Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

I had so much fun at the nephew’s b-day party last night. Pappa, my dad, squirted Reddiwhip into C.A.N. and his friend’s mouths and some on the floor for the dog. My socks were sticking to the floor, C.A.N. had whipped cream speckles all over his face. He and his friend giggled so much. I’ve always loved my nephew’s laugh. Then, we were all standing around in a circle holding hands and praying. My sister’s dog was walking from person to person looking like she was trying to figure out why we were all holding hands. Then, she jumped on the sofa and whined and grumbled at my husband trying to get his attention. I thought she was going to jump onto him from the sofa, a distance of almost 3 feet. She didn’t but it was funny watching her.

My nephew, his initials spell out C.A.N. is turning ten today which is quite impossible since he was just born yesterday. I was living in Denver when he was born, dealing with my own dramas at the time. I managed to get to my sister’s house about a week later. The minute she placed him into my arms, I cried. Big fat tears of joy. I had always wanted to be an Auntie. He was a beautiful baby. Some of the skies we saw while in Cabo remind me of the color of his eyes at that time. They were a steely blue, the light and dark blues and grays swirling together. My mom says he and I share the same personality traits. Stubborn of course. Independent, absolutely. But also loving and sensitive.

I remember my tenth birthday very well. It’s one of the few I do remember. My dad had retired from the Navy and we were living in Seattle, Washington at the time on the Navy base up there. I remember exploring the wild wooded areas with my sister and our friends. I remember how dark the woods were, and you probably couldn’t pay me enough to go in there today. Probably the only reason why I even went in there at the time was because I knew, no matter how much we beat each other up, my sister wouldn’t have let anything serious happen to me, beyond the normal tortures endured by a kid sister. I never did understand her love for me. I was always such a pain in the butt. That’s her though, big hearted and loving.

Back to the story about ME… when dad retired from the Navy, he and mom packed everything up and we moved to Colorado. We packed the car full of stuff we would need to get there and would need when we arrived, then hitched a 13′ trailer to the back of our Chevy, and headed South along the coast line. My parents had decided to take it slow and spend the summer traveling and camping. It was to be our big adventure. I can’t say I hated EVERY minute of it, but maybe about 60-70%. I’m an introvert. Being cooped up in small places with people is pure torture for me.

At one of our stop on our trip, dad decided to go fishing in the river. He was standing in the middle of the thing and forgot his jar of bait. He asked me to bring it to him. While I was gingerly picking my way across the slippery rocks, I felt what I thought was something getting trapped between my toes. I reached down to dislodge it, and my hand came back up, out of the water filled with blood. Nothing was stuck between my toes. I had sliced open my foot, between my big toe and the one next to it, on a sharp rock. Being ten, I did what I was supposed to do upon the sight of blood, I freaked out. Dad came to my rescue, but since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, mom had to play doctor and nurse and patch me up the best she could. I needed stitches. Wasn’t going to happen. She rinsed my foot out with green tincture soap and bandaged me up. To this day, from all the times I needed that soap used on me, the smell of it sends a shiver through me. Blech!

Shortly after the river incident, we ended up at the San Diego Zoo or wild park, something with animals and an elephant ride. Dad had to carry me on his back most of the day as I was not able to walk on my foot. We celebrated my tenth birthday, somewhere in America, on the road to Colorado. I even remember the doll I was given, but not her name. I wore a blue tank top and shorts outfit and faux pearls.

Looking back on that whole experience, I may not have liked most of it, but it was an adventure. I’m glad I have a mom who is into adventure. Must be that nomadic Mongol blood of hers.

I married a wonderful man. He loves me very much and I him. He is a software engineer. He can sit down, read a book on a coding language he’s never seen before (in a week) then go and start coding a project. To me, I think that would be equivalent to learning Chinese in a week then writing a novel that people could actually understand and enjoy. I’m amazed. He has also won two Academy awards for his work. If you’ve watched a movie in the last ten years, you’ve watched something that has used his coding in their special effects. If you’ve written a check or used your credit/debit card in the last five years, chances are good that you’ve used a machine with his code inside. How cool is THAT? See, not everything is being made over seas.

He is so smart and creative. It is very exciting to see his projects come to life. He has been very inspirational to me in the short time we have been married. I have seen him struggle through a project and come out the other side successfully. I have seen him run the race and not give up. (bible reference)

He has also patiently endured my tea obsession, helping me to acquire tea accouterments and sampling tea sandwiches, helping me to pick the ones with the best filling to use for friends and family.

