things that happened
🥕 After a day of soaking rain, we discovered a leak in our roof. However, the employee who comes out to do estimates arrived within hours after we called and was able to fix the roof right then, for free.
🥕 I visited with Uncle Ralph when we traveled to Central Michigan!
photos i took
memes i found
Grab the Lapels 
Sounds like lots of carrots this week Melanie … love it. Love the “Poes” t- shirt. Hope your mum’s retirement celebrations go well. And love those puzzles. So much to love.
My carrots were mainly some great times with the family, including time with the grandkids who are such fun! We taught the 6 1/2 year old one Fiddlesticks and Boggle and he enjoyed learning both.
Enjoy Missouri.
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Mom’s party was lovely. It was just the right number of people and good food and an elegant venue. She looked lovely, too, though the sweater I picked out for her was too warm!
That’s so fun that you taught the grandkids some games. I haven’t played Boggle in ages, and I don’t know that I’ve heard of Fiddlesticks.
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That’s really great Melanie … a retirement party can be really special.
I am loving playing these games now that Grandson Gums is getting old enough. We’ve played Snakes and Ladders since he was 3 to 4 but now at 6 1/2 he is ready for more skill-based games. You might know Fiddlesticks as Pick-up Sticks?
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Oh! Yes, I played that when I was a little kid but have not heard of anyone playing it since more digital entertainment took over.
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The good thing is that little kids like physical games even though electronic ones start to impinge quite early.
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I love that one of your “carrots” this week was seeing Uncle Ralph!
I got to see my grown-up kids, one of my favorite things.
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Uncle Ralph is just a nice, lovely man. I hope I get to see him again after I’m back from Missouri.
What did you do when you saw your kid? Did you go somewhere together?
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Both my kids came home for Christmas, with their partners! It was wonderful! We went out to see Christmas lights in Columbus, at the Conservatory, but otherwise we stayed home and made our own fun.
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I finally read your lovely Christmas events on your blog. I got a bit behind reading posts. I’m trying to get ready to move/go to Missouri.
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Glad your roof leak was fixed so easily and for free even!
Oh, When Women Were Dragons, I really enjoyed that book! I hope you do too.
The puzzles look fun, especially the cookies. Did it make you crave cookies? Just looking at your photo made me think I might need a cookie.
I love all your smiling photos! Happy retirement to Biscuit!
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I think I remember your review of When Women Were Dragons, and I believe you had a couple of qualms about it. In fact, when I won the book, I thought of you!
The puzzle with the cookies was really enjoyable because if you could take on one scene at a time and then piece them all together. The one with all the children playing was harder because the pieces were kind of loose, so that one was frustrating and we ended up putting it in a frame to just use as decoration next Christmas. The cookie puzzle, we took apart so that we can put it together again next year. I did eat several cookies at my friend’s house, though I’m surprised because apparently their mom never cooks, and yet they baked for Christmas, so who knows!
Thank you for the congratulations to my mom. I think she had a truly delightful evening.
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Happy retirement to Biscuit! That’s a lovely photo of the two of you.
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Thank you, Lou! I hope you had a lovely break, and that the semester starts nice and peacefully. I should email you again soon and maybe we can read a book together. My mom and I will still keep doing our book club like we always do.
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Some time next week – if I get round to it – I am going to post a list of all the Classics Club books I have left to read to see if anyone wants to do a readalong! Maybe we could read one of those together?
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That would be nice. I’ll see what’s on your list and if I can access it through my digital library (because I’m not at home anymore).
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Sounds like a lovely time! I hope you enjoyed your holidays!
My girls have gotten into puzzles a bit recently and did two different ones over their school holidays. It’s been fun to watch.
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If I’m frustrated, it really helps to switch to a puzzle and either sort pieces by color or flip them all face up. I wonder if puzzles are good for emotional regulation in children.
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It’s been fun having a puzzle available for them to work on in bits and pieces. I think it probably is calming!
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Those puzzles look really fun. I’ve been wanting to do a puzzle – it’s hard because of our cat and also no space, LOL! I should get one of those puzzle boards. Love all the cute photos!
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Your cat might even get on the puzzle board! When our cat was in the apartment with us, she was trained to stay off tables, which I know many cat owners say is impossible.
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ha! I loved these memes, I actually really really really look forward to this post of yours each week. I’m also jealous of your puzzle doing. I tried to start a disney puzzle with the kids, but it was a 1000 pieces, and we just aren’t there yet, so we put it away before we got very far. 500 pieces seems to be our sweet spot at the moment…
It looks like you had a lovely holiday! And so nice to spend it with friends doing low key games, etc. A dreamy holiday for sure. and happy retirement to biscuit!
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I’m so glad you look forward to my post! I really, really meant it when I said I cannot wallow in the news after the election. I stupidly downloaded the Reddit app back on my phone the other day and almost threw up reading the top posts (all Trump and Musk crap).
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Oh no! Get rid of Reddit, your life will surely improve LOL
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It’s gone!
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yes! Time for the life to improve haha
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Very fun post and love that wintry puzzle
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