Scenes of Today

Lots of family togetherness continues here today........icy road conditions are prompting my daughter and her husband and dog Izzy to stay over an extra day, which is fine with me. They monitored road conditions all morning on the

Iowa DOT website, and have now decided to stay put.

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Mugs, mugs......I love holiday mugs. Did you know the Longaberger Basket Company also sells mugs? Or, at least they once did. The three shorter mugs say "Longaberger Pottery Co." on the bottom; they were given to us by an acquaintance who is a Longaberger dealer. Her kids hitched rides with us to piano lessons once a week for several years, and she kindly gave the mugs to us in appreciation. How fortunate for me......I love these mugs as they are nice and heavy. Coffee and cocoa even tastes better in them, I'm convinced!

Heehee........I faked everyone out this noon.......the chicken enchilada casserole shown next came off the Schwan's truck; I added extra cheese on top to give it that homemade look! Its very yummy with salsa and sour cream......and, SO easy! I've decided EASY is the way to cook when you have guests around the house for several days in a row. Thank goodness I stocked up on LOTS of easy food before the holiday grazing season began.

Oops......this next photo loaded sideways. Its just my silverware drawer, but I'm showing it because I'm so happy that it is situated in a spot that everyone files by right after filling their plates at the nearby kitchen island. That way, I don't have to set out the silverware when food is served buffet-style, which is the mode we've been using the last few days. When we remodeled a few years ago, a totally redesigned kitchen was included. I---totally inexperienced in such matters---had to plan the layout. Yikes! I was excited and scared at the same time. My step-dad drew out the empty room and I made little cardboard cupboard templates which I would arrange and rearrange like puzzle pieces, trying to come up with a workable kitchen design. We bought Omega Custom cabinets---made right in Waterloo, Iowa---and I had a cabinet catalog to work with, but, good gracious......there were so many choices, it almost drove me crazy. Though, certainly I was grateful to be getting a new kitchen, the endless array of decisions to make was very stressful. I don't recall the name of our cabinet style, but they are Oak, in the Nutmeg finish. Choosing the wood finish put me into a panic......I thought, "What if we don't like them once they get here?!" But, not to worry.....once the cabinets were put in place, we all were very pleased.

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OK........enough of that kitchen cabinet digressing........here's some of the goings-on around this house today.......Rummy Royal:
Wii Guitar Hero.......


Friendly (perhaps) tension between Mookie and Izzy:

Even tension gets old after awhile, though. One must put it aside and rest eventually, as Izzy demonstrates in this final photo:

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Stay warm and safe and well wherever you are today!

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