Friday Funnies

This sounds like a conversation between Connie and me:

It's Thanksgiving!

I hope you have fun plans with family and friends!

I am thankful for all of you--faithful blog readers!

What I Buy Wednesday

Or, what I didn't buy. 

I don't even know what this is. 

I have no idea what to do with it, so I didn't buy it. It looks like I probably wouldn't like the texture. Strange.

So, I looked it up.

Rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits, including the lychee, longan, pulasan, and quenepa.

Oh yeah, now I know what it is! 

Tuesday Thoughts About...

...printing photos. 

I have a love/hate relationship with my printer. 

You've heard my complaints before. But now I have a new one. First, here's a reminder of my previous problems. 

It seems to happen fairly often that Butch prints exactly when I’m trying to print photos, thus ruining a lot of photo paper—which isn’t cheap. 

And then there have been the times when I’ve forgotten to take out the extra photo paper and it gets printed on (remember when Butch was going to Guatemala and had to take his boarding pass printed on glossy photo paper? I forgot to ask him how that went! Anyway, that's more wasted paper). 

Then there are the times that I’ve forgotten that I have the printer set on “double-sided” which means that it’s unusable —a sloppy inky mess. This has happened too many times. I think I finally have it in my head to check that.

And then today (I’m writing this on Saturday), I ran out of yellow ink—mid-printing. Little did I know that when I opened the lid to install a new ink cartridge, that meant that the “job” would start all over again and re-print—all 8 pages--when there was only one left to go!! Another waste!

Sheesh!

I know what you are thinking: "All of this sounds like user errors!" Yeah, I know. But it does make me hate my printer. And sometimes Butch!

Monday Mystery

It’s a mystery to me that Uber/Lyft drivers act like it’s a surprise when they pick people up or drop them off at the airport, that they have luggage! Seriously? Doesn't everybody have a suitcase at the airport? 

Here’s the story:

When we recently went to Charleston for our mother/daughter trip, I ordered an XL car for six. Yes, the XL is supposed to stand for extra large. Again, it stands to reason that these six people would have suitcases. The guy arrived and there was no way it was going to work. The sixth person had to sit in the way back which meant there wouldn’t be room for the luggage. The driver kept acting like it would work when clearly it would not, We all had purses and a carry-on too. There was no way we could juggle luggage AND carry-ons on our laps. We ordered another car and had to wait. Considering that some of us had already waited for our luggage only to find that it came on two carousels--we were anxious to get going! So aggravating. 

The same thing happened when we ordered a car to take us back to the airport. This one ended up working--but it was tight. I had to have my carry-on jammed in the front seat with me while everyone else had theirs on their lap. That driver was hearing impaired so we couldn’t even call him in advance to find out if it was going to work. You don’t find that out about the driver until you’ve ordered the car. So aggravating!

Listen up drivers—DO NOT BE SURPRISED WHEN PICKING UP PEOPLE GOING TO OR COMING FROM THE AIRPORT THAT THEY HAVE LUGGAGE! It’s guaranteed they will and that ain’t no mystery!!

Something for Sunday

Well, it's that time of year. Christmas is right around the corner. With Thanksgiving in front of us, I knew I didn't want to face the decorating when I got home. Sooo, this weekend was it--that time to get a move on.

I used to love Christmas decorating. Now, not so much. It's a chore. And, as I'm putting up, I'm already dreading the "take down." It's just a lot of work. A. Lot!

Anyway, here's a little something to get you in the mood:

Honestly, what makes the mantle is the festive scarf--I guess that's what you call it-mantle scarf? I've had this for about 20 years--probably more. It's heavy and hard to get in place. It takes two people to get it up. It's one of my favorite things because this alone looks like Christmas.

Basically, the only thing I removed was a large floral arrangement that sits where Santa is. Other than that, I leave all of my regular "junk" and just add some Christmas things. The ornament on the right on top of the scale and books is Downton Abbey and lives there all the time--not just at Christmas. The mantle is different every year. I just pile a bunch of stuff on and call it good.

We used to have our flocked artificial tree in the living room. We've had two trees as far back as I can remember--since we moved to Nashville in 1985. I love a live tree so we always had that in the family room. But, then, Covid happened. We did away with the real tree and moved the artificial to the family room. I love it! Photos coming soon. (Basically, my ladies haven't hauled it down yet! When we get back after Thanksgiving, the wreaths out front and the garland on the staircase will be up! I wouldn't have any of it if we didn't have their help. It's just too much!).

We'll be cooking today for Thanksgiving and then off to Morgan's in Illinois on Tuesday morning. We're going to St. Louis on Friday for the weekend. I'm looking forward to all of it! And then back home to my almost completed Christmas house!

Have a good week y'all!

Scrapbook Saturday

I'm planning to scrapbook today--the first time in about 3 weeks! I've missed it!

This is the September page for 2024. It's easy to fall behind. Once the month is over, I have a few things that I try to do faithfully:

1. Print pictures to highlight the month.

2. Edit photos--it's much easier when you keep up with them monthly.

3. Put photos into their respective "color" albums.

4. Put completed layouts in albums. 

This is the only way I can keep on top of things.

