2026

 

 

A bright shiny new year...full of possibilities!!!

And the chocolate-covered cherries are gone...therefore, December is over.

Winter still has a couple of months to go.

As John and I learned on NYE...midnight is way past our bedtime now...lol!

This year's motto?

Stephen King summed it up best.

This year I choose LIVING.

Several noticeable changes in ability...and still not sure what is real and what is stress-induced.

...and 2025 was stressful...

This year we are hoping for much less stress and low-impact, peaceful living.

Started the year with everything paid, and no debt.

Need to work on OT and PT.

 ...we've both lost some muscle mass...have 25 pounds we could lose...and I'm having a lot more loss of small muscle control...primarily on my left side...and my handwriting has turned to shit...again...

John's battle with cancer and my "stopping and recalculating" resulted in an overall "stuck-ness" last year and, admittedly, some depression with new limitations.

Feeling optimistic with the New Year!

If John can beat cancer...surely I can get stronger and get interested in life again...and relearn to sign my damned name.

And relearn to use my camera...

...don't ask...a bit of information that has just fallen out of my brain...

 

                                   Here's to a better 2026!!!!

 

 

Goodbye 2025

 

Stirring hot cocoa with a candy-cane and a light snowfall outside...and here it is...the end of 2025.

The guy and I, intending to watch the ball drop in Times Square together tonight...ring in the New Year...necessitating a pre-midnight nap, of course...lol!

...this growing old stuff isn't for sissies...

A year of ups and downs.

Some changes...good and no-so-good.

...the older I get...the more I realize this is just life...

Survived the Covid that tried to kill me off last Dec/Jan.

James made 38...Lennon made 37 and Chris is now 36.

Leonard Peltier was freed!

My sister, Tina, solidified her crazy cat-lady status by adding Charlotte and Shadow to her menagerie this year.

We has watched in horror as Trump and his hate-filled MAGA took over and have made an absolute mockery of our government.

...this, too, shall pass...

The Eagles won the Superbowl!

We tried new things and ran away a bit.

In March...John's cancer was back and there was metastasis to his brain.

By April, we were having surgery...radiation and chemo...and immunotherapy.  

I became an official senior citizen at 65. 

In May, Lachlan turned 1.

Chris and Tina celebrated their 6th anniversary...and James and Jess celebrated their 1st.

By June, chemo and radiation were over and we were getting back to normalcy.

And the bears came out of hibernation!

I did 2 months virtually on the Arizona Trail.

...I also learned that desert hiking was not my cup-of-tea...

Over the summer, James released a couple of albums and Chris secured a great position in I.T.

Lennon put all his remaining vacation days together and took the entire month of December off!

In August...we tested and the doctors found John's cancer was in complete remission!!!!!

...this exciting news would soon be followed by a recurrence of the inability to tolerate the immunotherapy...

After a week in the hospital he was back home.

Chunk won FAT BEAR WEEK!!!

In Portland...the had The Frog Brigade...and arrested The Giraffe Guy.

Football was back!!!

I ended up having a late Thanksgiving with the boys and grands...which was wonderful.

The immunotherapy reared its ugly head again and John spent another week in the hospital.

We did manage to pull off an early Thanksgiving and a late Christmas together!!!

He is STILL in remission!!!! 

The Colts and Kansas did not make the playoffs this year.

...sad face...

And we have both discovered LANDMAN...and are hooked!

...happy face...

So...yeah...that has been a brief synopsis of this year.

Looking forward to the ball-drop...maybe a pizza...and a bright shiny New Year!!!

 

Love,

Carla, John and The Cats

 

 

  

 

 

 

That Post Christmas...End of the Year Blur...

Does anybody really know what day it is?????

December Something.

Those fuzzy days between Christmas and the New Year...too much good food and leftovers...too many bubble baths and naps...to much screen time or sofa time...football...and look...more food!!!

Yeah...it is kind of like that.

John and I celebrated a wonderful chocolate-cake-filled Christmas.
 

We totally spoiled the cats this year.

Enjoyed Sisters Day with Tina yesterday.

 And now (until Jan 1st) we fall back and regroup...and Christmas is over.

Hope yours was wonderful!!!

See everyone here on NYE!

 

Love,

Carla

(...stuffing my face and watching the game...)

 

 

 Lachlan and Santa

Twas the Day BEFORE the Night Before Christmas....

 

And all through the house...all you can hear is that damned jingle mouse!!!

