it's a wonderland already!

 

Snow covered branches, the brightness in house, that snowy glow...it just screams Christmas!

We didn't get much, and it'll warm up to 40 today, so bye-bye snow, but still, it's pretty.

This is Mama Cat, or The Kettler...Old Kitty, if you will.  Last evening, as I was cozy in my chair reading my newest thrift store book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (which you should read if you haven't, I read it years ago, and am enjoying it immensely, it reminds me so strongly of my mother...it came out when she was a little girl, I think she identified with a lot of it...)...anyway, I had poured myself a tall glass of Coke Zero, and was enjoying it...when I sensed that perhaps Kitty was drinking it.  I held the glass to her, and she started lapping it up, she WAS drinking it!

As my late mother would have said, little piss-pot!  (she didn't swear, this was pretty much the worse she would say).    That dang kitty, she was all purry and innocent, she reached down and licked my nose, then cuddled up purring again...I had to dump the whole drink, of course.  I can drink after a snotty-nosed grandchild...no, no, I cannot...I can usually share with them if they AREN'T snotty-nosed...but no sir, not after the cat.  nope.

This Christmas cactus was $4.99 in Aldi....:)

Just a wee bit of Christmas...and yes, I do love Thanksgiving...we're having it at Emily and Mariel's place this year...and yes, Christmas came out a bit early here, the girls won, ha.

This fine morning, Camille and I are going on a drive...a half hour, 22 miles, to her orthopedic appointment.  This surgeon/dr. did Sonja's knee surgeries, and we trust him, and like him, so when he left his local practice for a more rural one, we decided to seek care there for Camille when she started in with knee issues.  It's not too much further away, but I am super glad the temperature is rising today, and we won't be driving in the snow...anything north of here, closer to Ontario, can be hazardous.  

Last evening, the girls packed up their homework and went over to Emily and Mariel's house to study with some other girls, and have a cozy dinner, before going to an evening gathering.  I had thought I was driving them, but Sonja came home from the hospital and was eager to join in.  (She was at the Children's hospital, so many sick babies, sick with RSV).    So I was staying home, just with Paul!  I decided to make meatballs...I chopped and minced fresh garlic and onions, added them to a mixture of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 2/3 sleeve of round crackers all crushed up, and some whole oats, with onion powder, minced dried onions, garlic powder, salt and coarse pepper, basil, and oregano...4 pounds of ground beef, three eggs, and:  meatballs!  I turned them halfway through baking, we like them with a little bit of crunch, but not dried out...I put them in a pan of bubbling sauce:  I sautéed a small bit off fresh garlic and onions in olive oil, added crushed tomatoes and a jar of pasta sauce....they were pretty good, and there are enough left for dinner tonight.  

Orange Guy is purring here in my chair, have to move him so I can get ready to leave...these cats love snuggling when the weather gets cold!   Have a really good day...:)