Three Year Olds and Pans of Rolls

Wow. Cold weather. I know it's normal, especially this time of year, but wow. Just freaking cold. I've put the stray cat's bed closer to the cement steps to keep the wind from blowing in. She also has a fuzzy bed inside the "tent" to help her stay warm and comfy. Once in there, she hates getting up in the morning. Not that I can blame her. 

Friday, January 17, 2025

I would love to bring her beautiful soul into the house, but there are already three animals inside, one is another cat who does not play well with others. Kit loves to play, but he's such a large boy that he gets carried away. Togo would chase her around and scare her to death. Peanut? Well, he's so old he could care less at this point so long as they leave him alone. 

If you know of someone or you would love to have a cat that is a sweetheart, please contact us! Terry or I would love to have a forever home for her. We have worked hard to show her humans are good. She will sometimes jump but overall she has calmed and is a good girl. My email address is vmacrae999@gmail.com. 

***

Tomorrow morning (Saturday), Terry and I head out to Eugene to celebrate Zyrah's third birthday! I can't believe she is three already. We are meeting at a pizza parlor to make it even more fun. I can't wait to hug little Z and Nova and see the rest of the family. Good times in making more memories. 

***

On Wednesday Terry came in and asked if I wanted to go to eat some lunch somewhere. Once we were in the car, we chose Five Guys Burgers and Fries since we had not been there before. I had eaten at the one in Eugene but not the eatery here in Roseburg. 

We chose our meals and took a seat. Our number was called fairly fast and I went up to grab the bags. We discussed our food as we ate. I love the fresh fries they make. Not frozen and then fried so they taste like potatoes and not a freezer. 

My husband looked at my burger and asked why I ordered it without any toppings. He at least has onions on his most of the time. I love a good burger, but there are times I want a plain patty with a bun. This was one of those times. He noticed that there was a list of items you could add to a burger, but I asked for mine to be without any optional dressing. When I said I had asked for mine to be plain and I reminded him they threw an extra patty on there, he asked if I ordered a double burger. I said no. 

My husband, and yes, with a straight face, said, "Well, maybe the second patty was a pity patty." Insert a giggle here. "That's some funny shit right there," he said as he laughed. We both laughed at the goofy reply and shortly returned to our regularly scheduled program. He will be here all week, ladies and gentlemen. 

***

So Friday rolled around. I was playing a game on my laptop when in walked my hubby as if he was on a mission. I paused the game, looked up, and here he stood with a beautiful purple orchid. With a childish, happy grin, he said, "Happy monthly anniversary, babe." This is every. Single. Month. You would think I would remember and know it's coming. But no. I consider it an old age thing and call it good. 

I placed the gift of love on top of one of the bookshelves in the office. With time mostly spent in the office, I enjoy the floral arrangements he gives me each month to be in there. That, and we have Kit. Kit loves to get into everything. I seriously mean everything. When I put the flowers in the kitchen, he jumps on the counter and eats the leaves or the flowers, tearing up the plant altogether. Obviously the placement of floral arrangements in the living room won't work either. The office and our bedroom is strictly off limits, so this is where all flowers come to find their forever home. 

Every month he chooses a beautiful gift to show me appreciation and love. I enjoy each and every one of them, probably more than he will ever know. Photos are taken immediately in case anything does happen to the flowers or vase, so I can know the flowers will be put in the blog and on my phone in photographs to remember each one. They have all been so gorgeous and also hit my heart every time. I love that he does this because they do mean so much and that is one of the reasons why I love him. 

***

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Today is the day of Zyrah's birthday. It was a decent drive to Eugene. No rain and a little sun toward the end of the trip. We drove directly to the pizza parlor on Coburg Road. 

Upon entering, we saw Dawn and several others of our group standing in the line for salad and getting drinks. Salad. P-f-f-f-f-t. I'm going straight for the good stuff. There are at least six pizzas sitting on tables in the reserved party room. That's where I'm headed. 

After holding Novalee for a while, and then feeding her in her highchair, I turned to join in on the conversation between Dawn, Brandy, Shar, and Terry. I pulled out the camera and the looks began. Terry glared at me like he had no idea who I was. Brandy and Dan tried climbing over each other to get away from the dreaded photo snapping process. 

Once Terry figured out I was photographing the party, he smiled nicely. Brandy immediately tried to use her husband Dan as a shield from the kryptonite, and Dan hid his face behind his hands. Jeez. You'd think they had never had their pictures taken. 