My husband is the inspiration for everything I do. I love you, Tech Hubby!

Ten more posts to go before I draw a name from those who have left comments on my blog during the month of December. The winner will receive a prize. Don’t let the fact that I have yet to pick out that prize deter you from commenting. Free stuff is always cool. Even if it comes from someone’s closet, which my prize will not, but I’ve had that happen before, you know, re-gifting.

Have you ever re-gifted? I have. White elephant gifts are great for that, just becafeful not to give it back to the person who gave it to you first, or one of their close friends who might wear it in front of them!

What an odd title, yes? Tech hubby and I are going down today to sign up and put a deposit down on a class to qualify for a concealed weapons permit.

I heartily believe in and am choosing to exercise my 2nd Amendment Rights;to bear arms. Not bare arms. That can make you a bit chilly. I’m not saying anyone and everyone MUST carry a weapon, but if you wish too, you should be able to, after all, why should criminals have all the fun?

I will be detailing the process here on my blog. Classes don’t start for another couple of months. I’m nervous and excited.

Went to a friend’s house yesterday. She lives and hour away in one direction. Whew! It was a meet and greet, possibly going to be called Rural Neighbors, and let me tell you my friends, it is rural! lol

We had a yummy pot roast with veggies. I met some lovely people. I brought a cake that was devoured which is always nice. I hate bringing stuff that isn’t touched.  A few points of interest. One of the fellow there, would dish himself up, then his wife, than set the serving dish down without offering it to anyone else or passing it around. Now, we all should know, that when you dish yourself up, you then pass the serving plate around so that everyone else may serve themselves food, right?

Second point of interest. When setting a table; knife and spoon on the right, fork and napkin on the left.  Water glass on the right, salad bowl/plate either on the dinner plate or on the left with the bread and butter plate.

If however, you sit down to a table that is backwards, or you encounter a dinner companion who forgets to pass the food around, do NOT draw attention to either. Worse still, than their error, would be your error in pointing out their folly.

Be a good guest. Always.

One thing that I learned working in department stores, was how to wrap a present and make it look GOOD! Now, it bugs me to go somewhere and see them do a poor job of wrapping a persons gift. It really is not hard to wrap a gift in the way I’m going to demonstrate. Come along, let’s get to wrapping!

Supplies:regu;ar clear wrapping tape, two sided tape, scissors, wrapping paper, present, and ribbon.

I don’t know if you can tell, but inside that circle, there are squares. The entire back side of the paper is marked with squares. You don’t have to use marked paper, it just makes things easier to line up. So, step one line up your box face down on your wrapping paper, draw up the paper over the edge of the box, then tape it down. Use regular tape for this step so that when you line up your overlapping side, it doesn’t stick before you want it to.

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Pinch the edge so that it is nice and ’sharp’.

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Bring the roll of paper, up and over the entire box, extending  it about and inch past the box. See the circle?

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Take that inch of over lap, lay it on the edge of the box and pinch it so you have an edge to fold over, fold it over, and pinch it too, so that it is nice and sharp and lays flat when folded under. This means you will not have any ‘raw’ edges to your wrapping paper.

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See how nice the edges look lined up? At this point, you may use double stick tape unde the edge or regular tape on top of the edge as I had to since I didn’t have double stick to use.

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Another example of how the edges line up. This is where you would place your double sided tape.

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(Sides) Tuck in the ‘top’ of the paper which when turned over, will become the bottom of the package.

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Tuck in each side, remembering to pinch those edges, even up the sides so that they are sharp.

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Tuck in and fold down that raggedy edge (see the X) making that crease, what?! Sharp! lol  This is also where you may apply double sided tape to secure this flap, or you may tape it on the outside too if you wish.

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See how pretty? You’ve secured all the flaps and have run your fingers along every single edge, pinching it and making it sharp. now you have a lovely package, ready for a bow, without a huge seam down the middle. Who is going to give it a try?

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Are you getting or giving a Christmas bonus this year? I used to work for a large bank many years ago, and our annual bonus, after making them millions of dollars, was a frozen fruit pie.  Blech!

On my status board, I am seeing many people searching for ways to write thank you letters to their employer for their Christmas bonus, and even more encouraging, I’m seeing employers search on what to give their very deserving employees to say ‘thank you’ for all their hard work and effort over the last year. Thank you for helping our customers, thank you for making me more money, thank you for coming to work in a good mood, thank you for appreciating being employed, thank you for seeing the vision. Thank you.