The halls are all decked...the tree is festooned with painted snow tipped pine cones...red berries...red and white candy canes and twinkling white lights...candles are lit...Christmas Jazz fills the background...and finishing the last Cinderella Day before Christmas Eve...

And WHERE THE HELL DID ALL THESE CAT TOYS COME FROM?

It would appear that Tux has chewed through the side of his kitty-stocking while I slept and the living room is now a minefield of green and red jingle balls...stuffies...and assorted catnip mice! 

~sigh.

Laundry to dry...dishes to clean up...and then a long luxurious soak in the bubble bath (with Christmas Cookie scented scrub).

Wishing Everyone the Very MERRIEST of Christmas!!!

Love,

Carla and Tux 

 

 

Yeah...Today Makes 11 Months...

 

How are we doing???

 

Yes...me, too.

Since last we left Comb-over Caligula we've:

 

Bombed more boats...lost the ACA subsidies...capture two oil freighters...bombed Syria...watched the economy go to hell...saw page after full page of the Epstein files be completely redacted...saw in-fighting in the GOP...watched him speed give whatever the hell that angry speech was...tell us Congress doesn't need to know if he goes to war...

and so much much more..........

~sigh

 

People are quitting.

Tempers are boiling over.

MAGA are waiting to be told what to think next.

And 37 months until it is over.

 

One more month and we have survived the first year.

 

My happy thought?

We are all temporary.

Even him.

 

We can do this!

 

 

Decking the Halls...John's Birthday...SNOW....And Week 14...

 

It's beginning to smell a lot like....York's Peppermint Patty????

 

...can THAT be right...

 

The tree is lit with hundreds of tiny white lights and festooned with red and white candy canes. At it's base a comfy red throw that Tux-kitty has already claimed. Fir scented candles...bright red faux poinsettia and candy-cane foaming soap.

Then, there was the oil.

To be mixed with cleaning supplies...it was Crushed Candy-Cane scented.

After dusting, I realized that the entire house now smelled a lot like York Peppermint Patty.

...also...now I want one...

Week 14 was brutal...both our teams lost and Indiana Jones got a season ending injury.

...more about this later...

And Kansas HAS to win on Sunday or we are pretty much out of the playoffs.

Then, Riley Leonard also got injured...so we were out of QBs.

THEN...we decided to hire out of retirement Phillip Rivers.

44 year old...has been retired for 5 years...10 kids...A GRANDPA, for godsake!!!

No.

I'm not joking.

So now...I wait for this week's game 15 with morbid fascination.

Rough Week.

John in the hospital Mon-Fri with lung complications from that damned immunotherapy.

...at least we know now that it could flare up for even 2 more years...

He is back on the Prednisone, and home!

Today is his birthday!!!

 "So happy to have my lap back, Dad!!!"

 We are going to celebrate after Christmas.

For this weekend we are hibernating.

It has snowed all day and is snowing tonight.

T-bone steak with all the trimmings...quiet...and football tomorrow!!!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Love,

Carla

 

 Lachlan in the snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Update:

            And just like that our seasons are over and chance for the playoffs/Superbowl is gone.

 

Oh well...there's always next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving...Week 13...December...Snow....and Rubber Chickens!

 

"Let it SNOW...let it SNOW...let it SNOW!!!"

 

 But first...

 And this year we have much to be THANKFUL for!

Here is some of mine.

It is hard, with jobs and such, to get us in a large squirmy pile these days.

Tina had to work and several of the grands were missing, and Lennon was on the phone...but it was still wonderful!

I am thankful...and blessed! 

Now the holiday...food...and November is over.

Stowing the Fall stuff today...and tomorrow...up goes the tree!

 

"Not yet. Wait one more day!!!"

This year the color is Red with tiny white lights, and the scents are Christmas Tree and Crushed Candy Canes.

The weather cooperated, and we have snow on the ground with more headed this way!

The Week 13 Games for The Colts and Kansas were both dismal. Now 8-4 and 6-6 respectively.

The Colts may make the playoffs...but Kansas has little chance at this point.

 

Then there is The Chicken Guy...

https://youtube.com/shorts/O9T9sV7vkDI?si=5vnaly5JGfzpFcYm

The part, for me, that makes this extremely funny is that the guy who is doing this is actually a classically train orchestral pianist. He can play everything beautifully. Mozart...Chopin...Beethoven...

So...at what point in your life do you say

"Fuck it...I'm just going to play the Rubber Chicken."

Really.

 Off to a hot bubble bath and a nap...then to finish the house.

Love,

Carla