"Bits and Pieces" (yet again)

Just a little bit of this and a few pieces of that.....

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I hope that everyone's Thanksgiving was as lovely as ours!  We went to my daughter's as has become our custom.  There was only a total of seven people....Ratchlet, M-t-G, T.A., his mother, her beau, the Big Guy, and me, but we laughed, cooked, toasted our future and gave thanks for our good fortune, talked, ate, cleaned up, and had pie -- 2 kinds!  M-T-G made place cards for the table; we sang a few Christmas carols while doing the dishes (a tradition initiating the Christmas season);  played a couple of games, watched a little football, and pulled out some old photos to reminisce with.  We had only one near disaster, Ratchlet tried to pick up a casserole dish just out of the oven with her bare hands and ended up with two rather painful blisters on two fingers....just one of those thoughtless things you do sometimes without thinking.  She spent a significant amount of time with her hand in a bowl of ice water and she needed a little help cutting her turkey!  (She is fine today, just a little residual discomfort.)  Other than that, all was fine!  A happy, family, Thanksgiving Day....just as it should be!

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There was one thing about yesterday that I could have cheerfully done without!  Yesterday morning the outside temperature was in the high 70s, but the time we left to go home from Ratchlet's, the temperature had dropped like a rock to a bone-chilling 46F.  That's 30 degrees!  Winter arrived. Blech!

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I overheard another couple of grammar/language things recently that just make me cringe!  I am not 100% sure that they are truly incorrect, but they sure don't sound right to me.  First, "I added too much salt on accident."  Nooooo!  "By" accident or "accidentally" but NOT "On accident!"  Secondly, "Dad had game tickets for Susan, Joan and myself ."  Noooooooooo! It should be "for Susan, Joan, and ME."  Myself appears frequently in phrases where the much simpler me, or even I, is correct.  It surprises me that the wrongness doesn't just scream at the user!  It sure screams to me!

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The Big Guy actually started bringing in some of the Christmas things today -- without my asking even once!  This is the earliest Christmas decorations boxes have ever appeared inside our house.  Now all I have to do is put away the Thanksgiving things (which is why I hadn't asked him to bring in anything Christmas-y yet!)     ;-)

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Our family has always waited with everything Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  We are pretty much fanatical about it.  Then, of course, we all complain that we are always doing things last minute and don't have time to get everything done!!  What a bunch!

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Last Christmas, I stumbled across a gift idea that I thought would be perfect for M-t-G.  It comes from the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont and is called Once Upon a Month Club.  Once a month they will send one age and interest appropriate book to a child you choose.  I signed up M-t-G and she has been receiving a book every month for the past year and she loves it.

Before starting to send the books, their staff person called me and we chatted about M's interests, reading level, personality, likes and dislikes.  A book selected just for M-t-G would then arrive every month, addressed to her, gift wrapped, and with a note card saying "with love from Grammy and Poppa".  The books are quality books from good authors and have all been right on the money!  It's kind of like a small personal reading program just for her!  I've signed her up for next year too!  They have asked that I update them on any changes in M's interests or preferences.  

Now is that cool or what?? 

If you have any child you think would love getting a new book every month, the store's website and contact information are below.   Check them out, I'm so glad I did!

Northshire Bookstore

4869 Main ST

Manchester Ctr., VT. 05255

802-362-3565 x 171

www.northshire.com

Disclaimer:  This is not a sponsored post.

Just my opinion on a great idea for a kid's Christmas gift.

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This probably should have been part of my "grateful" list, but truthfully, I forgot about it. But I am thrilled to share it here. I went to the doctor recently for my annual check-up. All of the lab tests came back within normal limits! Whoo Hoo! BP was 115/57!!! How about that? Cholesterol was something like 163 with a high level of (the good one, which I can never remember if its the HDL or the LDL).

AND the kicker?!! (drum roll, please!!) my weight is DOWN 15 LBS over the last 18 months!!! Wowhee!! I wasn't even trying!  This is the second time in my life that I have dropped a chunk of weight without really doing anything!  Evidently, my body reaches a point where it says "Ok that's it, you big fat cow.  I'm not carrying around all this excess poundage one more minute!  So off it goes."  So I am now below what I weighed a week before Ratchlet was born.  I haven't been this low in about 8 years!   Dancing in the streets will now commence!!