Fleur de Aleta

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! What a beautiful day! After a touch of rain yesterday, a vibrant rainbow and cool weather ~ today is sunshine and smiles. Last night Greg and I cooked for my parents and R&R. We had Christmas Eve supper and opened gifts afterwards. Family, the most precious gift there is! I loved the laughter and good feelings of the night. That made me happy. Thought I’d share some of the pictures with you. There’s one with Greg holding a knife and the bubble wrap, had to laugh with his expression. (Quick Note, I received a special gift from my parents, but I’m going to do a separate blog post for that one.) After my family left, Greg and I cleaned up the kitchen and then, we were so much into the spirit of sharing that we brought out the gifts for each other to open. Greg knew what I wrapped, because you can’t hide a long, narrow box! It was the umbrella he wanted with the wind vents. He had other toys as well but that was in another box :) Greg surprised me with his ...

Welcome to WBF Whenever Greg and I walk by a place that sells fudge, he always zones in on the peanut butter fudge. Not just chocolate fudge or any of the other kinds ~ the peanut butter fudge. I figured it was because he really liked peanut butter, though I couldn’t remember him picking up the stuff from the grocery store. Now, I TOTALLY understand. Some of the office employees wanted fudge. I sent an email to Mom (Mother-in-Law) and Madelyn. Mom sent back a recipe, saying she’s made this recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge many times. Then Madelyn mentioned how they used to make this as kids. When I told Greg about the recipe, he said, “That was my grandmother’s recipe. Your coworkers are in for a real treat!” If you like to cook fudge – you MUST try this. As Greg said, “Welcome to WBF – World’s Best Fudge!” WBF – Peanut Butter Fudge Ingredients: 3 Cups Sugar 2 Tablespoons Cocoa 1 ½ cups evaporated milk 2 tablespoons peanut butter ½ stick of butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups broken pecan...

I'm just wondering, how many people out there send Christmas cards? Not the e-cards, but actual Christmas cards where you need to address the envelope and put a stamp on it and bring it to the post office. Is this a tradition that has gone by the wayside? I read somewhere that the earliest one should send a card is 12/18 and the latest 12/22. I sent mine out slightly before the earliest, but I've also been known to mail them out as early as the week after Thanksgiving. Lol. It makes me sad to think that people don't send cards as much any more. I realize it takes more time than zipping an email across.... but... there's something about Christmas cards. It makes it worth the time. Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas!

Tigger thinks that anything soft and fluffy was put there for him to enjoy. In these pictures, he's taking on the Christmas village. Fortunately, he's only knocked down a lamp post. He knows he's not supposed to be there and when he sees me, he hunkers down low, as if to say, "I'm not really here."

This year, I wondered if the Christmas spirit would ever come to me. I'm not talking about the buying of gifts or the decorating.... but the JOY of Christmas. You know that certain feeling that this time of the year can bring? It's special. But it eluded me. I allowed concerns of regular life to close down on my ability to feel the joy. It was there all along. Isn't that strange? When we want to feel happy and can't, the only person stopping it from happening... well, is ourselves. Life goes on. Things happen. Stuff changes. You roll with the punches, because you don't have an option. What you do have the option is ~ to allow yourself to feel Joy. No matter what. I've read blogs where people are going through a heck of a lot worse. And those blogs are uplifting. UpLifting! They are an inspiration. So, bless you, if you happen to saunter over to my blog, thank you for being uplifting no matter your situation. We are in this thing "life" together and whe...

When I shared with Dad that Greg has mentioned in the past how much he'd like to go to the Trans Siberian Orchestra performance, Dad booked 6 seats, Section A (right in front, floor seats), row four and in the middle. The tickets cost 200 each and arrived about a week before the show date. I did read that TSO has two different performances, one called Nightcastle, which is more of a sci-fi story line about a girl and a castle and the other performance was for Christmas. We assumed it was the Christmas performance, because well, it was right before Christmas. The tickets arrived and the day of the performance, the "Grimballs" had 3 doctor appointments. Dad had an inner ear infection, where he was given a shot and medicine. Roda had a torn inner ear drum and couldn't hear out of her ear. The doctor said it was the worst case he had seen all day and she was given drops to put in her ears. She said, "Welcome to the world of Aleta and Dad." ohhh, that made me sad...

