Another one bites the dust – I feed everything especially birds. There weren’t any birds around for a day or two. I assumed there was a hawk hovering but I didn’t see it. You can see them perched on a rooftop or treetop. As I went out to change the water in the bird bath I saw why. There was a dead male cardinal on the patio. There were no bite marks so it wasn’t a critter kill. He probably flew into the house. We have a large kitchen window with a window box under it. It’s all decked for the holidays with greens, lights and big red berries. I took out all the berries which are probably what attracted the bird. No one dies on my watch.
Breakfast anyone? – Last Sunday I was at the mall when it opened. There was a family with two kids walking in at the same time. They all had their Christmas pajamas on – the stretchy fleece kind with reindeer and snowflakes and Christmas balls all over. Even Dad had a pair on. It must have been fun for the kids bit it was really an eyeful, all that color and flash and fleece! (PS: The beloved husband informed me after I posted that this family was getting a portrait taken. They walked into the photo studio to stand in line.)
Like this but they didn’t match. Source: Sleepyheadsdotcom
The 90-minute rule – I had lunch with a friend who has very useful life lessons. We talked about the holidays and she has a 90-minute rule when she goes to functions. She is in and out in 90 minutes. I laughed but when I thought about it, that’s my attention span. Even for a nice dinner, I start rutching around in my seat after a while.
The last hours – My email is filled with sales notices. “Last chance,” “Final hours” or “last day” is prominent in the subject line. Many people complain about it but it’s a part of the holidays. Occasionally you can get a good buy. Other times I enjoy looking at the merchandise for ideas. Sometimes I delete, delete. In January there will be other opportunities for that last chance. The only thing that happens all the time is that once in a lifetime sale.
Woo hoo! – After plateauing for two weeks. Hazel (our chubby cat) has lost another half-pound. She is now under 16 pounds for the first time in five years. There were high fives all around and we broke out the catnip! I do physical therapy by putting her meals on the cat tower steps. It’s very hard to get an old cat to exercise or even move (other than her jaws). (I am proud of me for being so strong with those big sad eyes looking at her empty dish!)
So…how was your week?
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
Kate it is beginning to look a lot like christmas here too, yet no PJ wearing families as yet. Does the kitty get time out for good behaviour at christmas? It would be a bit cruel to sit and stuff your face with all those goodies and make the cat stay on its diet.
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None of my cats except for Jake eat table food so she won’t be bothered by the great smells (unless someone opens a can of cat food then all bets are off). She will get her very own catnip toy. Morgan normally steals everyone’s toys.
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Thoughts on the 90 minute rule. I have planned dinner parties for 4 extra couples (the most I can do) I plan and plan each dish and each bit of the evening. The before drinks and the after dinner dessert and coffee. But you can’t plan for how long guests want to chat with their drink before dinner while the entree is ready 😦 or how long they want to linger over dinner while the flaming whatever is ready to eat 😦
It wasn’t ever that bad, just made me remember. Wish I were able to entertain now. 🙂
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When I host, the 90 minute rule is off the table. I won’t chase out guests especially if I’m having a good time. I make guest sit down to eat when the entrée is ready but for afterward I let it play out on it’s own. We mostly entertain during the summer when everyone is out on the screened porch. It’s easier for a lot of reasons. Ten people is about my max too. The days of a holiday open house for 60 people is gone.
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Any more we just all decide to meet at a restaurant and let somebody else cook and do the dishes. 🙂
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That’s what we do mostly. It also conforms to the 90 minute rule. We entertain less and less all the time and when I do I am less likely (meaning not at all) to break out any dishes that have to be hand washed.
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You are so kind to take all the berries out of your window and at least try to keep the birds from crashing! You are a good samaritan all the way around…even helping Hazel with her physical therapy. 🙂 I always enjoy your R5. And the happy little family going into the mall for a photo shoot in their pjs…such a fun mental picture. 🙂
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Once I realized it was for a portrait (or more likely their holiday card) it made sense. Before that, not so much. The PJs were very revealing….
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Was so amazed to see your use of the word rutching. I haven’t heard that since my Mother died. If I used that word out here in Iowa I’d have to do a lot of explaining. So good to know someone still uses it.
My week was eventful. Our community theater performed an original show which basically was a variety show. I will admit I wrote the initial script but I work with such talented folks that they took their characters and made them much bigger and added lines and props and just made so many things work well. We brought the audiences on a wonderful roller coaster ride of emotions from laughing at silly puppets to poignant renditions of “Breath of Heaven” and “Mary Did You Know.” and exceptional piano artistry of “O Holy Night.” I’m exhausted, but I know we started the Christmas Season for about 250 people.
