Here's some weird stuff to wrap up 2024:
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| This hornet's nest hung around for many months on a house that I walked by all summer/fall. It's a house that I've never seen any occupants, so I assume they're elderly and have a lawn service that cuts their grass and ignores hazards. |
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| I took this photo at the grocery store and sent it to my husband. He LOVES Dolly Parton. Not her music, her philanthropy. She's just an amazing person and probably deserves an entire post (my grandkids get free books from her and love her, too). His response to the picture was, "Buy whatever Dolly's selling!" Caveat: I did not buy the pie because I'm anti-processed foods :) |
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| These deer were going at it in my backyard last week. They brought a whole new definition to the term 'necking.' It was non-stop licking for hours. Get a room! |
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| I am on my 3rd HE washer. High Efficiency does not translate to High Cleanliness. For years I've said that my clothes are not getting clean and these dry spots on my husband's shirts that came straight out of the washer prove my point. Not enough water is being used. And don't get my started on the detergent spots being left behind on all my dark clothes. So irritating! |
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| Our landline is basically a fielding device for spam. The phone shows the number and a voice tells me who's calling. Usually, the voice says "Spam Risk" but this one time it said "Probably Fraud." I was cracking up, so I grabbed a screen shot. |
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| As an avid TJ Maxx shopper, I'm used to buying their clothes for anything from $12.99 to $29.99. It wasn't until I was in the dressing room that I noticed this price and returned it right back to the sweater rack. Nope. |
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| Our home security cameras catch a lot of wildlife. Mostly chipmunks, squirrels, and deer. Occasionally, a cat. The past two weeks have brought a number of coyote sightings (above) and even a fox. Always interesting to see what goes on at 4 am in your driveway. |
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| Around Halloween, I stopped dead in my tracks when I thought I saw two skulls in my front yard. It turned out to be mushrooms. Very big mushrooms. |
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| I eat raw vegetables for breakfast which usually includes sweet mini peppers. For a few weeks last month, every store I visited had regular sized peppers in the bags. I do not really want to bite into a big pepper. Fortunately, the minis have returned. |
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A year ago when I was selling my mother's condo, I had all her mail forwarded to me. Unfortunately, 95% of it has been junk mail. It's been unreal. I get probably 4 pieces of junk mail a day addressed to my parents. It's particularly depressing when it is addressed to my father, who's been gone for six years. I became so aggravated that when the envelope includes a No Postage Envelope, I send back the junk telling them that the occupant is deceased. I have no idea if it's working, but it makes me feel better to make them pay!As we head into the holiday season, I'm unsure how much I'll be blogging or visiting. Rest assured I'll be back in 2025. Enjoy your December! |
WOW, that hornet's nest is HUGE!
ReplyDelete"She's just an amazing person and probably deserves an entire post (my grandkids get free books from her and love her, too)"
I totally agree! One of my favorite things to do is find interviews on YouTube that highlight Dolly Parton and watch them. She has such a beautiful energy about her. I also admire that as genuinely sweet as she is, she's an extremely smart, strong, and walks the walk. And speaking of Dolly Parton, I just recently rewatched '9 to 5' Love that film!
"It was non-stop licking for hours. Get a room!" - CRACKED ME UP!
"And don't get my started on the detergent spots being left behind on all my dark clothes. So irritating!"
OMG, I cannot believe you said that because yesterday was laundry day for me. And when I removed all my black clothes from the washing machine to transfer them to the dryer, I noticed that FOUR of my black dress shirts were coated in detergent spots. So, I had to rinse each one in water before drying them. UGH!
That price tag is INSANE for TJ Maxx! I would have done the same thing. The price of things are insane.
You and I are the same when it comes to our food choices. I love those mini peppers. I get them at Trader Joe's. They're the perfect size to munch on.
Fun and enjoyable post, my friend! I read it while have my morning cup of java. XX
Have a faaaaaaaabulous holiday season! I too am unsure how much I'll be blogging because this is a busy "work time" for me. But, I love it!
Dolly really does have a beautiful energy about her. I read the Jessica Simpson memoir and she mentioned how very kind Dolly was to her at various low points in Jessica's life. Dolly is just a very nice person besides being super generous. Love her!
DeleteThe laundry issue has been driving me nuts for years. But it really stands out when winter rolls around and I have all sorts of polyester/spandex workout wear in dark colors that end up with the white stains that look like I rubbed up against a salt covered car. I thought using the laundry sheets (as opposed to liquid or powder) would help, but it really doesn't.
