I Like #185

 I chose to skip I Like Thursday this past week.  I will admit I am ambivalent about Thanksgiving, while I love spending time with my family the day is more about being Grateful than celebrating Pilgrims and their arrival at Plymouth.  In fact when I was fortunate enough to visit Plymouth, Massachusetts and the historic landmark, I felt great sadness.  While the marker signifies great courage of those that risked their families, lives and everything they knew to come to the "new world", it was also the beginning of disease, and the genocide of the people that were already living on those lands which were considered "less than" because of the color of their skin, and the fact that they were different.   

I do love the holiday season, the color, the sounds....yep work has been playing non stop Christmas music for the past week.  Ask me how many different versions I have heard of Blue Christmas.  :D  

I thought these doggy pjs were cute that say fur baby.  Not with all the wet and mud  on the farm, would I ever buy them for Bobbin.  

What is your favorite holiday movie.  Growing up it was always Holiday Inn, my great grandmother loved it, but as I got older it became It's a Wonderful Life.  The newer holiday movies National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation always makes me laugh, and so imagine the smile I got when I spied these eggnog cups.

I think advent calendars are fun. Remember the candy ones when we were kids?  Now I  have seen wine and beer ones even, but this by far was my favorite.

If you have a feline companion they would love 24 cans of food, one for each day.

I have had some time to do a little sewing.  

The QAL I have been participating in I had to make 2 starry path blocks where were a Jinny Beyer block block.

The 6 and 12 inch block.  

Charleston

Fancy Checkers

Walk Around the Block

Twister

Key Holder

I have one more block to do and then some sashing then I will be able to put the quilt top together.  

I have read several books recently but a few of my favorites....

At First Light by Barbara Nickless.

On the muddy banks of the Calumet River, a body has been found posed next to a series of mysterious glyphs and bearing wounds from a ritualistic slaying. Chicago detective Addie Bisset knows only one man who can decipher the message left by the killer: her friend Dr. Evan Wilding. A brilliant forensic semiotician, Evan decodes the etchings as Viking Age runes. They suggest either human sacrifice or righteous punishment. But to what god? And for what sins?

This was a Kindle First book and was published on December 1, 2021.  

Whiskey Rebellion by Liliana Hart.  Addison Holmes life is just not going the way she planned.  Left at the altar for her arch nemesis from her childhood, the building she lives in is going to be condemned so she is working on accruing a down payment for a cute little bungalow nearby, which is not easy on a high school history teacher's salary.  When Addison answers an ad to work at a strip club and spies her principal, she is expecting to be outed and fired upon returning home.  Instead she trips over the dead body of the principal. 

A Side of Murdery by Amy Pershing

Up and coming New York Chef, Samantha Barnes returns to her hometown on Cape Cod to recover from a bad marriage, and an even worse public meltdown of her marriage, with hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.  Samantha has inherited her aunts ancient home, a dog named DIOGI, and lands a job as a restaurant reviewer for the local newspaper.  On Samantha's first assignment she sees a body in the water, the body of an old enemy from her younger days. 

The next two books are Murder Passes the Buck and Murder Grins and Bears It by Deb Baker.  I think the reason I chose these two books was because they take place in the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan.  Gertie Johnson is a 66 year old widowed Yooper.  Gertie's son Blaze is the local sheriff and he is suing to have her declared incompetent and to be made her legal guardian.  When Chester Lampi is discovered dead in his deer blind, Gertie is determined to show her son how it is done!

Murder Grins and Bears it, Gertie is back, and trying to clear her grandson who is accused of murdering a local game warden. 

 

Thank you LeeAnna for encouraging us to find things to like/love during the week, but being understanding when we just can't muster anything to share.  Now head over to Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts.  

I Like Thursday #184

 Welcome to my 184th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you LeeAnna for encouraging us to find and share things we like/love during the week.  Sometimes it is something that just makes us smile or giggle. 

I know I have shared that I love coffee.  I drink a lot of coffee, but the flavored creamers are high in fat, and sugar.  Recently Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us shared the syrups that she was using.  I started looking and discovered Skinny Syrups, so with my fat free creamer and a pump of this I get the yummy vanilla, hazelnut, or mocha flavor without all the calories.  

