A Scary Journey Inside My Life: December 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

2023 - A Year in Review

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve! The year just flew by! That means it's time for us to review all of the ~~scary~~ interesting things we experienced this year on A Scary Journey Inside My Life.

We discovered some fun, interesting National Month holidays to celebrate

Learned from my retail stories that there are some really, ~~scary~~ strange people out there

Discovered that I am a weed-a-holic (that's dandelion weeds, not, well, you get my drift)

Found out that Chicago had the worst air quality in the world this summer (I gotta get out of here!)

Sent my blog into a kerfluffle when we learned some new words. I know that I am looking forward to seeing the snollygosters in the next year. How about you?

Went on a little dental journey.

Learned about the neighborhood informant. The one who knows everyone's business.

How I learned to keep my car on empty, so no one wants to drive it.

My two days ~~nightmare~~ of driving to the airport

After all of these years I finally had to break down and buy some dental floss

I got witnessed by mail.

Had a little history lesson of the Monotonous, I mean the Monopoly game tokens

And, reminisced on our little holiday tradition, "Night before night."

RT got in there with his hip surgery in February.

We also learned that the Bluetooth on my car refers to him as, "Retweet."

Oh, and then there were some interesting stories with My Weird Dog Pippen

My weird dog turned 11 this year

With aging comes aches and pains in the legs, eyesight going and sometimes the hearing isn't all there.

Tried to join a coyote family at 3 in the morning

How Pippen spent spring break at home

Pippen's fear of bubbles

Pippen goes to the vet

Get's his teeth cleaned

We find out that Pippen loves cooked green beans

How he was forgotten outside at night and decided he wanted back in at 3am

How Halloween is a big day of protection for Pippen, and of course, there is the long recovery

We made a few new meals/snacks/desserts:

Kale and Quinoa Salad

Mediterranean Farro Salad

Vegetable Tempeh Teriyaki Dish

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hershey Kiss Pretzels

and

Peanut Butter Banana Pupcakes (for the puppy in your life)

Let's not forget that we celebrated twelve ~~long~~ ~~frightening~~ ~~scary~~ years on A Scary Journey Inside My Life. Thanks again for sticking around.

Cheers to another scary year!

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Retail Problems

The holidays are over. We barely survived.

The Christmas music is turned off (Thank God!).

The mad rush of customers finishing their last minute shopping are gone.

Everyone should be happy. We should be able to relax.

Bring on the holiday returns.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

As I always say (and write), people love getting handwritten letters and notes in the mail. It's always the first thing someone reads when they bring in the mail. I would rather read a letter from a friend or family member before diving into a pile of bills.

Sure, it's easy to send off an email or a quick text to thank Aunt Sally for the ~~ugly~~ Christmas sweater. Aunt Sally would much rather receive a nice handwritten Thank You note in the mail from you.

Today is National Thank You Note Day!

I'm unable to find out how or why this day was started. Some say it was created because of all the presents people received on Christmas Day. I, on the other hand, believe it was started by my mother, The Queen of Thank You Note writing.

I remember being called down to the kitchen a couple days after Christmas. On the table there were three place settings. At each spot there was a sheet of paper with list of names and gifts that they gave us, and a pen. In the center of the table there was a stack of Thank You note cards, stamps and an address book. You had to find your spot at the table. The rules? Write a Thank You note to everyone on the list, address and stamp the envelope. Oh, and you can't leave the table until you are finished.

My Mom never taught us how to write a Thank You note. My brothers would hurry up and scribble some stuff and leave the table. I would be stuck there for hours asking my relatives how their pet is doing and trying to figure out how to nicely thank someone for the gift they gave me (how do you thank someone for money?).

If you do participate today, and I hope you will, you can use #NationalThankYouNoteDay on social media.

If you need any tips on Thank You Note writing, I'd love to help, especially if you want to know how the family dog is getting along.

Don't worry, Mom, I already wrote my Thank You notes this year!

Monday, December 25, 2023

Merry Christmas!

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, Peace, goodwill toward men!" Luke 2:8-14

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Hershey Kiss Pretzels

Looking for a fun, easy treat to make today?

Grab some pretzels, a bag of Hershey Kisses and some M & M's and let's go!

Hershey Kiss Pretzels

what you need:

Pretzels

Hershey Kisses

M & M's *

parchment paper (or silicone baking mat)

directions:

Oven 200F.

Place your parchment paper (or baking mat) onto a cookie sheet.

Place pretzels on the baking sheet.

Unwrap Hershey Kisses and place one on each pretzel.