Aren't those mini peppers so good? And yeah, I probably thought the price tag said $19.99 when I picked up the sweater. I was shocked when I went to try it on. I then checked the tag and it was 100% cashmere, but still!
I hope your holiday work time is fun and festive and that the customers are kind. I miss your weekly posts, but as you can see, I'm not blogging as much either. XO
I'm always interested to see what everyone's eating for breakfast, and I'm fascinated that you have raw vegetables! To me that's more of a lunch thing, but why? Why do I make these distinctions? Anyway, very yummy. I don't get mini peppers, but I do love a nice crunchy slice of sweet pepper.
ReplyDeleteThose deer and their sexy times! The coyote would definitely put a damper on that. We have tons of coyotes around here, and deer as well.
I knew about the Dolly baking stuff, because we were in Maui in 2023 and we went to get some groceries. I didn't see that exact item but I saw some kind of cake mix. I love Dolly, she is an angel walking among us.
When I discovered I was becoming insulin resistant, I began eating vegetables for breakfast (and also eat them first at dinner). The fiber slows down digestion so you don't get a glucose spike. I give myself a break at lunch because I always workout after lunch, which also slows down the spike. People think it's weird to eat raw veggies first thing in the morning, but I've come to enjoy it with my morning latte.
DeleteHow crazy that you saw Dolly's products in Maui, of all places! It's not exactly easy to get product there!
How often do charities update their mailing lists? We still get charity mail addressed to a previous occupant of this house, who moved out 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe also avoid ultra-processed foods, so I wouldn't touch the chocolate pie, whoever recommended it.
We have an eco setting on our washing machine, but never use it because we assume it wouldn't wash clothes so efficiently.
I guess charities never update their mailing lists? It's sad to think about all the money they waste instead of spending it on their mission.
DeleteBuying anything but eco appliances doesn't seem to be an option here anymore. I am not impressed, especially because they also seem to break down more frequently. My last washer only lasted 3 years.
Yup, that's a big hornet's nest. Had to laugh at the skull-sized mushrooms.
ReplyDeleteThe last year or two, I've seen more deer just walking about inside the city limits than I ever have. Maybe the DNR needs to issue more hunting licenses. . .
The deer problem has been bad here for the last 10 years. The metroparks do a cull every year and people have a fit. Meanwhile, I'm scared to drive at night because of the number of people I know who have had their cars demolished by deer run-ins.
DeleteI love that you mail back the junk mail in their provided envelope. You go girl! The deer - I've never seen them do this. I had no idea that was how they got busy. Get a room indeed. My washing machine is high efficiency but it is also AMAZING. Our clothes are cleaner than ever before. I love it. When my plumber was here recently, he told me to never ever get rid of it. I don't intend to and I believe they are made to last. It's a speed queen. Wishing you a peaceful holiday and hope you find time to relax.
ReplyDeleteI actually think the deer are licking bugs off of each other, but who knows? They are not bucks, so it would be LGBTQ activity - LOL!
DeleteWhen my last HE washer broke after 3 years (yes, 3 years!) I went to a family appliance store and got advice. He highly recommended the Speed Queen, BUT the wait to get one was 4 months and there was no way I could go that long without a washer!!!! Oh well! I hope you have a great holiday, Ernie!
I'm with your husband. I don't care for her music, but Dolly as a human is amazing. I just love her and all she stands for. My uncle who is AC/DC type even bought all of her new cookware. Doesn't listen to her music, but loved that he could support her another way buy purchasing her new kitchen line of products.
ReplyDeleteThat nest would send my husband into a tizzy. He's allergic to bee stings, so the whole house would have to go at that point LOL
I like my HE washer and have maybe noticed once that the clothes didn't come out as clean as I would have liked. Just ran it again and chalked it up to a fluke. No more issues since then.
Good on you mailing that junk mail back. I do most things online these days, so junk mail is about all that I ever get in my box anymore.
I'm cracking up that your AC/DC uncle bought her cookware! That deserves a commercial! At this point, I think if I suggested a trip to Dollywood, my husband would be packing a suitcase - LOL!
DeleteWe had a hornet's nest in a tree right outside our front door one summer and my husband and son had a mission to take care of it at night. It was quite comical how they planned it out. They ran around the back of the house and came inside from the deck and would you believe one hornet made it inside?? It was going crazy, but then just dropped dead.
Most of our mail is junk, too. In winter, I don't even bother going to get it most days.