Caiti is Greg's niece. She lives on her own and told Greg's father, Jerry, that she needed her lawn mower fixed. Jerry said that he would go over and fix it for her. The next day, he drives down her street, sees the grass growing really high.. sees the lawnmower... puts the lawnmower in his truck and brings it home. He fixes the lawnmower, tries it out at his own yard to make sure that it works and brings the lawnmower back. Then Jerry called Caiti to say that he fixed the lawnmower. She asked when he did this and he told her the day and said, "There were a bunch of cars in the driveway." Caiti was confused, because she said that she was at work at that time and there wouldn't have been any cars in her driveway.... Come to find out.... my father-in-law had fixed Caiti's next door neighbor's lawnmower!!! We all had to laugh. How classic is that (and I think really sweet of him too)!

"Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints" We're known as the "Who Dat Nation" ~ Makes me smile. When you are a Who Dat fan, you take it with you even if you move to another State. We love our Saints and our Saints love their fans! This year 13 - 0 Wow. Just. WOW! Last weekend, Greg told me, "It's OK if they lose the rest of the season. We are in the playoffs!" Dad and I said, "NO NO NO! We want them to WIN!" Lol. Greg was only trying to make sure I didn't get disappointed if the Saints lost. Recently, Greg made the comment, "Funny how people don't think the Saints have a right to be acknowledged. They say the Saints aren't that good, yet their own teams are losing 6 or 7 games already and the Saints are 13 - 0. It's perfection. What else do they need?" I asked Greg how the "Who Dat" started and he replied, "From the Color Purple." Hehe. You see, during the Color Purple performance, the...

TMI about your Mom I've written about my Mom a lot. If you haven't seen the post, go to the button at the top and read the "Snippets" section. But this post is going to be ... ohhh, a little different. We're on vacation. Dad tells Mom that the box should be delivered to the house when we return. Mom turns to Greg and says, "Greg, can you help put it together for me?" My Dad is famous for ordering stuff online and Greg ends up helping putting the items together, such as hat racks and shoe storage, etc. Greg replied, "Sure, what is it?" Keep in mind, we're in a filled restaurant and Mom is a teacher; she knows how to carry her voice in a crowded space. Mom said, "The vibrator. We'll need you to put the vibrator together. It came in a HUGE box!" You could have heard a pin drop. Heads from other tables did a turn about to see WHO said that. Mom, not realizing the quiet commotion she was causing, said again, "The vibrator th...

So, a friend of mine suggested a topic for my blog. I want it to be known that it was a MALE friend who sent me the suggested topic. “Stare at boobs for longer life: Study.” Basically, the article states that “staring at women’s breasts is good for men’s health and increases their life expectancy… by four to five years...” By increasing sexual desire it “gives rise (COUGH) to better blood circulation that signifies an overall improved health.” It was recommended that “….men over 40 should gaze at larger breasts daily for 10 minutes.” Greg is smiling as he reads this, I’m sure. Good thing I have the size they recommend. I want my man healthy and living a long life! Hehe.

Day 7 - Reason to be Thankful - Family A few months ago, we learned that my Uncle Sonny had throat cancer. He found out about it when a lump formed on the side of his throat. The doctors told him that it was Stage 3 Cancer. They would put him on aggressive chemo and radiation treatment and he'd either have 4 months to live or 4 months of recovery. The treatment took my uncle to the brink of death, as close as the doctors could get him to it without killing him. While on the trip, Uncle Sonny called us to say that he was cancer free. He has lost a lot of weight and has no sense of taste, but he's alive and cancer free. So many reasons to celebrate and offer thanks during Thanksgiving. When we arrived to my uncle’s house, I saw Mom and Uncle Sonny go into the kitchen area. After a little while, I asked if I could take a picture of them. Mom had tears in her eyes as she said, "Now that everything is OK, I can cry." I had to leave the room, because I was getting teary-eye...