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That’s sounds like so much fun!
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I think the pajamas at the mall is kinda cute. They came early, and I suppose they went straight to the photographer. You can bet the mother wore her bra.
Our neighborhood Christmas party tonight lasted a little more than two hours. I think a person or two left after 90 minutes. When I left after two and a half hours, there were people who still wouldn’t budge from their chairs even though other chairs and tables were being folded up.
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The Mom may have had a bra on (couldn’t tell they had ski jackets on) but Dad did not have a jock strap on…..
A party where people want to stay for hours is a real success. I usually run out of things to say but I take in a lot of stuff for blogging! 😃
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Ha, ha! You ARE very observant, Kate. The dad didn’t think anyone would notice.
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Hooray Hazel! She is doing better than I am with the diet thing. Sometimes I put my jammies on when I get home from work but I have never gone to the Mall in them. For which the shopping public should be grateful.
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I prefer a nightgown to PJs but I like to change after dinner then settle down to a peaceful evening of reading or TV or petting cats.
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I’m so happy with Hazel’s success. Yes, it is hard when you see those big eyes staring at you and hoping you might just drop a morsel or two. Congratulations to you for resisting that clever kitty’s ploy. 😉
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I seem to remember that you put your cats on a diet too. I think they lost weight. Were they able to maintain it? or did you cave to the treats? We have never done treats in our house and Hazel still was able to sneak around and eat everyone else’s food.
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I believe they have maintained their weight since losing about a pound. If Reggie, our female, could score more food, she would. But Jean Louis, our male, would not be amused if she did. 😉
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I am hoping for more weight loss. My cat is still a good 6 pounds overweight.
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I love your Randoms too. You notice the most interesting things – like the pajama family!
And congratulations to Hazel for her phenomenal weight loss and to you for resisting that starved pleading look. 🙂
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It’s so hard! I wanted to reward her with a steak and a glass of wine. (Guess that will be my reward!)
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Yeah, Hazel … good work! It can be next to impossible to help them slim down a bit. Such sad faces, and growling bellies. Guilt trips running laps around the kitchen. 🙂
My little dog (terrier mix) was a rescue, and he clearly lived on the street at some point. He can sniff out a tiny tidbit from miles away, and can cross a room to snatch up any dropped morsel before you can blink your eyes. If he was allowed free access to kibble all day, I’m completely convinced he would blow up like a zepellin, so I have to be careful about monitoring his intake. Even so, those sad eyes get me every now and then, and he gets an extra treat. Plus an extra walk around the block. 🙂
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Unfortunately I can’t walk Hazel but she can find a single piece of kibble that was dropped anywhere in the house. I want her to jump up on the cat tree so I put some kibble there. Took her a nanosecond to find it (she was in the other room). There is no nose like hers and yes, it’s been harder for me than for her.
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Always enjoy your Random 5 – and high paws to Hazel 🙂
Poor birdie.
Just say no to pajamas in public !!
MJ
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We are celebrating Hazel (without food of course)!
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Good morning Madam…I winced over the Cardinal, my favorite bird. I had a priest friend, no longer with us, named Father Brown who told me, when he was a young man in the seminary, he’d practice giving mass in his modest kitchen where a family of cardinals lived outside his window. “They were my first congregation,” he told me. So whenever I see one I say, “Hi Father Brown, so nice to see you today.”
Love when you say, no one dies on my watch. Says such an important thing about you…how much you care.
Love R5 🙂
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Love my critter friends! Sounds like your Father Brown was a cool person too.
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He was indeed 🙂
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Nice job, Hazel! She’s be ready for that bathing suit come summer. Oh, I hate to hear about the Cardinal, Kate. We have some large windows that birds fly into, but thankfully no fatalities that we know of. I had a great week!
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During the summer we have the occasional bonk on the window but most of the time it’s the bigger mourning doves and they survive. I always worry though.
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Me too! Speak of birds…Go Eagles!
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That may take a prayer…
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I bet that cardinal slammed into the window because he was mesmerized by Hazel’s new “girlish” figure! Go Hazel . . . keep moving.
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Right now she is napping. Eating breakfast was exhausting.
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A catnap after eating is often just the thing.
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I am not a fan of wearing pajamas in public, especially by an adult. To each his own I guess.
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It was unusual. It was 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I wondered if there was a reason (like the kids did something spectacular and were rewarded???)
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I generally don’t care for wearing pyjamas out to the mall. Christmas must be the exception as this family showed. Enjoyed your random 5 once again.
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I don’t even lounge in pajamas so I was stunned to see it out and about.
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