We usually have a fawn born on our property Memorial Day weekend, but this was the first year we didn't see one. However, they are sometimes hidden pretty well. That's interesting that your washer has an option. The sweater at TJMaxx was cashmere, which I didn't know until I looked at the label. Still, that seems pricey for TJ! Enjoy your holiday season!
ReplyDeleteThose are big mushrooms! Mistaking them for skunks made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that dolly parton pie. I made my own pies this thanksgiving. I made pumpkin and chocolate mousse pies. Too good.
That hornet's nest would give me nightmares.
Your pies sound great, Mary. This was my first year of not making any pies. My oldest daughter brought a pumpkin pie and my DIL made tiramisu.
DeleteSo much good here.
ReplyDeleteDolly does have good stuff, but you're right about packaged baked goods. They give me migraines, so I make things from scratch.
YOUR BACKYARD IS MAGICAL. Get a room...🤣
My cell phone will sometimes say "Maybe..." if it doesn't know the caller. That always makes me laugh.
I'm with you. 99.99 is not a sale.
Those are the biggest mushrooms I've ever seen!
My heart is with you on that mail. I would do the exact same thing.
My mom got a letter that my dad's name was involved in a breach. Apparently some horrible humans were charging dead people for hospice services and collecting the money. I hate this place.
Oh the “Maybe” on the cell phone would crack me up! I’ve heard about all the fraud using deceased people’s social security numbers, etc. What a terrible thing to have to deal with. I’m so sorry for your mom.😢
DeleteHappy December, Bijoux!! That is one giant nest and I thought those were skulls instead of mushrooms too. We have had the same stinking problems with our HE washer. An appliance repairman told it was the liquid detergent and the animal fats don't break down because of the lack of water. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI use the laundry detergent sheets now and it’s still an issue. Definitely the lack of water that’s the real issue. Ugh!
DeleteIf Dolly ever comes out with a line of healthy, low-fat meals, she HAS TO call it Jolene Cuisine!
ReplyDeleteOur neighbor across the street has a similar hornet's nest, but thankfully, it's in a tree and not on his house. Still freaks me out anytime I walk by.
I've been thinking about investing in a trail cam to see what goes in our backyard in the middle of the night! I'm sure it's very nature-y.
Very cute, Mark!
DeleteHopefully, the hornets are currently wintering elsewhere.
You should totally get a trail cam! It’s a fascinating nocturnal world!
Maybe one will find its way beneath our Christmas tree this year.
DeleteCome on, Santa!
DeleteI loved this blog post. I eat veggies for breakfast as well. Morning time is my fav time of the day. I read my book and eat breakfast in the quiet kitchen. It's so peaceful. It helps too that I just got a cabinet refacing. I love being in my kitchen even more now. I hope you have a great holiday season!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I read while I eat my breakfast, too.
DeleteMs Parton is amazing with all of her philantrophy, but I have never seen any food products. Of course, I know about Paul Newman's product line and we have used some of the salads dressings. Like yourself, our landline is basically a fielding device for spam and it is the number we give to anyone who needs a phone number. We restrict giving our cell numbers to medical offices or they will get messages and we also avoid an email. The land line also flags spam and when it does, we block the numbers. It seems to work as we receive relatively few of these.
ReplyDeleteAs for junk mail and unsolicited mailings and catalogs, I will usually call the publication or organization and advise them not only to remove our names and mailing address, but not to distribute. It takes some effort, but does seem to work as we get minimal of both compared to others we know.
Sending best wishes to you and your family for a holiday season of joy and love.
I will have to see if I can find phone numbers for some of these organizations in the new year. Thanks for the merry wishes and I hope the same for you.
DeleteDolly is a very special person, I think she's a wonderful roll model. We got rid of our landline lots of years ago, but get notices like that on our cell phones. I liked it better when only people you knew called. Seems all the mail we get is junk mail. Most of it doesn't even make it into the house. We have a mail slot in the garage and I often go from the mail slot area right to the recycle bin and toss the junk mail. Too many dear, they're becoming a problem in our area. They have no predator, I guess to lessen the numbers.
ReplyDeleteI won't give my cell phone number to businesses, so I avoid a lot of spam that way. Yes, I go straight to the recycle bin with my mail every day. It's such a waste!
DeleteDolly Parton is awesome. And I love her music.
ReplyDeleteI also HATE our HE washer. We're on our second or third one, I'm not sure, I think third, but I'm not positive. Anyway, it absolutely doesn't get the clothes as clean. Does yours take FOREVER to do one load, too? It takes two to three hours for ours to do one load of laundry. After the power outage after Helene, our neighbors with six kids got caught up on laundry faster than we did with just two people because ours is so slow.
