Me versus Cat versus Pill

Some of you may remember Pookie. He was the perfect cat. He never had vet issue up until the very end of his life. I remind Mr. Linus of that daily now. 

Linus now has hyperthyroidism and it requires a daily pill...TWICE. Linus also suffered from UTIs as a kitten and so after a 4 day stay at the VET he has been on expensive food since then. Pookie ate Friskies and never had to stay in the hospital. 

Ok, maybe Pookie wasn't the perfect cat, but he was the cheaper cat. 

Because of the twice daily pill, I have had to learn how to give a cat a pill. Have you done that? 

To prepare for this even, I did some research. The vet explained giving the pill and sent me home with instructions. That's not enough. I went to YouTube to watch video after video of a vet tech or someone who's done this a thousand times, give a very docile cat a vet. Those aren't helpful videos. 

Show me how to give a stubborn, little cranky cat a pill. A cat that wants NOTHING to do with that pill. Oh and given by a person who's never done that before. That's the video I want to see. 

Once I got the pills, the vet recommended a pill plunger to make it easier or a pill pocket. 

The pill pocket was off the table because he won't eat them as a treat already, so one with a pill won't work. 

And so we begin. 

Day one:

I decided to give the pill plunger a try. It worked! And the reason it worked is because Linus had no idea what was happening. He was a little confused and took the pill easily. I had been warned to not think this was how easy this was going to be. Now he knows. 

That night we struggled with the pill plunger and after stressing him and myself out we got the pill down. 

Day two: 

Another battle with the plunger. It's an awkward thing and I found that trying to open his mouth and REACH for the other end of the plunger just wasn't doing it. 

That night I decided to give wet food a try. I "hid" it in a mount of wet food and watched. He ate it! Success...or so I thought. I heard a little "plink" sound and when I looked down, the bowl was clean of food and there sat a little pink pill. 

He did not get his pill that night. It had already been a struggle in the morning and I just didn't want to stress him out any more. 

As I tried to fall asleep I was thinking about all the other options. The medicine can be put into a liquid. That might be easier. And it might not be. 

They have topical option where you rub it into his ear. That's an option to consider too. The danger there is if I get any into my skin it can cause some health problems to me. Gloves resolve that issue. 

Day three:

Finally on the morning of day three I thought, just give it the old fashion try. Use you're own hand, open his mouth and shove it in...gently. Then give him breakfast. 

It worked! Like a charm in fact. It was super easy, he took the pill with little to no struggle and after rubbing his neck I gave him breakfast. 

That has now been successful three times in a row. He still doesn't want to take the pill, but it seems like he prefers this method of this long pole thing headed his way. 

I also think feeding him immediately following the pill helps it stay down and clears his throat a little. 

He's been a trooper for sure. He and I both hate this, but in order for him to live out the rest of his nine lives we need to do this. 

Side note, I did ask the Vet if we didn't do any medications, what would happen. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good. Obviously his life would be fewer years. He'd have vomiting issues and continue to lose weight. We don't want any of that, so a two pills a day it is. 

Currently in August

HOW is it August?

I haven't done a "Currently" list lately and it got me thinking about what am I doing currently? Anything new and different? Likely not, but a girl can dream.

Reading:

I'm ahead of my arbitrary reading goal this year. I've had a good run this year of good books. I'm currently reading Rock, Paper, Scissors from Alice Feeny. Jury is still out whether it'll make the favorites list. 

Eating:

Hello....HelloFresh! I started HelloFresh on June 22 and assumed I'd get bored in a couple of weeks. And here we are in August and I can hardly wait for this week's delivery. They have really got me hooked. The recipe options are varied and I rarely see a duplicate of a previous recipe I tried. Much to my disappointment for some I want to remake. Every week I look forward to the meals and am actually eating leftovers. It's a win win. 

Stressing Over:

Phew. The last couple weeks of work have been a bit stressful, but that's work and that's how it goes sometimes. BUT...the recent stress is my little boy Linus. That booger has been diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism (common for cats) and he gets to go on medication. A small pill twice a day. Isn't this going to be fun? What worries me is when I go on vacation and have to have a pet sitter come in and dose him. I found someone (a recommendation from my previous sitter who retired from pet sitting) and man alive is it expensive when you have to have medications administered. He's worth it. I think. I did tell him he might have to get a job. He apparently decided to "sleep" on it. 

