Christmas: The Good, The Bad and the Feline

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The Good
[+] Seeing my parents and brother again
[+] Seeing my extended family again
[+] Playing Trivial Pursuit with Jon, Sean, and Steve, complete with Monty Python and Austin Powers quotes.
[+] Winning 3 of 5 games when playing with Jon (who is not allowed to play any more because he knows too many of the answers)
[+] Playing Uno Attack, Whonnu?, and Apples to Apples with Kristin and Sari
[+] The food (there will be much taebo, yoga, and other physical activity this week)
[+] Goooooood Christmas services with REAL Christmas music
[+] Dinner with parishioners on Christmas Eve

The Bad
[+] Losing my engagement ring in my purse at one of the services. (A parishioner suggested checking my purse which was when I found it.)
[+] The amount of weight I’ve probably gained from the sweets I’ve eaten
[+] Not enough sleep in the last few days
[+] Not enough time with my parents (like there’s ever enough on these occasions…)
[+] My grandparents not being able to come out and my grandfather having some not-so-good days over this weekend

The Feline: Good
[+] Cuddle time with my uncle’s two MASSIVE tomcats
[+] Fred
[+] Loogy, the world’s greatest lapkitty (who is Freya’s clone except not vicious like my little monster)

The Feline: Bad
[+] Walking into the bathroom to find Fred drinking out of the toilet. Eeeeewwww!

Nanaimo Bars

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I made Nanaimo Bars for the open house on Saturday and they ended up being a gooey mess. I couldn’t figure out why until tonight — I had *melted* the butter instead of merely softening it. I let it soften naturally tonight and got a decent middle layer of icing.

Happy Jen!

Oh yes… the recipe is here. You need to double the chocolate and butter used in the last part.

Humor and Blood

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Am talking with my mother-in-law on the phone:

Jen: A little white paw kept coming out and scratching me this morning, drawing blood.
M-I-L: Ah yes… the weapons of mouse destruction.

At least these WMD’s can be found!

(Said cat with WMD’s got her little claws trimmed today as did her sister and one of her brothers. The other brother will go for my jungular vein if I trim his claws so his only get trimmed when Jon and I are not exhausted. siblings. I waited until my bengal was in a sleepy mood before gently lifting his paws and giving him a feline pedicure.)

Fun with Christmas Carols

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I’m stealing this idea from Ellen:

Below are 10 lines from 2nd/3rd/4th verses of Christmas carols as well as some that are kind of not so well known. The first one to give me all 10 wins a prize!

01.) When with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold
02.) And thus that manger poor became a throne; for he whom Mary bore was God the Son.
03.) The sky shall groan and darken, and every stone shall cry.
04.) Come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn king!
05.) And offered there in his presence their gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
06.) He hath opened heaven’s door and man is blessÃ?d evermore.
07.) For this how wondrously he wrought! A maiden, in her lowly place…
08.) Within my heart, that it may be a quiet chamber kept for thee.
09.) We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps.
10.) He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

Have fun!

An Unusual Visitor

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Ke was frosting gingerbread cat cookies with me this morning when an unusual visitor came into the kitchen: FREYA! I’d already showed a very spooky Edda to Ke and I wasn’t expecting the other cats to come in; but I guess Freya was curious. She even came and curled up under the chair. I finally picked her up and had Ke pet her. She was a good little monster and didn’t rip my arms up like her siblings would have done.

Now to just explain to her that tabby patch cats aren’t supposed to eat the porcelain wisemen on the table…

Open House Prep

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In a vain attempt to keep myself organized, here’s my to-do list for the open house prep:

-get the boxes out to the garage
-clean the bathroom
-clean the china (I’m using some of my good china for serving pieces)
-unpack everything else that needs to be unpacked or send it to the proper room
-make “do not enter” signs for the off-limits areas
-remove everything from the medicine cabinet (since there WILL be people who check it)
-thaw out food in freezer
-make cider
-arrange stuff for baking with Ka, Ke, and Ca.
-put up tree for Kl to decorate
-find tablecloths for the two tables
-figure out arrangement of living room and possible alternate seating upstairs
-put hampers in proper places
-wash bedspread so bedroom can be used for coats
-figure out what I want D to do
-make CD of cool Christmas music
-string up lights in living room

IT’S OVER AND DONE!!!!!!!!!! Now to just figure out who to pawn the leftover food off onto at church!

Somewhere in there, I also need to eat, shower, sleep, and breathe.