wonder that...I hope they're not dwelling on the things I forgot, like their snack days or to pick them up after school (that was ONE TIME!).  As Christmas approaches, the the pile of gifts under the tree swells and multiplies, I hope that they each know that I'd give them the very MOON, if I could afford to.  (but you know, 16 + 7 (spouses) + 10 (grand kids) multiplied by say...$25, that equals $825....and the ones at home, I spent a heck of a lot more than that on...plus all the kids' parties and gifts for church, and and and...it's a lot.  I know that money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure does buy good Christmas gifts, ha.  And what better way to say I LOVE YOU than something thoughtful and nice?

I did change course in that rant, I sure did.  I was all sniffy and teary eyed about how quickly the years pass, landed on GIFT GIVING.  

Here's something good:  my sister is having a visit from her daughter and son-in-law, who reside up in Canada, she's seeing grandchildren she hasn't seen in TWO YEARS.  That is way way way too long, for living four hours away!  It's criminal!

Today, I'll skip my Covid rant, but not without mentioning the crimes against humanity itself, committed by those in power, by limiting, dismissing, and vilifying early treatment methods, in order to present only one solution.  This is something real that has happened, and it has caused death and suffering.  If you want to go ahead and believe that your government wants what's best for you without interest in their own power and advancement, go right ahead, I'll still be your friend.  

I hope you all have a very good and blessed weekend....

a warm and blustery day....

 (Shh, it wasn't actually windy, but "blustery" is a nice, Winnie-The-Pooh sounding word....)

This morning I  got out the door bright and early with Abigail, as she had to do some errands for her business.  (She just started her own bookkeeping business!).  We went to Aldi after, because we're exciting people, and we eat food and need groceries.  I didn't get much.  We still have meat in the freezer (good thing we didn't lose all of it when that freezer broke, some in the middle was still frozen solid....). I did get some of those little oranges, and dang it, our three huge-0 boxes of fruit from Grandma in Florida arrived this afternoon!

This is a lot of citrus!  I also got from Aldi:  more Hershey kisses, coffee cream, mini cucumbers, carrots, sour cream, butter ($1.89 a pound!), avocados, and a few other things.  Just riding along with Abigail and talking, solving the world's problems, so nice.

Home...ahh, home.  I wrapped a few things that came in the mail...oh dear, ordering online is hilarious.  Last week, I needed more magnesium glycinate, so I ordered from Walmart, as I had checked in the store and there wasn't any.  It was like $28, and $35 is free shipping.  So either pay $5.99 for shipping, or spend seven more bucks, which means I'm only paying one dollar for seven dollars worth of things, in a way.  I picked out four  Nerds Ropes for the kids stockings, they came separately in a package.  I ordered two Baby Bottle Pops, they came separately in a package, and one package of Sweet Tarts Christmas shape candies, the movie theater sized box, one dollar, it came in a big box all alone.  I can't even imagine how much it cost Walmart send it all.

The wrapping paper from Target was bad too, three rolls ordered, each came individually in a huge box.

This afternoon, Wulf and Tennyson came over.  

Tennyson was Rudolph, with Sonja...

The kitties flanking the couch...

The pic I stole from Sonja of Tennyson with a pretty headband...

Can I just say this:  two little boys sure can make messes!  Sonja was playing Jenga and Sorry! in her room with Wulf, and Tennyson and I were playing a game called Trash The Living Room, and I was losing.  He got one of Jon's muddy Muck Boots from over near the door, and started filling it with refrigerator magnet letters.  I replaced the boot with two big plastic cups, which kept him busy for eight and a half minutes, then he scattered the letters far and wide.  He pooped up his back, he ate a small handful of gingerbread play dough, and he spilled Wulf's water all over.  But, he was so good.  So sweet, and so funny.  Wulf gathered up some jingle bell decorations and put them on his balance bike handles so he jingled when he sped around.  He only fell three times, but it got better when Sonja told him that it's against the law to ride your bike with your eyes closed.

Their mama and papa had a nice time, went to dinner...Adrian did well in college, he had a GPA in the high nineties, got 97 on both of his final finals.  He still has two years to complete his bachelors in chemical engineering or paper engineering, phew.  Margaret works full time at home and watches the boys, Adrian helps with them too while doing odd construction jobs and homework.  It's a busy time for them, to be sure...

Remember yesterday I said that normal numbers of cases of myocarditis per year for under age 50 are around 600 for the U.S., and that this year there were over 11,000?  That number is now 13,000, according to the government VAERS site.  There have been 18,000 vaccine deaths in the U.S., and of American citizens, according to that same sites, normally if a vaccine has FIFTY deaths, or a hundred, there will be investigations.  That 18 thousand is a solid number, but there are many many more that are not reported to VAERS.  What's my point?  Ask yourself:  what sickness is there in this world in which a sick person is told to stay home with no treatment, until they cannot breathe anymore?  The doctors who have found early treatments that work, have been treated terribly.  

And this cannot be true:  Dozens of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have invested in companies that have a direct stake in the nation's response to the pandemic...nor can this:  2 days ago Pfizer acquired Arena Pharmaceuticals, they specialize in cardiac arrest medications.