Crafting:

Scrapbooking continues to keep my creative mind occupied. I recently finished a project of scrapping all the Sunday Dinner photos over the last 15 years. What a trip that was! The 15 year anniversary is coming up in Sept and I thought it'd be fun to walk down memory lane. It sure was for me. Two crafty friends and I started doing weekly challenges. The first week from F was a layout. The second week from A was a real live challenge ( use map background paper, wood veneer, washi tape, stamping and something black). 

F's layout

My representation of her layout. 

A's challenge: Map pattern paper, Washi tape, Stamping, Wood Veneer and something black

I decided to scrap the travel books for Greece. I've been wanting to do that and use some stash I had laying around. It turned out to be easier than I thought. Though finding the wood veneer was tough. I don't have too much of that. 

Planning: 

Greece is coming up FAST. I started doing my research of the places we're going to and am starting to get more excited about the trip. I also started getting my butt to the gym to start walking more. I know I can't be in "shape" in time for the trip, but I can be in better shape then I am in now. I went 5 days straight last week. My goal is to go every work day I can. Weekends are up for grabs. It's gonna depend on how I feel. Stay tune for that. 

Watching:

Same old. Same old. True crime. The summer has some interesting series I enjoy. It keeps me entertained.

Happy August everyone. Christmas is right around the corner. 

Travel Plans and Over Organization

I've been told that I'm a bit of an over organizer. I'm not sure that's an official term, but it does describe me perfectly. I tend to "over organize" when there's a perceived need from me that I have to remember everything and I KNOW I won't remember everything. 

Some people can think through a process/event/whatever and remember everything they need to. That is not me. Writing it down. Organizing it and then thinking through it is how my brain works. It's why I'm such a good project manager. 

This years trip is coming up fast and I am feeling the tickle to start the over thinking process. Each trip I've taken in the last 5-9 years I've done this exercise. For me, it gets me excited about the trip, and even more excited that all the details are in one place and organized. 

I've been teased about this and for the one's who've teased me, why is it you're the first to ask ME something about the trip? Hmmm...me thinks you should be organized. 

So here's what I have. It's a OneNote Notebook that contains the following pages in it. Over the years I've modified and adjusted these slightly. After each trip I do a post mortem, yes I do it, and I reflect on what may have made the trip better, or what made it great. 

Side note: When Janet and I travel, each night we ask what your favorite thing about today was and what your least favorite thing was. It's nice to take a moment and think about what you had just experienced.

OneNote Travel Package

Itinerary: Just like it sounds. It's the day by day itinerary. Where are we going to be. It's not complicated just al list of the days and the name of where we are. Sometimes I add notes, but not too often. 

Air Details: We all get the emails. We all put them in a folder or track them some way. I do that too. But by putting the details here, I only need to go to this one spot to check my details, should I need to. 

Hotel Details: This becomes important when you're going to be in multiple hotels. It allows for all the details, again, to be in one place. I often link to the hotel's home page and put their phone number too just so I don't have to look it up. 

Packing Checklist: This is the page that gets adjusted the most. After each trip I find something that I need to add to "consider" for the next trip. It's also the page that gets items taken off based on where I'm going. This is a "full" list. It has everything I might need. I add/remove depending on the trip. I've shared this with so many friends. No idea if they use it, but they've asked for it. 

Activity Planner: This is where the meat of the trip lives. All the things we're going to do and see. All the details of the fun. I usually copy the descriptions form the cruise site or adventure site and put them here. Those descriptions is what I use to start my research. They aren't overly detailed, but it gives enough of an idea to start the research. Each event gets a section. 

Scavenger Hunt: I started this "game" 4 or 5 years ago. I ask my friends to give me a list of things to photograph throughout the trip. Janet and I have found it tremendously enjoyable. What it does is it gets my head OUT of tourist mode and has me really looking at things. Most of the suggestions are things I'd be photographing normally, but sometimes friends get creative. 

Daily highlights: I use this to write my blog normally. And I use this for when I scrap the trip later. It's amazing how much you forget or the things you think you'll remember. Each night I take the time to type in the details. Though for this years trip, I got a hard copy book that has some of these notes in it. I will most likely use that instead. Just for something different. 

The last part of my travel kit are pages I add for things like, restaurants to visit, specific things I want to look for, research, photo ideas, pronunciations etc. 

