Tuesday Tidbits (Late Again)

Hello,  We'll I'm late again with my "Tuesday Tidbits" so maybe I should rename them since I can't seem to get my act together and post on Tuesdays. 

Anyway here are a few photo's from this past week.

First up it's Coleen and Santa.  We went out last Saturday and got my mom's Christmas tree and Santa just happened to be there as well.  Coleen actually "talked" to Santa this year.  He told her she was still on the "Nice List" and she was happy to hear that.  She asked for a Barbie Swan Princess Castle.

This next picture is Coleen and one of the Reindeer that they have at Klicker's.  In the summer the Reindeer are usually kept on property in the mountains where it's cooler but come fall/winter they are down at the farm and people love seeing them at Christmas.  I'm also including a picture of the Reindeer alone.  Coleen thought they were really cool looking.

It started snowing early Saturday morning and right away Coleen wanted to play out in the snow.  She wanted to build a snowman but it wasn't packing type snow so she settled for throwing snowballs at Grandma!

I did manage to get a snowman built (sort of) on my mom's Garbage can lid.  Now that's my kind of snowman!  We did get around 3-4 inches by the time it was all done snowing.

The rest of the week I've been busy trying to finish up my Christmas cards and get ready to finish shopping.

No Bowling Scores this week since we had icy road conditions yesterday and bowling was canceled.

Take care & stay warm, safe & dry.  Hugs to all.

Tuesday Tidbits on Thursday

Oops...where did the week go? Here it is Thursday and I just realized that I forgot to post my Tuesday Tidbits. So without further ado...here are a few things about this week.

I love to read but often don't seem to find enough time to do much reading. However this week I did manage to find time to finish this wonderful book. Earlier this year I read a story about Dewey the library cat and thoroughly enjoyed it. At that time I saw this book but our library did not have it available at that time. Recently I checked again and we had the book so I just had to check it out and I'm glad I did. It is an amazing story of how this woman raised a tiny barn owl and the bond they had with each other. Totally unbelievable and inspiring.

Above is a photo of one of our cats, Miss Dottie as she was hanging over the banister. I thought she looked hilarious, like she had a "hangover" or something so I snapped a photo of her.

Also an update on Harley...He has been doing okay since his surgery but just hasn't really been all that perky. It was concerning us so I called the Vet on Friday but she was out until Monday. In the meantime I found a little toy, Laser Bee at our local grocery store and bought one. Let me tell you this cat just loves that toy. He started chasing the red dot all over the place and gets so excited every time we get it out. I'll try to get a little video of him playing with it. It has made a huge difference in his attitude. I think perhaps he was depressed from his surgery and the fact that we had the new kitten, (Captain Cuddles) and just didn't have much desire to do anything but sleep. Now he's way more active and is even wrestling and playing with Cuddles again. Much cheaper then another trip to the Vet

Bowling Scores...Do I have to report these? Well let's just say it wasn't a stellar day (135 - 171 - 116) I don't know what was with me the first and last games but I couldn't pick easy spares at all. So frustrating considering the week before I bowled so great.

So there's a bit of what's happening in my world. Drop me a comment now and then to let me know you are out there.

Tuesday Tidbits - 2nd Edition

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Here are the first Christmas photo's of our outside lights this year. The Gingerbread People (at my mom's house) were bought after Christmas last year for only $25 and don't they look cute! Her house is the one with the Nativity Scene. Oh and the Candles on the porch by the window are also a new addition to her lights this year.

We opted not to put our train up on the roof this year. A lot of the lights stopped working last year so we decided to find something different. We found a 3-D type train that you see in these photo's for the lawn instead. I went out today and bought a couple of things to put in the upstairs windows but they were too large so Mike will have to wire them up outside the house. I'll take another picture when those go up.

We love lights. Mike & Greta worked very hard last Saturday to put up all the lights. So far other then one other house in the neighborhood we are the only one's with lights up. The weather was decent so it was a good time to get them up as you never know what will happen. Hopefully nothing like last year.

Also I am including a recipe for a Veggie Side Dish that I served for Thanksgiving that if you can find (Fresh Green Beans) is quite tasty. I have served these at Christmas time as well.
8 oz. Fresh Green Beans, cut in pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 Fresh Medium Carrots cut into small strips
1 Medium Onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices
8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2-3 tsp. chicken bouillon

Heat 1 inch water to boing in a 2-quart saucepan, add beans and carrots. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 12 mintues; drain.

Cook and stir onion and mushrooms in margarine in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until almost tender, about 5 minutes; reduce heat. Cover and cook 3 minutes.

Stir in beans, carrots, salt, pepper and chicken bouillon. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes.

These are quite yummy!

Bowling Scores today: 172 - 175 - 162 (509 Series total) Oh yeah it was a GOOD bowling day!!!

