Monthly Archives: December 2025

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Snow! Glorious snow…

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Christmas was quiet here at Casa River…

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But it was also gloriously white.

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And may I just give a shout out to whoever invented snow blowers…

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Best winter device, ever.

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Yardstick deployment #2.

🤣

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And while the husband was out blowing snow?

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I was enjoying a good book, a cup of tea and the annual homemade rosemary shortbread gift from our neighbor. Delicious!

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After clearing the driveway, the husband ran out of creamer so we drove to the grocery store.

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It was a beautiful ride…

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Until we cruised around a corner and clipped a hanging power line.

Smack! Right on my side of the windshield of the husband’s new car.

Thankfully, it… and we … and the car…were okay. But I called the power company to report the danger.

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They got right on it, as we saw on our way home.

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Winter driving is beautiful, but it can be hazardous too.

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Neither snow nor rain… my *ss.

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I sent a small box of Christmas gifts to North Carolina through the US postal service to our granddaughter of the heart on Tuesday the 16th of December.

I paid extra for 3 day delivery to make sure it was delivered on Friday the 19th so the presents would be under her tree before Xmas.

Let’s follow said package’s tortuous journey through tracking, shall we?

*Please read from the bottom of the pictures to the top*

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16th – Package left my town.

18th – Arrived and departed Boston.

So far, so good.

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19th – Package is back in Maine.

Why? I have no idea.

20th – Package leaves Maine and arrives in New Hampshire…

Okay, at least it’s headed south again.

But later in the day it’s back in Maine again. What the…

What!

21rst – Package leaves Maine, for the third time.

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21rst – Package arrives in New Hampshire.

22nd – Package is in transit to next facility.

But in actuality it didn’t go anywhere.

23rd – Package leaves New Hampshire and arrives in Massachusetts.

Let’s recap.

Maine to Massachusetts to Maine to NH to Maine to NH …for 3 days where it apparently bounced in and out of the warehouse…to Massachusetts.

7 days and it never managed to leave New England. WTH?

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On Christmas Eve it finally arrived in the South. Probably this way…

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Though I don’t understand how it arrived in Fayetteville, left Fayetteville and arrived back in Fayetteville in the course of 28 minutes.

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Ten days after it left Maine, my (3 day delivery) box of gifts arrived at its destination.

Better late than never should be the new postal service’s motto.

🥴

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News you can’t use.

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Another year, another trove of utterly useless headlines.

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I admit I’m not up to date on trending fetishes, so I had to look this one up.

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Gooning” primarily refers to a prolonged, trance-like masturbation practice involving intense edging (bringing oneself to the edge of orgasm without climaxing) for extended periods, creating a “high” or hypnotic state, often linked to online subcultures.

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Talk about delayed gratification.

Geesh.

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And you thought the loaves and fishes thing was something.

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Religion.

It never fails to surprise me.

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Whaaaat?

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Wow.

There really is one born every minute.

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Apparently not.

🤣

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This seems perfectly appropriate to me.

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“Why ‘slop’? 

“The flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, ‘workslop’ reports that waste coworkers’ time… and lots of talking cats,” according to the dictionary.

“People found it annoying, and people ate it up.”

Like it or loathe it, they argue, the digital sludge is hard to ignore.

“Slop oozes into everything,” Merriam-Webster said.”

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That sums it up nicely. Digital sludge.

Though I’m sure the talking cats disagree.

And now for my last useless snippet of the year.

I’m going to flip useless on its head and drop something that’s not only useful… but almost mandatory for the state of the world right now.

Something we can all use.

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Am I right?

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And then there was snow…

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We woke up Christmas Eve morning to a winter wonderland.

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A deep snow had fallen overnight and I couldn’t have been happier.

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It was the beautiful kind that coats the trees…

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And frosts everything in white.

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It continued for most of the morning.

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Giving us the feeling we live in a snow globe.

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Now this is winter!

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And while my husband went out to shovel a path so he could feed the birds…

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I filled the house with the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg by baking an apple pie.

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We may have scaled back our holiday celebration this year, but it turned out perfectly anyway.

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A front porch picture frame.

😊

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And look! My husband finally put one of those stupid wooden yardsticks he’s always buying to use.

13 inches.

👍

And as soon as I posted our glorious snow photos on Facebook?

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A memory of a previous Christmas trip popped up.

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Florida holidays are fun…

But they never really feel like Christmas to this Yankee girl.

😉

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Winter is here.

30 Comments

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I love winter.