So that's what I put together for each trip. I get ridiculously excited about filling it out. And while doing it, my excitement of the trip takes over. It feels good to be organized and prepared. I have yet to regret it. So tease me if you will, but do not come crying to me when you don't remember the name of the hotel, or what we're seeing in a day. 

Ciao!

Sunday Dinner Project

Everyone who knows me knows that I have a monthly Sunday Dinner. It started in 2010 and has gone continuously since. September will be 15 years of Sunday dinners. 

Each Sunday dinner, with the exception to the first one, we take a group photo. It started as a "normal" photo where we're all sitting and smiling like normal people. Then we take a "goofy" photo where everyone makes a funny face. I love this so much. 

I decided that I wanted to document the Sunday dinners and their photos. So, I made the decision to scrap all the Sunday dinner photos. 

My original thought was to use up a bunch of kits I have from the Hip Kit Club. I get monthly kits from them and as you can imagine, they start to pile up. So I grabbed 4 of the most basic kits and decided I would use those up. Along the way, I used other of their kits that had more themes to them, like October and Summer themes. 

Well my friends, today I finished this project! I'm all caught up with Sunday dinners, with the exception to July's of this year. But since that just happened I feel like that's ok. 

Stats:

• 3 months effort; my best guess is over 40 hours of work
• 122 pages

This project was a ton of fun. To go back and look through all the photos, I found myself smiling from ear to ear.

The first years of Sunday dinner I was WAY more into it. I wouldn't let anyone bring anything to dinner. I did it all, from appetizer to dessert. And I was way more energetic about the meals. Making them masterpieces in a way.

I also had a lot more people attending. The biggest Sunday dinner was 18 people. The house I was in was bigger so it could contain 18 hungry souls. The house I'm in now, 10 max really. 

It was interesting to see the people who have come and gone over the years too. Some we've lost. Some moved. Some just stopped coming (or being invited). Some are still here. I have now what I consider my core tribe. Each month a combination of the same 10 people. 

We have some annual themes we do for Sunday dinner too. It started as Pumpkin carving being the first "annual" theme. Then I added the December theme of "Cookie Exchange". Now we have two more fun ones to go along with those: Low Country Boil month and Paella month. 

We've celebrated birthdays along the way and had several with themes beyond the ones above. 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since the first Sunday dinner. So much has happened in those 15 years and I'm thrilled we're still going strong. Will we go another  15? Hard to say. But I'll keep doing these until I can no longer do them.

Salty's has Crabs

WAY....BACK...WHEN...Mom and I used to go to Salty's when she'd be in town. She loved their Sunday brunch buffet. They had raw oysters, and Mom would eat her weight in oysters. It made her happy. 

The Mother's Day before mom passed away she and I did our last Sunday Brunch at Salty's. Neither of us knew it then, but it would be our last one. 

Somewhere in the following years, I thought it'd be fun to go to Salty's in memory of mom. We'd go in January around the day she passed. We'd bring her photo and we'd get one oyster for her. It would sit uneaten because none of us liked them. 

Then Covid happened and Salty's stopped their buffet. We went one of the following years for lunch, but it wasn't the same. So we kinda stopped. 

Then on a whim I thought I'd check to see if it was back...and it was! They brought it back in November. So, the usual suspects and I went to celebrate Mom again. 

Their brunch is massive and you really can have just about anything you want for breakfast. 

Mom joined us again as did the crab hats. I can't believe we never thought to bring the crab hats before. This time, for some reason, we thought it'd be fun. So...Salty's had crabs for a morning. 

We're not sure who that man in the weird hat is. No not the main with the crab headband...we know him. 

The buffet is more expensive now than it was. I hope we can do this annually again, but I can understand why people may not want to. I'd go for sure. It somehow brings me closer to Mom. 

Hello Hello Fresh

I've got myself in a small financial situation that I am not happy with. I did a lot of work keeping my credit card in check and paying it off every month. It felt good. I felt like an adult. 

Recently, though, my credit card is at a limit I am unhappy with. See, Sherrie and I had to pay for our cruise and our flights and our excursions withing a couple of weeks of each other. That added an amount to the card that didn't allow me to pay it off by the end of the month. 

Now, my credit card balance is small in comparison to the average US citizens credit card balance. The average household carries around $7-$8 thousand in debt. I'm not near there, could easily get there, but my plan is to not get there.