Tuesday "Tidbits"

Hi, Time for a Tuesday "Tidbits" - First up on Sunday Coleen went on her first "Date" okay so it was with her, Grandpa but she was super excited about it and even had to wear her (blue) hair because that's Grandpa's favorite color. Funny thing was that she had decided (without Grandpa's knowledge) that they were first going to dinner at a restaurant and then to the movies. Grandpa said, "Typical Woman" when he found this information out. He didn't have time to take her to dinner before the movie but they shared Chocolate Pudding after their movie date and she was perfectly happy. She looks a bit "spaced" in the picture but I didn't have time to snap a better one as they only had about 10 minutes to make it to the movie theater before the show started. They say, Planet 51 and she seemed to think it was pretty funny.

Thought I would also give you an update on Harley. It's been 1 week now since his surgery and he seems to be doing fine. He got to start eating hard cat food again last night and was pretty excited about that. He's getting around really well and we opted to only give him the Pain medication one night as it just madehim far to loopy. He's picture here with our newest addition, Captain "Cuddles" and the two are pretty good buddies most of the time.

Today was Bowling so I thought I present my scores: 161 (110 - skip that ugly game) and 158 - My current average is 147 this year, a little below last years 154 but I still have until March before the season ends so it may improve.

Not much else to report right now. I'll be watching the Finale of Dancing With The Stars tonight and taping, (So You Think You Can Dance) - If you watch both shows which is your favorite?

Till next time take care & God Bless

Harley and his Surgery

Wow what a week it's been. One of our cats, Harley suddenly stopped eating and drinking water for no apparent reason. It started on Friday and he steadily got worse and by Sunday evening we were concerned enough to call the Emergency Vet. They didn't seem to think it was at that point "life-threatening" since he was eating a teeny tiny bit and was still urinating and not vomiting. On Monday of this week we decided to take him to the Vet. Given his "history" of eating things he shouldn't we figured it best that he be looked at. The Vet took blood work and x-rays but couldn't see anything conclusive that he didn't have some kind of a blockage in his intestine's or stomach. She sent him home but said if he wasn't showing improvement by morning to bring him back and she'd do exploratory surgery to find out if there was something going on inside his stomach/bowels etc...so Tuesday morning he headed back to the Vet and had surgery again. We were able to bring him home today and I am happy to report he is doing much better. He's eating now and drinking water again so even though there wasn't a huge problem the work the Vet did apparently cleaned him out enough that he's able to eat and go to the bathroom again without any problems.

It's been stressful to say the least as we think of all our cats as "furry children" and we don't want anything to be seriously wrong with them. Now it's just keeping him on a (soft cat food diet) for a few days and getting his meds down him that we have to worry about. So far so Good!

A Mixed Bag

Well I finally decided to start posting again to this blog. I created it for the sole purpose of sharing bits and pieces of my every day life. I hope you'll stop by often to see what's happening in my world. You never know what you'll get. Today it's a "Mixed Bag" of stuff.

Since "Blogger" doesn't allow me to move photo's around the way it use to I'm not sure what order these will appear but hopefully you can follow my post so you'll know what is what.

First up I'm sharing a picture of my Granddaughter, Coleen taken at the Pumpkin Patch this year. Normally we pick out pumpkins and carve them to display on Halloween. This year we opted not to carve pumpkins but I still wanted pictures of her in the pumpkin patch. She is really growing up so fast. If you'd like to see how she's changed in just a year you can check out last years Pumpkin Patch Photo here:

Next we have the newest member of the Krause family: Captain Cuddles! - This was a kitten that was wandering the neighborhood having gotten lost from it's owners. After seeing it nearly get hit by a car I decided to bring it inside and well the rest is history. No one has advertised they are missing this little guy and he had a bad ear infection/mites that we've been doctoring now so whom ever owned him before doesn't deserve to have him back so he's ours now. Isn't he adorable. We now have 6 - yes SIX cats! Just call me the, "Crazy Cat Lady!"

Lastly a picture of a recipe I tried last week that's pretty good. It's called,
3 Beans and Sausage and is cooked in a Crock Pot:
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs. smoked sausage cut into bit size pieces
1 Can Kidney Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained
1 Can Great Northern Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained
1 Can Black Beans (16 oz.) rinsed and drained
1 Cup Chopped Onion
1 Cup Water
1 Can (8 oz.) Tomato Sauce
2/3 Cup Chopped Celery
1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
1/4 tsp. dried thyme (optional)
Hot Cooked Long Grain White Rice

Directions: In a 5 Quart slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients. Sprinkle with Oregano and Thyme if desired. Cook on Low for 4-41/2 hours or until heated through. Discard Bay Leaf and Serve over cooked rice.

Note: The sauce was a little watery so you might not want to add the water or reduce the amount.

Warm Thoughts and Wishes until we meet again.