If I don't "see" you again, have a very Merry Christmas!
The HE washers really do suck! I do think ours takes a long time, but not THAT long! Two to three hours is ridiculous. Ours is more like an hour. Merry Christmas to you, too!
DeleteWow, thanks for the news round-up, Bijoux. I've never eaten vegetables for breakfast--I'm just so fond of my oatmeal and bananas. But I might give it a try.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear, those deer are randy, ain't they? What would Bambi say? And those mushrooms were spooky, I thought they were skulls, too.
Not a big fan of Dolly's music, but she is a most awesome human being.
It's painful to get mail for deceased loved ones and good for you for making them pay the postage. We need these small victories.
My best wishes to you and your family for the holidays and may 2025 be your best year ever.
Isn't Dolly amazing? She is just so generous with her time and money, plus she seems like a genuinely nice person. And yes, it does make me feel better to make these organizations pay. The junk mail seems to follow us to our graves. Thanks for your well wishes and the same to you!
DeleteWow! That is a good-sized hornet nest! We had one in our pine tree last year but it was up high and the hornets did not have to go past our house to get to it so we just left it. I too love Dolly. I think she is a decent person! I laughed out loud at your deer post! Too funny! I have a HE washer too and it has a deep water setting that I use for certain things. I miss the old washers were you could keep the door open and the water would pour in so you could dissolve the detergent before adding the clothes! We see a lot of racoons, possums and cats on our security cameras. Those mushrooms do look like skulls! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteI miss the old washers, too. The clothes were just cleaner.I'm surprised we never see raccoons or opossums on our cameras because I know they’re out there. Merry Christmas!
DeleteThat hornets nest is huge! How does one even end up getting that down? I'm very allergic to them, so I probably wouldn't go anywhere near that thing hah. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
DeleteWell, you can call an expert, but the one time we had one, my husband and son bought spray and waited till night to poke a hole and blast them. Then they ran around our house and came in to wait it out. The hornets were dead by the morning.
DeleteI know so little about Dolly Parton. Good for her. I had no idea deer behaved that way! Hilarious! Sweet, I guess. But, funny. So so sorry about your washing machine. I have constant stress about mine as well. I don't want to get started on that... "Probably fraud." That's awesome! $100 sweater?! What?! Was it cashmere? Cannot believe you're getting coyotes up there! They're adapting to cold weather, I guess. Yuck! Yikes on those mushroom skulls! Yay on mini peppers. :) Good call on the junk mail. I imagine it will start to have the desired effect eventually. ~B
ReplyDeleteMy grandkids get free books every month in the mail from Dolly’s Imagination Library. She does a ton of charity work, plus she’s just a nice person. It seems most of us have washer issues! Ugh. Yes, when I checked the label, the sweater was cashmere. I’m sure it was a good deal, if you’re into pricey fabric. We have coyote and foxes. How crazy is that? Merry Christmas!
DeleteI remember the foxes. Those are far less scary and creepy than coyotes. Merry Christmas to you too!
DeleteUgh walking past a hornets nest, I use to walk past a house with 2 pittbulls twice they were outside unattended and no fence so now I walk a different way home. Dolly Pies wow. Oh the fox so cool, sadly I saw a cat on the side of the road today that was hit by a car, it was awful. Oh yes I remember my mom got SO much junk mail.
ReplyDeleteAllie of
www.allienyc.com
I would freak out about the pit bulls! Sadly, I’m generally afraid of dogs. I saw my brother and my BF get bitten when we were kids. The amount of junk mail that’s being forwarded to me is crazy.
DeleteSo much to unpack here! The hornet nest! The mushrooms. The Deer Porn! OH MY.
ReplyDeleteYou eat raw veggies for breakfast. With nothing on them? I'm fascinated by this and would love to know more/how/why. I mean, I know roughage is good for us, but no yogurt? Fruit?
Laughing about your husband loving everything about Dolly! What's not to love?
Oh, I've had no issues with my HE washers. I wonder why you are having a myriad of them with yours.
Oh, and have a beautiful Christmas with your family!! XOXO
DeleteThanks, Suz. This is my 3rd HE washer and they’ve all sucked for a variety of reasons. LG, GE, and now Maytag.
DeleteI eat raw veggies for my insulin resistance. Starting the day (and any meal) with vegetables slows down digestion so that you don’t get a glucose spike. I prefer them plain and raw, first thing in the day. If I won’t be home by noon for lunch, I will have something after like a hard boiled egg on toast or walnut butter on my homemade wheat waffle.