Naturally, I start to look at my budget and find areas I can pull in the financial belt a little. The first thing that YELLED at me was my monthly grocery bill. 

See, I like cooking. And I like cooking new recipes all the time. I tend to have a goal every year of how many new recipes I can try. It's great fun and I've made some really great meals. I've made as many equally gross meals too, but that's not what's important here. The point is, cooking new recipes every night of the week costs $$. And as a single person, it's harder because when you need one ingredient, maybe a tablespoon of it, you have to buy the whole jar/can/package. AND, since I don't particularly like leftovers, it feels like a lot of $$ going to waste. 

I started thinking about where I could cut there and came to a couple conclusions: 

1. There's no need to cook a BRAND new recipe each night. I could cook some old recipes and possibly some favorite recipes. 

2. I need to use what I have. I inventoried the freezer and pantry and will focus on recipes that use up those items. 

3. Consider a service, like Hello Fresh.

I did Home Chef back in 2017 and I loved it! Mostly. It was still new and I think they were still figuring out quality. I had some terrible tasting beef a couple of times, which limited me to just getting chicken/pork/fish. And frankly, I got bored with their options. There wasn't a ton compared to now. 

So I figured I would give Hello Fresh a try. 

Here's the thing, my grocery bill was anywhere from $200-$250 per week. That's insane for a single person who doesn't like leftovers. So my goal was to drop my grocery bill to be no more than $150 per week. To do that, I felt I had to get creative. 

I was surfing the Interwebs and an offer for Hello Fresh came up. I took a gander and for three meals, for 2 people per week it's around $70. So I figured, why not give that try and supplement the other three meals by using what's in my pantry/freezer and seeing if I can get my grocery bill less than $150. 

I was not as successful as I thought I'd be today, but I can say my total bill (including hello fresh) was less than $200. That's progress to me. 

Tomorrow starts the first Hello Fresh meal. I'm excited to do this. It makes so much sense as a single person to have this type of set up. The ingredients you need are already measured out for you so I'm not buying an entire jar for just one tsp for a recipe.

The recipes will all be shared over on my cooking blog, but I may check in here to let you know how it's going. 

Scrapbooking and how it’s part of my identity

You all know the story of how I started scrapping. TLDR version: In 1998, my aunt Jean showed me one of hers and I was hooked. Now some (gets out calculator) 27 years later and I’m still going. Scrapbooking has changed tremendously in that time, and I love it more today than ever. It’s a huge part of my life and definitely part of my identity.

I started scrapping with the idea that I would somehow tell the story of my life so that one day my children could look back and see how cool their mom was. It was what scrapbooking was about then. The Mormon’s started it with the idea to document the history of the family. Makes sense.

About 15 years ago I had a moment where I realized I wasn’t going to have kids to share these with (though my niece has become the kid I’m sharing these with.  I joke with her that her inheritance is hidden in my scrapbooks and she has to look through them all to find it). I had a crisis on my hands. Who was I scrapping for then? Maybe this was all for nothing. I took a couple of months off to deal with this mental crisis. I started thinking this was a waste of time and I should just hang up my scissors and move on to another hobby.

When I finally got down to asking why I wanted to still do this? To what end? I discovered that I fell for the story the scrapbook had told us, we’re doing this for our family history. That the entire reason we do this was for someone else. But that’s not the case, at least for me. I realized that I scrap because I WANT to scrap. I took a completely different view from “having” to scrapbook to “wanting” to scrapbook. I took some time to write down the pros and cons of scrapping and realized there were some very definite reasons I still wanted to do this.

The Story of Me
Let’s face it, we all like to talk about our accomplishments and about our lives. Scrapbooking allows me to tell the important stories and the mundane stories. Frankly, I kinda like the day-to-day stories. You know, like what kind of coffee you get from Starbucks on the regular. Life isn’t about the BIG stuff, it’s about the little stuff. All the little things that come together to make us who we are. Mom’s death taught me this. I miss all the little stuff with her now.  And the best part about scrapping the mundane, day-to-day life, my older self can look back and marvel at just how far technology and life has come. The “remember when” moments is something I’m looking forward to.

The Process
It’s not surprising to anyone that the actual process of scrapbooking is on the top of my list.  And the process, for me, goes beyond selecting the layout/paper/photos etc, it’s about the actual process of putting it all together. From organizing my photos, to organizing my stash, to tracking the outcomes ( doesn’t everyone have a spreadsheet tracking their pages?), to the data that comes out in the end. I know it’s very nerdy of me and that’s a part of my personality that fits perfectly with scrapbooking.

