Dec. 1st... white rabbit! and other things...

I saw this prayer on Facebook the other day and it hit home with me. I'm not an especially religious person, but this prayer says a lot that is in my heart.  So I'm sharing it with you.  

Yesterday I had my nuclear stress test. Just thinking about it was 'stressing'... but I got through it just fine. (long day, but fine... we left the house at 10:30 am and got home close to 4:00 pm. DH was with me thank goodness) However, something mentioned in one of the books I've been reading about mindfulness helped. It may mean nothing to you, but it was exactly the words I needed to hear. It was in the 3rd book in the Dalai Lama's Cat series. The words were (and I'm paraphrasing) "Your mind is full of thoughts... some good, some bad... but what you have to remember is that they are just 'thoughts'... not truths." 

Anyway, I should get the results in the next few days. And I have an appointment in about 2 weeks with the Cardiologist to go over it all (the heart monitor I'm wearing for 30 days, the echocardiogram, and the nuclear stress test). Then... we should have some answers. 

Next I want to share this pic taken at the Mall the other day. It's the 12 days of Christmas structure that has been there for years. It's nostalgic as well as fun for the kids (and grown ups) as each section opens as the mechanism sings the 12 days of Christmas. DH and I were there to do a little Christmas shopping and it looked so pretty that I had to take a pic.

I wrote this post very very early this morning... as I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep (which happens on occasion). Also I was hungry as the only thing I had had to eat all day yesterday was a half of a peanut butter sandwich and a half cup of coffee when we came home from testing. So I got up, made myself a cup of tea, read blogs, and returned to bed around 4am. Now I'm reading to continue with this post. 

It's time to start Christmas baking this weekend. Christmas cards go out today and  if all goes well, some of the Christmas cookies for mailing will go out on Monday. 

We put out a few more of our inside Christmas decorations: 

And that's about it...

I hope the rest of your week is good. Enjoy the holidays and the holiday preps. Do something to make someone smile today... (even if it's you).

Oh... one more pic. It's of Big Boy, one of the ferals that spends a lot of time around here. Don't know if you can tell from this pic, but he has a huge head and is a rather handsome fella.

Hugs (still virtual),

Rian

the cast of cats... quilt binding, and Happy Thanksgiving

This is BK

This is Squeaky

These are two of the feral cats that come to eat daily... and spend a lot of time in our yard. The first one BK (Barbeque Kitten)is about a year old and is getting big. We called him BK as he has always liked to jump up on the Barbeque pit on the back patio and stare in the kitchen window. And although a lot of the ferals are black, they all have distinquishing features which tell them apart. BK has white hairs on his chest.  

The second picture is Squeaky... (younger and smaller than BK) and called such for his constant talking and squeaky little voice. Squeaky stays mostly in the front, and talks constantly to DH in the mornings when he's feeding. I've gotten into the habit of opening the front window in the morning to enjoy the cool air... and Squeaky sits under the window and talks to me. 

The funny thing that DH and I have both noticed is that when it's cold outside and Squeaky talks to us, it looks like a fog coming out of his mouth (breath vapor). It's funny since he talks so much - he looks like a little dragon.

There are several others, but I don't have good pics of them yet. Olivia is a small young female, black and white  -  (small but fierce and a really good mother). She brings her 3 babies which are about 8-10 weeks old now - on occasion. We named her Olivia (for Oliver Twist's "more please") as she constantly wants 'more'.

Then there's One Eye (whom I posted about previously) and Big Boy - a really big black cat with a very large head. While One Eye is old, Big Boy is not. We would guess that Big Boy is a few years old and has developed those large jowls sometimes seen on male cats.

We get a few others that show up once in a while, but these are our regulars. These get along fine - no fighting and some even lay around together. If strange cats appear, they generally keep their distance or fluff up and howl at each other. But strangers never stay long if they're trouble. They move on.

😊

Binding (the cord around the edge of quilt) finally finished on both the pandemic and Hawaii quilts (blue on pandemic, black on Hawaii). 

Pandemic scrap quilt

Hawaiian quilt

(For whatever reason, the print comes out huge once in a while and I have to go back and correct it. Does anyone know why this is?) 

Since Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday and I probably won't have time to post again, I will say Happy Thanksgiving to all here!

We will be having a quiet Thanksgiving this year - no big get-together - just turkey and stuffing sandwiches!

With any luck, our family holidays will resume again in the near future, but not in 2021. With the virus spiking again in some states, we're not ready to undo all that we've gone through these last 2 years... not yet. We will hold out and hope that with vaccinations and time, things will be much better by spring. 🙏

*And I got my Echocardiogram yesterday. Results were in my Texas Health portal, but haven't spoken to the doctor yet - so not sure how to interpret them.*

Take care! Have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian