12.21.2012

Stella's Story and Jo's Story

Merry Christmas, its me, Stella!  Last week Alison Strumbo who is also Brandon's Raiser, sent me a letter about I won her contest!  That I should send her my address and she would have Hartz Mountain send me my ANGRY BIRDS toys that I won.  I don't think I have ever won anything before, but these toys came TODAY!  Here is me snoofing the box, I can always tell if its toys for me because of the scent of them, they smell so good.


So here I am trying to open this box up and I finally did it, and look what was inside!


Three Angry Birds and a Funny Pig!  They all have good squeakers too which is one of my favorite stuffee features.  So a big thank you to Alison for having the contest and thank you to Hartz Mountain for these cool but angry birds!  This is like a very special Christmas present, don't you think?  So now Mom has one of her old stories to tell about a Christmas tree . . .take it away, Mom, and give me my birds, please.

Jo here, now I may have told you this before but its Christmas and once more can't hurt. This takes place in Minnesota when the temps toward the middle of December were often sub-zero.  When I was a kid, about 65  years ago, my Mom  used to send my Dad and I out to buy a tree.  The lot was just a couple of blocks from our house, and it was full of trees that were stacked standing up against a building, about twenty trees in each stack, pushed flat.  So my Dad would start going through them, one at a time, and he would say, "Jo, what do you think of this one?"  I would shake my head and say too flat, too flat.  He would continue to pull them out and look, same answer from me, no, not that one, too flat!  His patience was endless but even he got tired of my rejecting his trees.  He'd say, "Here is a perfect one, I'm getting this!"
He would reach into his pocket and pull out 50 cents to pay for it!
I would almost cry, I felt so terrible to be bringing this flat tree home.  My mother had the stand set up, we'd put the silly looking thing in it with some water, and go to bed.  The magic happened overnight of course, we would wake up to a perfectly beautiful tree, all branched out, no flat to it, and ready to be decorated.  I still don't know if he really knew what he was getting or if he just got tired of looking.  But the tree was always a thing of beauty, and it smelled so good!

Merry Christmas everybuddy,
Jo, Stella and Zkhat

12.15.2012

WHAT TO DO?

Hello Everybuddy!

I have been working and thinking all day long about things that we might be able to do, to get together, start a group, do something to work with this awful shooting in Connecticut. 

Then I remembered years ago, when President Reagan and his Press Secretary, the wonderful Jim Brady were both shot on the streets of Washington DC.  Brady was much more seriously injured than Reagan was, and his wife Sarah started a group of people against violent behavior. 

Today I checked that group on Wikipedia and found that it is still big and busy.   http://wearebetterthanthis.org/index.cfm  I joined it today and want to follow along with what they are doing.  It cost nothing to join, but they do like to have donations.  The group is called The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and I have heard many mentions of them on the television today. You will find lots of information about violence in our country and it will arm you with all you need to know to share info with others.

Here is  part of what is said on their home page.

"We are the largest organization working to pass common sense gun laws in America to save lives, including laws that:
  • Ensure that strong Brady criminal background checks are performed on all gun sales, including at gun shows.
  • Better regulate military style weapons, such as assault clips, high powered rifles, AK47s and UZIs.
  • Support law enforcement in the effort to enforce gun laws, in ways that prevent and investigate gun crime."


Please join me, won't you?  Thanks very much,

Jo

12.14.2012

Why?

Once again, good friends, our hearts are breaking over the senseless murder of beautiful young children in a elementary school.


Today was a day I never even turned the television on, no news came into my life until tonight.  It is almost unbearable.


20 small children, six adults to mourn this Christmas.  I can't even begin to guess why?

This prayer chain came from The Chronicles of Woos and Kathie B.  Its all I can do at this time.  There is nothing else to do except repeat why, why, why over and over again.

Jo

12.11.2012

What happened to the SNOW?

Hi Everybuddy!  Here is something to sort of "set up" this blog post.
Years ago, I used to be a Nanny for a husband and wife who were employed with a major airline, he was a pilot and she a flight attendant.  We will call them John and Marsha, and their beautiful baby daughter whom I took wonderful care of.   OK, so now and then there might be a plane crash or an accident worth noting and when that happened, the phone started ringing.  John's Dad, John's Grandma, his mother, his sister all called to check and see if maybe this place of accident is where John was on this day. (It never was.) Then Marsha's Dad, Grandma, mother, Grandpa, sister would all call with the same query.  Was this and was Marsha there? (She also never was.) So I would have nine phone calls to comfort and tell family their son and daughter were not involved in an accident.

Now we come to Minniesnowda, 2012, with lots of headlines about a big snow here in this state.  We were projected to get a good hit of the stuff but here is what we got:


Not even 2" of snow!  Stella has found someplace out there where if she digs a little, she can even come up with Mud.  She is quite happy doing this, so when she comes in, and brings this black stuff with her, she is eager to get out there again and have some more fun in this mess.  I, on the other hand, am appalled at what the kitchen floor and Stella's bed look like so soon I will get the cleaning supplies and get to it.

Now how this connects with the top story is that I get e-mails asking if we are buried in snow, if everything is OK and while you can see what I got, here is what cousin Donna got in Minnieapples, a whole load of snow 6-8" or so .  Sister Mary, in Northfield, got 5 or more inches of white stuff on her beautiful tree ( a little window reflection there)

So while its loads of fun hearing from everybuddy, we are just fine, at least so far.  Oh, we'll get it, lots of inches to cover the ground and me , I will be glad because Stella will have to find something besides dirt to dig up!


Cheers and happy Christmasing* to all of you!

*Christmasing is knitting, sewing, buying gifts, wrapping, baking and all the things we women JUST LOVE to do.

from Jo, Stella and Zkhat

12.06.2012

For Me, a new idea and a newish blog.

Hi Everybuddy:

This is one of those blogs where I want to use other people's pics and I am not sure I should.  So if either of the parties don't want me to use your pics, just say so and I will remove them pronto!

New Idea:  This came in the mail today, so it is making the rounds and I thought it was such a great idea for this time of year when we are all making cookies and various goodies, that people would want to see it and put it to use.  First of all my cousin sent it to me because she thought it was me doing the baking thing.  Her idea of baking is opening a box of Little Debbies.  But I want to tell you that while there may be just a little resemblance, it   is NOT ME.

Now is this slick or what?  I am going to do this for all the time  I have left.  Thanks to whoever is in the picture and know that people all over are going to be crazy about this.

New Blog:  For a while now I have been reading (and just loving) this very special blog .  This is the 7MSN Ranch blog featuring some most charming (yes!) donkeys, a pot bellied pig named Wynonna, and a sweet dog named Smooch.  The woman who  operates this ranch is funny, clever and loves her animals.  The name of the Ranch comes from 7 Miles South of Nowhere somewhere in New Mexico.  The blog has a large number of readers signed so you may well know it, but in case you don't, you should and you would love it. I did not ask if I could put this up, because when I write blogs between 12 and 1 am, nobody would answer me any way and who would get mad at someone for loving their blog.
Check out these guys and have a few more laughs every day.

Bowling for carrots here!

So this is pretty much it from me today.  I hope you are all having a good time with your Christmas preparations.  I don't happen to be but that isn't unusual at all.

All best wishes from Jo, Stella and Zkhat