The Creative Outlet
THIS is the key for me. Life gets stressful and knowing I can go into my scrapbook room and be creative resets my stress levels. I never think about work, or the list of chores that need to be done, or the tires for the car I need to get, or the laundry that’s piling up. No, for me, the scrapbook room is my oasis. Even if I’m not scrapping, just shuffling through my stash gets the creative juices flowing.

The Memories
Scrapbooking isn’t about just creating a layout and walking away. No, it’s about reliving all those memories again and again. It’s not just about reliving that memory as I build the layout, but when I flip through the scrapbook I relive them again. AND since I do the smaller scrapbooks, I can relive them when family and friends flip through them.

And so I decided 15 or so years ago that I would keep on keeping on with scrapbooking. I don’t care if all these books get thrown out upon my death (I do hope they at least flip through them). I’m going to keep scrapping anything I want and keep my scrappy self happy. When I’m happy, everything around me stays happy. Scrapbooking brings me joy, helps me remember the past, and allows me to pull at those creative strings and feel proud of the pages I make. My books may not ever be viewed by other people, and coming to that conclusion opened the door for me and freed me to just scrap.

Part of my identity is scrapbooking. It defines a very large part of me. I can’t just leave it. I need it. I’m going to continue to embrace this hobby and continue to scrap my heart out. Because at the end of the day, my memories, my stories, my life is really all I have. I hope someone finds joy in these albums some day. But if they don’t, I’m ok with that. They have already given me so much.

Happy Mother's Day

Photo: Mother's day 2001, Redmon WA

 

"I haven’t heard your voice in years, but my heart still has conversations with you every day. Grief hurts and nothing or no one can replace a loved one who’s gone. It’s an emptiness that doesn’t go away."

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I miss you.

Hey Mom did you get your wings

Eight years ago today we said goodbye to mom. It feels like yesterday in so many ways and yet it feels like a lifetime in others. I miss her the same today as I did that first day. 

Those first weeks I was sure I couldn't live without her and yet here I am. The grief is continuous. Some days it hits you like a ton of bricks. Some days you just smile as a memory floats across your mind. 

I thought it might be appropriate to share the Eulogy I wrote for her to be read at the Celebration of Life in Tucson. The guy reading it got the pages all mixed up so it was a disaster when he read it. Still, as I reread it tonight, I smile at her life and who she was. 

Eulogy by her daughters, Jennifer Wraspir, Billie and Melanie

Our family would like to thank you all for being here today to celebrate the life of JoEllen, our mom. For those of you that knew JoEllen, she was not only the life of the party but often the reason for the party.  She used to always say to us kids "Don't be so serious, life is too short, just have fun".

We always knew what an amazing, generous and kind woman she was, and in these last several weeks since she passed, the outpouring of love and support has proven this to be true. Hundreds, (and that is not an exaggeration), of emails, texts, calls and messages have come to us kids. She redefined the phrase “social butterfly.” She’d be humbled at the outpouring of love, and yet secretly she’d be thrilled to know we were making such a fuss over her. Our one wish is that SHE knew she was so loved.

We probably don’t have to tell you our mother was a special woman. She embodied all of the attributes of a “perfect” mom. She was caring, thoughtful, hardworking, compassionate, loving, tough on us when we needed it and so much more.  It was so difficult to think of all of the words that described mom as a person and how much she meant to us. Our mom was our best friend, our idol and we looked up to her all of our lives. We swore as teenagers we would never turn out like mom. And now we’re proud to say we are our mother.

Mom was born on Nov 5, 1947 in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. She died on January 16^th, 2017 surrounded by her family and friends. Her life, to put it mildly, was something else.

She was a career woman her entire life. She started working at the Boeing company in the late 70’s. She struggled in the “man’s world” of Boeing, but proved time and again a woman could do the job, and in some cases better than any man. She retired from the Boeing Company in upper management and was so proud of all her accomplishments during her time there. She would use her experiences there when giving advice to us as our own careers started taking off.

When mom and dad married in 1981, we added to our already large family, the even larger Wraspir family. We used to joke that we didn’t have a family tree, but a family hedge.

Mom cherished her family above all. And family to her was anyone from a real relative, to friends, to members of her community. Her house was always filled with friends and family. All of our friends called her “mom”, because she was like a mom to everyone. She would talk to anyone, and any dog, most likely she’d speak to the dog first…

She was the communicator for all of us. If you wanted to know anything about what was going on with someone in the family, you called mom. That’s not to say mom shared everyone’s secrets, but she was definitely in the know. And her family loved her back – tenfold. She was the one everyone called for advice because we knew she’d tell us how it was.  She was happy to dole it out and expected you to listen. And while we may not have followed all her advice over the years, we’ve discovered that she really did know what she was talking about.

Mom loved to cook. Together she and dad would try new recipes and taught us to be open to trying new things. Entertaining and having people to dinner was one of her favorite things. Any given weekend you could guarantee someone was coming to the house for dinner. And no one ever left hungry.

Mom and Dad loved to travel. They got the travel bug when Dad was transferred to Saudi Arabia in the late 80’s. That afforded them the opportunity to see the world. And see the world they did. Together they visited England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand – to just name a few. And they traveled to every single state in the United States by RV. While they loved exploring other countries, they especially loved exploring their country.

The list of things mom loved is extensive. She loved to read, to sew, to quilt, to cook, and to play games on her iPad. She loved her animals. And she loved her Seahawks. If the Seahawks were playing you knew not to bother calling because you could guarantee she would not answer the phone.

We feel like we could spend all day speaking about mom. She was an amazing woman who taught us a lot. The most important lessons were not verbal; they were in her actions. We know we are the people we are today because of her influence and guidance.  She always worked hard, complained when she needed to and was there when you needed her. She was our mother, but also our best friend. We will miss her every day for as long as we live.

EOY Wrap Up

That's right! 2024 is being seen in the rear view mirror. I find it very hard to believe we're in 2025. My Grandma Spaid used to say time flies faster when you're older and she was right. Man what happened?

Last year, while it sped by I kept slowing tracking all my goals for the year. Now, my goals these days, are never about saving or losing weight. I gave up on those goals awhile ago and focused instead on fun goals. I mean, saving and health should always be happening, so why put it as a goal? 

I have three areas that I was "tracking" last year; reading, cooking and scrapping. Let's take a look. 

Reading

For several years I had a goal to read 50 books. I rarely hit that goal. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get in 50 books a year. If I turned the boob tube off more I may get it, but that's not likely to happen. So, I changed my goal to 45 books. 

I hit it this year! 46 books. Some good, some bad. Here were my favorites (these are based on reviewing my books in good reads and these are the ones I didn't have to open to remember the story. That tells me I liked the book. Some of the others I had really no idea until I read the short description).

Favorites - in no particular order

• The Women - Kristin Hannah - What's not to love about this book? It was everyone's favorite this year and Kristin Hannah does such an exceptional job of telling the story of a female nurse in the Vietnam war. 
• The Paper Bracelet - Rachael English - Fascinating of a nurse's life in a Ireland Mother and Baby home. Unwed women who were pregnant were sent here to have babies, and then those babies were sent off for adoption. This woman saved the little bracelets from many and with the help of her granddaughter track down some of those babies. Such an incredible story. 
• The Guest List - Lucy Foley - My new favorite author this year. This book blew me away. It's a mystery and up until the "whodunit" was revealed I had no idea. I immediately read The Paris Apartment right after this book. And while that was a decent book, I was aware of her recipe for writing and I was a bit more a ware of whodunit. Still good, but not as good. 
• The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - wow. This one was heavy. Like most WWII stories it has some serious stuff that as a human you just don't want to read about. It's brilliantly written and such a beautiful story of survival, but the going's ons in this camp was heartbreaking. I cried and cried reading this one. 
• The Lost Letters of Aisling - Cynthia Ellingsen - A grandmother requests to return to her home in Ireland before she dies. Letters are found and the granddaughter helps uncoil some tragic events in her grandmother's past. Gorgeous story of love. And I loved the setting in Ireland.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows - Another WWII era book, this one post war. A writer looking for her next book topic. She receives a letter from a guy in Guernsey and it starts a correspondence with the writer and people from Guernsey. The literary club was set up as an alibi when members were breaking curfew. As the writer corresponds with residents she starts to understand and learn what they dealt with during the war. 

There you have it. My favorite books. 