Put in oven for 3-5 minutes (or until Hershey Kiss is soft). Place M & M on top of Kiss and press down into pretzel.

Let cool completely.

Store in airtight container or in the refrigerator.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*Feel free to use mini twist pretzels, mini snap pretzels, or the circle pretzels (usually found during the holiday season)

*You can use any type of Hershey's Kiss (Hugs or candy cane kisses) You can also use Rolo candy.

*These can be made year round. Just buy the holiday package of M & M's

Enjoy!

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Night Before Night

Every year we get to reenact a little play that the youngest child made up when she was little. This little play starts out with all of us pretending to sleep by the Christmas tree in the living room. One of us wakes up and proceeds to wake everyone else. We all then make our way to the family room. We stand by the fireplace, look at the stockings and realize that Santa visited while we were sleeping. We then run back to the Christmas tree and jump and shout, Santa!

It's fun to see how excited children are the days before Christmas. This story was created ~~last week~~ when the child was in kindergarten and is something we try to do every year.

This year, we are making sure to enjoy every minute playing our parts, remembering all the little details. Seeing as this might be our last Christmas in our house, we want to remember everything.

Do you have any fun Christmas traditions that you do with your family?

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Monopoly

That long ~~boring~~ game you loved playing as a kid. The game that could last for hours, sometimes days. RT refers to the game as, "monotonous."

When Monopoly first came out, there were no tokens in the box. You were encouraged to use buttons, pins, etc. from your home. In 1935, Parker Brothers took over distribution and added tokens. The original tokens were the battleship, boot, canon, thimble, top hat and iron. Within the year they added the racecar, purse and rocking horse. The original pieces were made of a mixture of lead and tin. During the war, they needed these metals so wooden pieces (like pawns in chess) were added to the game. These pieces were painted different colors. Some of the pieces were made of sawdust and paper. Those didn't hold up very well (but they are a collector item). After the war, pewter was used for the tokens. They also added the wheelbarrow, horse and rider and the Scottish terrier. The car remained and the canon was replaced with a howitzer. Oh, and an airplane was introduced to the game. Of course, by 1950, some of these pieces changed. The current tokens available in the newer editions of Monopoly are the penguin, rubber ducky, dog, cat, battleship, top hat, racecar and thimble.

Whether you played the game as a kid or still play the game now you probably had a favorite token that you used when playing. Was it the:

top hat

shoe/boot

iron

dog (Scottie)

racecar

rubber ducky

thimble

horse and rider

wheelbarrow

rocking horse

t-rex

hazel cat

money bag

My "go to" tokens were the shoe, iron, thimble and the dog.

What are your favorite Monopoly tokens?

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Retail Problems - The Christmas Song Nightmare

I was told that by playing Christmas music, customers are a lot happier and enjoy their shopping experience. They are also more likely to spend more money during their shopping visit.

Meanwhile, us retail employees find ourselves in Dante's Inferno in one of the nine levels of Hell, listening to the same nine Christmas songs over and over for eight hours.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

My Weird Dog - Yard Work

I had a little yardwork to do out front before winter digs it's heels in and decides to stay for a while. I thought it would be fun to bring ~~my weird dog~~ Pippen outside with me.

I hook Pippen up on a chain and he "helps." Actually, he walks around and sniffs everything. He wants to be where I am and forgets he is on a chain and gets tangled. He ~~tries to trip me~~ gets excited and runs circles around me when I make my way to the garage. Of course, he is always on the lookout for intruders (other dogs) so he can protect me. If nothing is happening, he walks towards the garage and stares me down. That just means that he's tired from all of that work and needs to go inside and take a nap.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Saint Nicholas

There are many stories about the life of St. Nicholas. I found my information here. The following is a quick summary. Click on the link to read more details.

St. Nicholas came from a wealthy family. His parents died when he was very young. He grew up in his faith and strongly believed to give to the poor. He became Bishop and was know for his generosity, love of children and concern for sailors. Under the Roman Empire he was persecuted for his faith. He went to prison. He was released and died on December 6. The anniversary of his death became a celebration known as St. Nicholas Day.

There are many variations of the story of St. Nicholas. He gave money for three poor girls dowries, he helped children, gave to the poor. Do a little research. You will even see how Santa Claus evolved.

If you put your shoes out by the door, Saint Nicholas visits and leaves candy inside them.

This is probably the last year that I will get to participate with our little Saint Nicholas tradition. I might have to mail care packages out to my children next year.

Do you have any special traditions you do with your family during the holidays?