The funny part of this photo was I was not taking it of any of them. I was trying to zoom in to get the Frozen theme of the party into the shot. Before I zoomed, they zoomed. Out of focus that is. Cowards. 

Dawn and Jess had once more done a perfect job of decorating the place in the Frozen theme. 

Pretty soon the birthday girl began to open her cards and presents. 

This pic came out strange. She opened the card and someone grabbed the money out of it before it fell. The camera kind of picked up both motions. 

Zyrah is three now and can't read, but she looked over each card with love and care. 

Terry and I gave her the gift of fun. One present was an arts and crafts type of project. There were sheets of foil that you could design artwork with. I believe it came with some sheets of background material to place the foil in different designs. 

The other gift was a box of fingernail polish for little girls and some nail art to put on after the polish dried. I know she loves to paint her nails and thought it would be fun for her. She opened it and asked, "Is this mine?" Her mother told her yes. Zyrah smiled from ear to ear, hugged her new nail products and said, "I love this." This was followed by a, "Thank you grandma and grandpa." She was pleased and that made me happy. 

Terry had stopped and grabbed an adorable card. It had a unicorn and what little girl does not like unicorns? On top of the unicorn card, it came with a sheet of unicorn stickers. Once again, how many little girls do not love stickers? It was perfect. We both signed it. That meant she also had a sheet of stickers to put all over her mom, her little sister, and the two dogs. Should be fun. Jessee was grateful to us both, I'm sure. 😏

After seeing the fingernail art kit, Jess looked over at us and said, "Yeah. Thanks grandma and grandpa," and then let out a big laugh. Since you used to put stickers all over us, get into your mother's fingernail polish, and anything else to make a mess, you're welcome sweet granddaughter of mine. You're welcome. It's the circle of life, Jess. 

My daughter Marina gave her a new experience in baking and making all things yummy. Zyrah received a baking kit, an apron from Poland, and an ice cream maker. Next week Marina plans on going to Jessee's to have some awesome fun making Z's favorite of strawberry ice cream. I can't wait to see how all of that turns out. I thought it was a great idea to give her the ice cream maker and other items to let Z work in the kitchen for fun. I love the fact that she will now be hanging out in the kitchen, but I'm sure Jess probably has different plans for her day since she also has two pups and another baby girl to care for. It will be interesting. 

***

We are back home on Sunday, January 19, 2025 and ready to roll. I'm going to get things done this morning and then head out to work. I would like to work for a little bit to see how things go today. Getting out is good for me since I'm still having issues with my ankle stiffening on me and causing some pain. 

Terry is back to relaxing outside and enjoying his cigars. It's a good thing. Because tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. day, he has another day off work, making it a five streak run this weekend. Good for him! 

***

I am craving to work on cakes. Mini cakes to be exact. I think I may make a couple of mini cakes for Terry, Mallory, and me. Terry loves German chocolate, Mallory loves chocolate, and I'm going to work on getting a nice cherry cake with cream cheese frosting perfected for my daughter Brandy's upcoming birthday. 

The mini cakes are awesome. Enough cake for one or two servings or there are longer aluminum pans to make a cake with about four servings, depending really on how much one person can eat. The baker attaches a plastic fork on top of the pan cover when serving them to make a cake-on-the-go type of dessert. I just saw some heart shaped cake pans for a one person serving too, so off I go on the idea to make these cakes happen. If they turn out and I truly love making them, they will go on the menu for Sweet Mama Macrae's cottage bakery plan of action. 

***

I wanted to work on some cakes, but didn't have the supplies to do so. Instead, I made spaghetti and some soft, fluffy dinner rolls instead. 

We had one or two for dinner and then after dinner the rolls became a snack. 

I ate one later on in the evening with butter and jelly. Sugar free jelly of course, but nonetheless, raspberry jelly. So good. I will be making pan after pan of these when ordered in the bakery. 

Well, folks, that's about it for our weekend. Five days off for Terry since it's Martin Luther King Jr.'s day. It's all just fun and games until someone gets hurt and has to go back to work again on Tuesday. 

I'll leave this post right here and we thank you again for reading the blog. You are all special to us and we appreciate you. We don't make money on the blog and we don't get a brownie button or anything, but we do enjoy sharing our love and lives with those of you who like to read. These are our memories. 

Take care of yourself and others around you. We need the love and light of others especially right now as the world is a tough place to live in. Thanks again and see you all next week!

@psychicpoet0188