Enough...I'm done.  It's too unbelievable.  Good night!!!!
 

can I just say?

 My heart hurts for my friend Linda and her husband.  In a way, I feel guilty for enjoying the season, enjoying the family, taking such pleasure in the days, because it's right there in my mind, how much they are suffering right now.  I didn't know Liam, but I am confident that I'll meet him one day, in our heavenly destination.  

It's so lovely this morning.  

Have you ever listened to a Dark Horse podcast with Bret Weinstein?  You should.  He had Dr. Peter McCullough on as a guest, very enlightening. The very fact that we don't have early treatment protocols in place for Covid, and are telling people to stay home and treat themselves, until they perhaps reach the point that they simply cannot breathe, is just criminal.  There have been many successful treatment strategies combining several drugs and meds, given early, with excellent outcomes.  To be focused on get vaccinated, so totally, and not promote and fund the early treatment regimens, why?  

I'll be totally honest, I absolutely abhor the direction the whole world seems to be going in.  There's a massive peer pressure game going on, and getting a jab isn't just a small thing, it's a medical procedure...one that's marketed shamelessly these days to innocent kids, kids who are in NO DANGER of getting seriously ill or dying from Covid, and now our cases of myocarditis, which previously numbered around 650 a year for under 50 year olds, have been at ELEVEN THOUSAND, just since the vaccine has been in use.  That is only what has been reported to VAERS, there are probably many many more.  If you're older, at risk, whatever, and you want that vax, take it!  The issue here is that it's becoming almost criminal to have a say in what you put into your own body, and heaven help us, putting it into children!  

Honestly, the actions of our government here in NY state have caused so much loss of life, so much suffering...then the Supreme Court also upholding the religious exemption mandate block, it's awful.  These politicians should have to take a little tour of the hospitals and emergency rooms before they make such rulings.  They should go visit the nursing homes, which are hurting big time, lack of staff, which was lacking BEFORE this epidemic, now made unbearable.  They sign these orders without thinking of whom will actually be affected. 

Can you imagine if any of these politicians in our great country actually invested in or profited from any stocks in any of the vaccine companies?  They wouldn't!  They do everything because they love their constituents!  

Okay, enough of that for today.  I admit, I do get a bit affected by it all, by the darkness....by just the word vaccine passport...has no one read their history?  "Papers, show me your papers!"  But.  I've said this a million times, and it is true:  God has allowed these things to come to be, and His word is STILL true, that all things work together for the good for those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose (Rom8:28), and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered.  We know that in the end times things will get rough, but it's written that when these things start happening, lift your vision.  I've had to do this, I've had to get down on my knees and pray for peace within.  Pray to trust God, and be free from anxiety.  There are trials in life, and it's through them that we get oil in our lamps, and this whole thing is one big series of trials.  

Ah well....time to get moving, going to paint that apartment...!  I hope you all seek the truth in all things, and have a good day!

here in December....

 

When you have five girls in a row, and one isn't there, this is what you get:  Evelyn, Kathryn, Suzanne, and Sonja...this is from a few years ago.

This, however, is from yesterday.  Charlotte Claire, Camille, me, Jonathan...Sonja K. was taking the picture.

We take our mask mandates very seriously here in New York State.

Miss Kitty, speaking of "serious".  

Ophelia....

A long ago pic of Ashley, with Sonja, Camille, Char, Jonathan, and Suzanne...

Just because it's December...

And, birthday cupcakes and cookies!

Margaret posted this and I stole it.  He's so cute, Mr. Wulf.

Achilles and Rhys are double cousins of Wulf and Tennyson, as their daddies are brothers.  These two live too far away, in Oregon, but they like to FaceTime with me.

Abigail had a good birthday celebration, Elise liked it too.

Wulf likes to ride his balance bike, and yes, that's a little chocolate Lab pup, Molly and Josh's new baby.

Ab with Elise, and Ashley...

Today, I wrapped presents, and shh, I think I'm done.  Don't hate me though, there are some serious gaps. One of my sons:  no gift for at all, oops.  It's not even, it never is, but they'll be fiiiiiine, as Ben would say. I'm excited to have it done.  But there is no rest for the wicked, I have to get out of my comfy chair and make some gingerbread play dough for the activity club kids, and get the crafts and toys ready to go for tonight.  

Then tomorrow, we are heading to a nice little city north of here to paint an apartment we are going to rent...then Thursday I'll be watching Wulf and Tennyson because Adrian will be going to his college graduation ceremony with Margaret.  Then Friday, I'll be watching them again...then Saturday, painting more, then Sunday a Christmas concert at church, so we'll be bringing a dessert to share....

It's nice to have Jon and Cam home again!  

We're having some nice sunny weather, and I'd like to get out in it for a bit, we'll see.  I have some things to mail, things to sort out, things to do....

so, so sorry....

 ...my dear friend Linda, I am so sorry for the loss of your son Liam.  I didn't know Liam, except for on Facebook, and from your blog.  I know he was your dear dear boy, your rascal, your sunshine.  I know he was funny and kind and good.  I am so sorry for your loss.  God bless you and uphold you in these days.