Cooking

Now, let's talk food. 

In 2023 I made 166 new recipes. I thought that was pretty close to 170 so why not make 170 my goal for 2024. When I say that out loud I'm a bit shocked. That's a lot of new recipes. I've shared this with a with friends and family and I am surprised how many of them said this inspires them to cook more.

I keep it pretty consistent throughout the year with the number of recipes. May was travel month and so you see only 3 recipes. I suspect there could have been more, but prior to travel I hate cooking for some reason. 

Year over year is an interesting stat. You can tell exactly when I started tracking and having goals of higher yearly new recipes. Covid did that. 

This next year I haven't officially decided to make it a goal, but I'll be reaching for 170 again. 

Scrapbooking

And lastly the scrapbooking goal. This one I tried something new this year and wanted to focus on using some of my stash I hardly used, but had a ton of. 

I wanted to do at least 500 pages. Completely doable when this is your creative outlit and it's how you spend a lot of your after work hours. There's something about scrapping that resets me at night after work. I tried to spend at least an hour in the scrapbook room each night. Sometimes I'd scrap, sometimes I'd just go through my stash. That seems to trigger page ideas and starts the cycle of scrapping again. 

Four elements I have a ton of and wanted to use was enamel dots, washi tape, frames and stamping. I got into stamping and had a bunch of stamps, but rarely used them. I figured having it as a goal would help and it kinda did. 

Enamel dots

These little guys are added to pages as enhancements. They're usually small and are usually tucked in and around embellishments. I had a TON of these. 

My goal was to use them on at least 20% of my pages (I could get into how I track these, but suffice it to say, I'm a data nerd and I just do). I ended up at 16%. I'm going to keep this goal again this year and really focus on using those up and, preferably, not buying any new ones (its so hard).

Washi Tape

Washi tape is just decorative tape that can be added to pages as borders, setting a platform for your photo etc. I have a drawer full and really wanted to use some of it up. My goal was to use this 15% of time. My end result was 8%. Clearly need to focus more on this one. 

Frames

How I ended up with so many frames is beyond me. I mean, I know I bought them, but not until I put them all in the same drawer did I realize what a stash I had. My goal was to use them at least 5% of the time. My end result was 6%. The ONLY goal I made. I'm going to continue with this goal as well.

Stamping

I have a ton of stamps. I took a class in stamping early in the year and that motivated me to start using them more. I learned about inks and techniques and that made it less daunting. My goal was to use stamps 25% of the time. My end result was 18%. Not great, but not horrible either. 

Month over month I really scattered how many pages I did. Again, May was a travel month so it was low. July was when I did the cruise scrapbook so that made sense for it to be so high. 

So that's it! Let's see what 2025 has to offer

Where did my fun go?

Where did my fun go? It was here one day and gone the next, at least that’s how it feels. I used to be fun. I used to go out and do things. Fun, different things.

Once upon a time, I had a fun life, I swear.

I did things. I went out and did a lot of things. I went on random adventures. I was always down for going and doing something, anything, spontaneously. I was rarely home. There were so many options for doing things with friends and spending time outside my house. I feel like I was always going and doing something with someone – no end in sight.

But then it stopped.

When was that? Did it happen all at once? Or was it gradual? Did the opportunities to go out slow down, or I did? Having fun now seems like a genuine struggle. Going out for me is always met with some resistance from, well, me. Here’s how it goes:

• Someone askes if I want to do something.
• I want to say yes. If I say “no thanks” they’ll ask why.
• So I say yes.
• Then as the day approaches, I get more and more “itchy” about going. So many thoughts run through my mind like, “Will it be fun? Can I even have fun? Will there be a lot of walking? Could I manage that? Will we eat? Or will I starve?”
• Ridiculous thoughts. Nothing “tangible” yet, there they are.
• Sometimes it ends with me grudgingly going, and sometimes I find a valid excuse and pass on the experience.

I can blame Covid. And I do think that has a lot to do with it. It forced me to enjoy being home, and by myself. Turns out I really like that set up. Maybe too much.

All this to say, that I’m going to embark on a frightening journey for 2025. I’m going to try saying Yes more often. I’m going to stop making excuses for myself and whatever the adventure is. As much as I belly ache about going out, 9 times out of 10 I enjoy myself and it’s never as bad as I think it will be.

So saying yes. That’s going to be hard. But the option is to continue to stay at home watching all the fun go on around me, without me.