I love the snow and the quiet beauty of a white frosted landscape.

And thanks to menopausal internal heating, I don’t even mind the cold anymore.

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Though things got a bit extreme earlier this month.

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His Lordship?

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He thinks he likes winter, until his feet hit the snow after our first storm…

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And he makes a beeline back to the kitchen door.

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(Not His Lordship, but it could be)

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Winter makes for some interesting parking mishaps as well, though I have no idea what happened here.

😳

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I think we’ve had more snow this month than we had all last winter.

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Note to readers – this post was scheduled before our recent winter storm. It looks a lot whiter here now, as you’ll see tomorrow.

😊

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A quiet birthday.

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I had a birthday recently.

But now that I’ve entered my 6th decade? I can’t say I celebrate like I used to.

Though my sweet husband tries.

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A lovely flower arrangement was delivered late morning.

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And he insisted on driving an hour and a half north to a restaurant we tried once and liked.

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The place had erected bubble tents for segregated seating during Covid and because they were so popular, they’re still in use.

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Cute… but when it’s 11 degrees and starting to snow?

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I prefer indoor dining.

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My spiced pear cranberry mule?

Perfect. It tasted just like Christmas.

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And though I devoured some excellent crab cakes before I thought to photograph them, I did get a shot of the husband’s

CIDER-BRAISED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Cinnamon Crème Fraîche with Crisp Kale…

Just as he ruined the decorative swirl.

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My

CAJUN SHRIMP PASTA

Roasted Sweet Corn, Sweet & Spicy Peppers, Garlic-Parmesan Cream Sauce, Pappardelle Pasta, Micro Cilantro, Lime….

Was spicy and fantastic after I requested they leave off the cilantro.

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The husband chose a

SOLSTICE HALIBUT

Lemon Quinoa, Warm Squash Confit, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Meyer Lemon Marmalade, Beurre Blanc, Pea Tendrils….

Though I have no idea why since he hates quinoa and didn’t eat the tendrils. That left him with a piece of fish and a half a cherry tomato… for $46.

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The sky on the drive home was photo worthy.

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And our backyard buddies greeted us upon return, so I’ll call it a good day.

Even though…

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🥴

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Not what I planned to buy for Christmas.

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Remember this?

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My husband’s BMW, post deer collision.

The one that had more damage than we anticipated when it was towed to the shop.

The one the insurance company totaled.

😥

My husband was not pleased, he loved that car.

And so began the Christmas nightmare.

First step? An insurance paid rental.

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They gave him a Volkswagen Atlas. I’d never heard of the model, but it was a full size SUV.

Plus side? The interior was extremely roomy with lots more space than we’re used to.

Down side? Annoying road noise from a 4 cylinder turbo that’s too small for the vehicle. The engine sounded like it was straining and you couldn’t pass a gas station because that thing had a thirst like a camel who just crossed the Sahara.

Humorous side? It had the smallest shifter I’d ever seen.

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I mean really, really small.

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It was basically a nub.

🤣

I’ll spare you the blow by blow of a week’s worth of shopping for gently used replacement cars with my husband, aka Goldilocks. He wanted another BMW X series but none of them were quite right. Wrong year, wrong color, wrong options, wrong mileage. He was never satisfied…. and after test driving an even dozen of basically the same vehicle? I’d had enough.

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I found him this snazzy one…

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But he hated the seats. No, not the color… the shape.

It was then I pointed him in another direction.

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We’ve never owned an Audi…

But after test driving a few, my oh so picky husband was satisfied.

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Finding one that had comfortable seats, acceptable options, a smooth ride and had just been given new tires, battery and brakes, we had a winner. After fierce negotiation which resulted in a $2,000 price drop, an extra 1,250 mile warranty and of all things a $100 gift card to TJ Maxx/Marshalls…

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We pick up our Q5 tomorrow.

😊

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News you can’t use.

25 Comments

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You can’t use it, but you can laugh along with me reading it.

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Whaaaat?

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I will never look at a penguin the same way again.

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But…

But, they always seemed so sweet.

😳

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Proof positive it’s always the last place you look.

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I figured it would be kale and was ready to rant, but oddly enough it turns out to be watercress. Does anyone even eat that anymore?

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I’ve never understood why people use online password managers … which can be hacked…to store their passwords. My password manager can’t be hacked as it’s a little black book with entries written by hand that I keep in my desk.

Heck, my husband doesn’t even know where it is.

That’s security.

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Perhaps.

But your perspective… or hers?

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