This is our monthly AYM word--GAME. I told the story of my sisters and me playing poker in Tuscany on our trip to Italy 8 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. This is exactly why I have loved our theme of "words" this year for the album. A single word pulls up pictures that evoke many memories! Try it. Put a single word in the search feature of photos on your phone and see what pops up for you. It always makes me happy!

This is my October highlights layout. I cannot believe that November is just about gone! 

This is not scrapbook related, but I'll definitely be scrapbooking it!

My first party invitation for the holidays (well, not counting the birthday party celebration).

So officially this was the first invitation for December.

Speaking of invitations, Morgan sent me this one:

Morgan and her friends are starting a book club! I just love that. I told her that if she sends me the books, I'll join from afar!! After the first meeting, she sent me the name of the book which she took from my list--Hello Beautiful--great pick! I better get some notes together since I won't remember much about it! 

Anyway, since this was a planning session, they didn't have a book to discuss yet---soooo, they decided on a craft!

What could be better than a bookmark?

Speaking of book clubs, I am having my Dickens Party again this year for my book club. This will be the 181st anniversary of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on December 19th. 

I made this to include in my centerpiece:

Well, not to mislead you, I didn't make the hat--I just decorated it. A little artificial greenery, glittery pinecones and a few red berries topped off with an old-fashioned print bow is just the thing! It's hard to see here, but there is a black satin ribbon hat band.

Pictures of the table following soon!

Ten Things Thursday

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Travel Tuesday

So, last weekend was our mother/daughter trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Let me start by saying that Charleston must be the cleanest airport in America. 

That's hardly any dirt at all!

Anyway, we had a great time. There were eleven of us which made it hard to sit together at several meals, but we made it work. I'm not going to bore you with all that we did, but rather share a few group shots.

Starting from the left, clockwise around: Janice, me, Ranya, Jennifer, Janet, Sandy, Stephanie, Mindy, Jackie, Jeanne and Angie.

These girls are the reason the mother/daughter trips began. They are all the same age--just months apart. When they were in high school, we took a trip to San Diego. Fast forward 20 years. We were getting ready to plan another trip. That's when Stephanie said, "Well, we're your daughters too!" So we opened it up to the family.

Here are the cousins: Mindy, Stephanie, Sandy, Angie (Jeanne's daughter), Jackie (Janet's daughter) and Ranya (Jennifer's daughter). 

The sisters: Jennifer, Janice, me, Janet and Jeanne.

We stayed at the Indigo Inn. The lobby was very small but they still managed to have a nice breakfast and happy hour every day. 

Let's put it this way, when we were all there, we took all 10 seats and had to squeeze the 11th person on the loveseat.

One thing I love about this group is that everyone is on time! Well, part of that is because the "young" people said on the first day that we were leaving at that time and it would be up to you to catch up with us! That worked!!

My favorite thing is seeing the cousins together. Living in three different states, that doesn't happen very often. The laughing never stops!!

Our next trip is New Orleans in 2026!

Me on Monday

Well, it's official, Disney has lost my keys!!

Seriously? How can that be? They weren't lost until Disney got ahold of them! I knew exactly where they were left (the hotel safe) and even provided them with such a unique description that those keys are way obvious—a Jeep Grand Cherokee fob on a hot pink carabiner!! How hard could it be? They practically pop!

This tells me that Disney doesn't even look. Here's what happens:

1. You spend several minutes filling out the online "lost and found" form giving every detail of your item and where you left/lost it.

2. Disney immediately deletes that.

3. Disney hits a button that generates a series of exactly 4 emails:

    A. We have received your report and will contact you.

One week later:

    B. We appreciate your patience while we continue to look.

One more week later:

    C. We appreciate your patience while we continue to look.

And finally, one week later:

    D. 

Dear Barbara Eads,

Your lost report ID is  36586692

Unfortunately, your lost item was unable to be located, despite the team’s best efforts. Regrettably, that means this case must be closed.

Wishing you all the best

Yeah, well you know what I say to that? Are you frigging kidding me? We've just spent thousands at your resort and parks. And now you rip me off for about 250 bucks by forcing me to replace my keys? Shame on you Disney!!!

Monday Mystery

So, I really like those bagged salads. You know--the ones that have been known to contain eColi? Well, I'm willing to take the risk for the wide variety of salads out there. I love the different combinations of ingredients. They are so quick and easy. Add an avocado, eggs and chicken fingers for a substantial meal. 

Anyway, last week, I had one called Mexican Street Corn. This summer, I discovered Mexican Street Corn and just love it. So this salad seemed right up my alley. When I opened the package and started to dump it in a bowl, this happened:

It startled me. I've heard the stories of people finding awful things in their food--usually animal related. Once I gathered my wits about me, I realized it was the end of the broccoli that you throw away.

You can see how big it is. 

Does that mean that these salads are made by hand? I thought all packaged things were done in a factory with conveyor belts. I don't know how this happened. I tossed it and continued on with my salad. It was delicious!

It's a mystery for sure.

Something for Sunday

In case someone needs a Christmas idea for me:

It's cheap--about 6 bucks. Yes, I could have bought it for myself, but at this time of year, I don't buy for myself.

Scrapbook Saturday