Adobe Stock Photo

Politics and Friends

Its that time again. A major election is upon us. It's a shit show out there with the two candidates pushing the reasons you should vote for them. 

I try VERY hard to understand both sides of the political table. I know which side I'm on, but I like to respect the opinions of the other side. And, silly me, I try to understand their opinions. 

When I try to have any sort of conversation with the other side, it almost always starts with the "oh ya well your candidate does XYZ".  I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just want to understand. And I've come to believe that if you don't believe like them, they don't want to explain why they believe the way they do. Maybe they don't even know. 

I've kept most my far LEFT and far RIGHT friends. I appreciate their opinions and for the most part, I ignore the crazy. Sometimes I can't help myself and I try to argue with them...both sides. It never ends well. 

In all this, I've never unfriended any one on Facebook from either side. And as far as I know I've not been unfriended. Today that changed. And I'll admit I'm a little sad and a little happy. 

I did the unfriending. It's a friend from a life long ago (high school) and she doesn't even live in the US. I'm unsure if she's a US citizen, but I know she hasn't lived here for years, decades. She has very strong beliefs towards Trump. And I respect that. 

Recently I posted on FB asking BOTH sides to be aware of disinformation and misinformation. Many bad actors are pushing bad info out there. Most of it isn't true and little research shows you that. I've noticed one side doesn't like to do any research or provide any sources for their words. Ahem. 

Anyhow, this "friend" responded with a video from Instagram where it was showing a woman trying to vote on an electric voting machine and it wasn't allowing her to vote for Trump. 

Ok, let's look into this. Because I'm sure there's NO WAY that would pass as a major situation without us hearing about it. A simple search on sites of media that are middle ground shows that yes this did happen. The voting machine malfunctioned. The woman brought it to the attention of voting officials there. They closed that machine and gave her a ballot for her to fill in manually. She even says in many of these articles that she was impressed with how they handled it. Turns out it was a faulty machine.

What the impression this "friend" was trying to imply was that the democrats were stealing the vote again. When I asked what her point was, she commented as such. THEN it got personal. 

She doesn't know me. She knows what she sees on FB. I don't post anything political and have never said I'm one side or the other. She assumed it. She made a comment about me being "blindfolded". 

That was all it took. What pissed me off, is her post had NOTHING to do with what I was saying. I was asking people to think before they post or believe anything. And for her to respond with an instagram without any context was just weird. And yet, again, she wouldn't open her little mind to have an adult conversation. 

That's the most frustrating around people who are on a certain side of the political arena. You can't have an adult conversation with them. They ALWAYS seem to bring their argument with the "Oh ya well..." and that's not what I'm after. I want to understand. I want to listen to why you vote the way you do. I may not agree, but let's at least be civil. It appears the orange man they follow, who spits out hate with every word, means that they too cannot be open and interested in understanding, listening and learning. 

Vote! Get out and vote! That's all I can say. 

Poppies

I've spent a lot of time reviewing old photos. Most of these I got when Mom passed and so many of them I wish I had seen before and could have asked about the story. Scrapbooking for me has morphed into wanting to tell the story instead of just making a pretty page. But now, I am left with a bunch of photos and no stories. 

Some of the photos I do have stories because I was apart of the event and old enough to remember what was going on. These photos all have a story. Enter the California Poppies

This is BY FAR my favorite photo of mom and dad. Taken during one of our trips to the poppy fields, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Every year Mom, Dad and I would load into a car and head out. Dad loved photographing the poppies and they felt this was a good way to spend the day as a family. I have some very fond memories of these trips. Even as a teenager I was ok with going out with them to see the poppies. 

One year Grandma and Grandpa Wraspir were staying with us. Dad thought it a good opportunity to go see the poppies. 

Grandma loved seeing them. Grandpa loved seeing them because Grandma loved seeing them. 

This particular year - 1984 - are likely THE most embarrassing photos of my teenage year. Why did mom let me leave wearing a tube top? 

I mean, really? What was I thinking?

When I look at these photos I can't help but feel so much happiness. I miss all these people in these photos and am so glad that Dad "made" me go with them. It was a tradition for us each year and I can imagine as a teenage girl I likely didn't want to always go, or I pretended I didn't want to, but I always enjoyed myself. And now, as an adult without Mom and Dad here, I cherish these memories.