I shared last week how I had to fix another roof leak.  So far after a couple of good rainstorms they both seem to be holding.  Since I had to clean the top off of the cabinets, the grandsons suggested I take everything down and pack it away for when they find a house and move.  Well that involved a lot of washing in hot sudsy water too to get all the grease and grime off.  This is just part of the glassware which was on top of the cupboards.  John Deere Canister sets, old canning jars with the bail closures, bakeware that my great grandmother had when I was growing up, a glass power line insulator from my great grandparents house, a bean pot, and a couple of crocks.  There is another pile which hasn't been washed yet.  I actually got most of it wrapped and packed even.  A little at a time I guess.

 

 My daughter works at Amazon and she saw this dog pajamas and wanted to get it for Bobbin.  I told her no, Bobbin did not need cow pajamas.  Well, guess what?  She showed up with cow pajamas for Bobbin, but they didn't fit, and so no cute pic.  So because Kali the black cat was bugging us, she ended up wearing the cow pajamas--again no picture because no dignified cat would sit still long enough to get a pic taken in cow pajamas, which translates to Kali went sprinting into the high grass in the field.  Imagine my surprise when I looked out of the bedroom window later to spy this.

Sorry for the blur but it was taken through the screen.  The text to my daughter was:  Who knew that cows shed their coats in the fall?!?!  A poor little cow pajama laying in my flower bed.  

Sunday we had snow, and it has been a couple of wet, miserable, cold days, but then Tuesday it was a wee bit nicer and we needed another mow, so we were outside for a while working.

I love the carpet of gold that this maple tree lays down every year, and the path of gold which is created when we mow.

I have been having problems with my washer, again so I finally broke down and called a repairman.  He came in cleaned out the drain and drain hose.  There was about 88 cents in the drain plug which is pretty big.  I guess I need some new springs for the washing drum, I figure a couple of hundred dollars for the repair is better than buying a new one, especially if we are moving in the near future.  So I am just waiting for the parts to come in so it can be finished up.  

Saturday when I got home, there was squishy mail.  A sweet gift from Dawn of Relaxing Robin.

A super cute mug rug with a fairy holding a squirrel!  some fat quarters, a kitty notepad, and hot chocolate!  Thank you so much for the awesome gift.  

I did another block for the QAL I have been doing with a friend.  This block was by Pat Sloan and called Out of This World.

The next block is an old Jinny Beyer block and it meant I had to make templates so I am dragging  my heels.  But while I am doing that I am squaring up a bunch of HST that I have lying around.  Someday I will share a pic of my HST box.  

Fun things at the store this week.

I am fascinated by the black, perhaps it is so purple it appears black lily.  But I just love the color.

Also this sweet guy.

Isn't he too cute?

A few of my books for the week.  I love the Clucks and Clues Cozy Mysteries by Hillary Avis, perhaps it is because it has an older main character, perhaps it is because it takes place in Oregon, or perhaps it is because she has chickens!

Book 4 is Born in a Barn.  Leona is celebrating Christmas with her daughter and twin grandchildren, when her ex husband shows up to share the holidays!  And he is going to stay with her?  Everything is going well until the local gas station owner is found dead after Leona's ex has an altercation with him at the pump.  The ex can't leave town since he is a person of interest, so Leona is determined to find the killer so the ex can get out of her house!

Book 5 Pecks and Suspects.  Leona has offered up her farm as a wedding venue for her long time boyfriend's niece.  But things start to go horribly wrong.  One of the bridesmaids falls off of a roof during the bridal shower, the orchard where the wedding is going to take place is flooded and someone runs into the chicken coop.  Leona and Eli are determined to have this wedding go off and have true love win out.

Book 6 Farm and Alarm.  Bigfoot has been spotted in Leona's orchard, and when Leona discovers a dead body at the pumpkin patch/haunted house, Bigfoot is implicated in that crime too by a nearby neighbor.  Also is Eli's interest in Leona waning?  He used to bring her small gifts almost daily, but after the harvest, and cider pressing she hasn't received a gift or even much interaction with Eli.  

Finally I saw this video and was amazed at this train which is part of the Guinness Book of World Records.  It is the longest melody played by a model train.  See how many songs you can recognize.

Thanks for visiting, head over toe LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts!