...

 ...few more bird shots, Nate visits and board games, Peter Pan 2003, finished the bug skit (but are we going to be there for that?), drains, wood, Spring Training books... updates coming soon...

...

Winter is coming.  Okay, it's already here, but the kind of winter we haven't seen yet is on the way, due here sometime this weekend.  That said, we were out grocery shopping before coming back home.  We'll have updates in a bit...

 ...Peter Pan, grocery shopping, ...

That's No Moon, it's a Popcorn Maker

Ah!  The Death Star Popcorn Maker!  It's National Popcorn Day, and before we went to bed, we were watching a few just-released episodes of "Phineas and Ferb," and decided to celebrate the important holiday by having some popcorn from our Death Star Popcorn Maker.     

Occasionally, I write some reviews for these products, and here's one I wrote for the Death Star Popcorn Maker:   

The designers should be proud of this technological terror they've created, because this fully armed and operational popcorn maker is ideal for obliterating your hunger! Are you ready for popcorn to enjoy while watching a movie from a galaxy far, far away? Load up the kernels. You may fire when ready!

* Note: we've discovered a small thermal exhaust port on the surface, with a shaft that leads directly to the popcorn maker's reactor system. A precise hit MIGHT start a chain reaction which should actually destroy the Death Star Popcorn Maker.

Tonight Mom and I had a nice little date at Cracker Barrel.  It was quiet there and really cold outside - the fire was in the fireplace there, and we had a nice meal together.  I had a vegetable plate, and Mom got some pot roast.  It was a nice meal, and afterwards we were looking around at the store, looking for Valentine's Day and Easter ideas and just doing some general shopping, killing time.  Look at this fun idea for an Easter decoration:

So we were doing that while Maddie was down the road at another Mexican restaurant, celebrating her friend's nineteenth birthday.  Maddie just found out that her friend keeps all of the homemade cards that Maddie makes for her - this year she did another one.  Nate was there too at the restaurant, and they had a good time there.

Meanwhile, Mom and I were using up gift cards.  We got some items - and food - at Cracker Barrel, using up some on our gift cards there, and then we had gift cards to Target, so we dropped over there for a bit.  I was sort of saddened to see that there weren't any blu-ray or DVDs there anymore.  Such is the way of technology.  Ironically, there were vinyl records there.  Anyway, we were there for a few items here or there.  It was just walking around.  It's funny how quiet both of these locations were tonight, when just a month ago they were crawling with people and lacking in parking spaces outside.  

We had a good day today.  We do have a looming forecast though, one we've been looking at the last two days:  next weekend looks challenging to say the least.  Usually we aren't as confident a week out of some weather event, but this time around there seems to be a higher level of certainty.  We'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, it's just cold here.  And windy.  We got home and watched a few of those latest episodes of "Phineas and Ferb" (along with the popcorn!), and then it was time for some reading, and then bed.  It's easy to get to sleep under those nice warm blankets! 

A Few Bugs at KidPak

We had another fun morning at KidPak - we had a few bugs, but that's okay because we had bug characters on stage once more.  We're still attempting to get Nerdo back to full size in our skit, as he's currently the size of a grasshopper.  It's been great fun - the messages are really good as we dive back into stories about the Garden of Eden and even Noah's Ark.  And I get to be a house fly!  Here are just a few of the pictures that Maddie took this morning.

Quiet day afterwards.  Maddie was over with Nate - I dropped her off there, and she spent the day there with the family.  I went back to see Mom at home.  She watched church online, and had a restful day.  It's cold out there, but there's hints of things getting colder in a week or so, and possibly with some frozen precipitation too.  

Got another post card!  I was on the treadmill, still doing the Elvis thing.  I finished up "Paradise, Hawaiian Style," which was just a fun Elvis movie, although not my favorite of the group.  Still, it's been fun.  The next movie I'm checking out will be "Charro!"  That's an Elvis movie where he doesn't sing at all, but rather walks about as a branded gunfighter.  From what I understand, Clint Eastwood actually worked with Elvis to get the gunslinging part just right, the action of the quick draw, and all that fancy gun play with the twirls and rapid movement getting the gun back into the holster.  Can you imagine two icons Clint Eastwood and Elvis Presley sitting there together, working on a quickdraw?  I wish there was a picture to go with any of that, because it sounds so epic.  In fact, they probably tried to take a picture of it, but the awesomeness on display was so much that it broke the camera.

ANYWAY, moving on, Mom and I watched yet another recording of a live production tonight, this time one I've never seen before:  "The Sound of Music."  This was the one that started them all off, a full-scale live production with Carrie Underwood taking the lead and a fantastic cast delivering a really entertaining performance.  I think the bar was pretty low for me coming into this one, as there were some folks that may have been disappointed.  And sure, it's not filmed in the Alps with Julie Andrews.  But it is a really well-done production, and we enjoyed it for what it is, a live play that has a lot of heart and energy.   And of course we're singing all the songs.  I popped on a Von Trapp Family record so we could hear the actual family's music.  Mom wants to watch the Julie Andrews one next.

Meanwhile, over at Nate's...

Maddie had a good day over at Nate's place, of course.  She got home and we watched a few episodes of Phineas and Ferb, and after that read some more from our book in the Discworld.  We have school tomorrow - we said our prayers and got some sleep tonight.  It's really cold out there!

Deconstructing Christmas

Okay, ornaments are really coming down off the trees now - lots done, and lots to go.  But today was a day of deconstructing Christmas, or the "De-Santafication Process," as we've been calling it.  It's comforting to know that the neighbors still have lit up trees in their windows still, at least some of them.  You pass them by and get this feeling that it's okay to take your time taking all these down.

Today I was on the treadmill finishing "Fun in Acapulco," a pretty good Elvis movie and number four on my watchlist presently.  There are about six of them streaming on a particular channel, so I'll watch those while I can - all of them new movies to me.  It's been great marching along on this virtual path through Memphis.

Mom is getting better, and that's great news.  We still took our time today, relaxing as we tried to straighten this house up.  So much still to do.  It's overwhelming.  But I was out there doing a bit of grocery shopping at one point, getting a few must-haves.

It's so cold out there.  Middle Georgia is actually getting snow tonight, as is the Florida Panhandle.  A year ago, that was thought of as a "once in a lifetime" sort of thing, and here they are a year later, once again getting snow!  Our turn for the winter precipitation looks to be next week, and the meteorologist that I grew up listening to is already telling us this one could be big.  That's the end of January.  We'll see how that turns out soon enough!

Meanwhile, we're keeping those birds fed out there.  They are really flocking to the back deck, all kinds of birds.  Our camera is catching a lot of pictures, and we even just replaced the suet blocks on that feeder.  They're really busy out there.

We've had this song in our heads today, and it was from the "Pete's Dragon" soundtrack.  I have no idea why that song got into our heads, but tonight we watched the original "Pete's Dragon."  I have a strong memory of going to see this at Radio City Music Hall when I was young.  I just looked it up - the date was November 3, 1977.

I don't remember as much from when I was younger, not much at all.  But I do remember waiting outside, and a little of inside.  Our family was there though!

Tonight we went to bed earlier, as everyone's been through the wringer this week.  We've got service in the morning, and Mom just might stay home for that one.  But KidPak is going to be great.  We read some from "The Fifth Elephant," and then said our prayers.  Time to tuck in under those warm blankets and get some rest!

Semiquincentennial

The weather outside is pretty cold, but doing this Elvis-themed virtual marathon has been fun on the treadmill indoors while watching movies I've never seen before, classics like "Easy Come, Easy Go," "Roustabout," "Fun in Acapulco," and "Girls! Girls! Girls!"  Next up:  "Paradise, Hawaiian Style."  Each day I've been posting some Elvis quotes as I'm walking in Memphis - virtually, of course.  It's a great theme this month!

This morning we were back to the chiropractor getting our adjustments.  Mom is still under the weather, but she came along with us because adjustments help the whole body out.  Maddie is seen above getting a quick adjustment, and look who is in the background, looking on.  

Looks like he's ready for an adjustment too.

Yep, he's definitely needing an adjustment.

All better now?

Tonight Maddie was at taekwondo, of course.  She enjoyed the training, and the discussions about all the events coming in the new year.  Afterwards, we stopped by Nate's place, because he missed tonight due to being sick.  He's been under the weather all week now, and that's a bummer.  But Maddie dropped by and that cheered him up.

We started getting some of these ornaments off the tree, and we'll continue that work through the weekend.  This gave me an opportunity to watch over Mom and get her tea from time to time, or a hot water bottle or whatever she needed.  Meanwhile, we had some things on the television while I was taking down Christmas decorations and ornaments.  It's a big process.  

As we took some ornaments down, we actually got some new ornaments in the mail.  Each year I get the latest White House Historical Society ornament, and this year they had three ornaments available because it's the semiquincentennial.  That's a crazy word.  And we're going to be hearing it a lot this year.  I mean, it's easier to say "250th anniversary," right?  Anyway, the new ornaments came in:  I got the official one for the year, a really amazing replica of the Declaration of Independence.  There's also another new ornament, a 250th anniversary ornament with an eagle and map of the lower 48 states.  Alaska and Hawaii are going to feel left out on that one.  The third ornament I picked up was something that completed a small gap in my Presidential time line:  the second Grover Cleveland ornament.  This one was from 2009, and is just gorgeous.  It celebrates the first time electric Christmas lights were on a tree at the White House.  It's a unique ornament because it's another Grover Cleveland ornament, commemorating his second term, that nonconsecutive term back in 1892.  There are interesting parallels between President Cleveland and our current President, including the fact that both had to deal with something in Venezuela.  Anyway, these three patriotic ornaments will go up soon enough on a patriotic tree, one we'll probably set up earlier this year because it's our nation's... wait for it... semiquincentennial!

Okay, so I did some office work while Maddie was at taekwondo.  Hopefully we're all ready for Sunday now!  Tonight's movie was an old one, but a new one to me.  I never got around to seeing "Little Giants" before, but we saw that tonight and it was pretty fun.  It's one of those kids feel-good sports movies, and it had some fun and warm moments. 

We got to bed early tonight after prayers and reading.  Mom is sleeping on the couch, tissues at the ready and sleeping easier with some fever reducing meds that help you sleep.  Maddie and I read some more from Discworld tonight, that adventure moving along nicely.  It was a good day.  Cold though!  

The Robining

Here are a few more shots from our bird feeder camera, which takes quite a few duds, but right there in the midst are some really fun pictures of our bird visitors.  I like that image of the bluebird up there.  You got to have the dried worms out there to attract them, although the grackle and mockingbird and robins are pretty pushy.  Speaking of robins, once a year we have an event in our front yard.  I call it... the Robining!  That's because - no joke, there's well over fifty and maybe upwards to eighty robins in our front yard all at the same time.  I usually think of them as solitary sorts of birds, bounding through yards looking for worms or whatever.  But beneath our mighty Bradford trees are seeds - or something - that apparently attracts a massive flock of robins.  It's almost unsettling looking out there in the front yard and seeing it teeming with robins.  The ground moves, there are just so many out there! 

Emma picked up Maddie this morning, and the two went out for coffee together before heading to chapel.  Emma has been so kind, and I'm glad the two can talk and catch up.  Chapel was good, although at one point nobody could leave the North Campus because there was a suspicious package dropped off at the Race Trac gas station nearby, closing the road.  Eventually, there was an all-clear - and I was able to go pick up Maddie.

So Mom is still recovering, and I'm watching over her and doing some work from home.  I did do some walking today, more marching along a virtual path with an Elvis theme there.  Suddenly we're getting these Graceland advertisements on social media and on television.  Someone's listening in!

Maddie was at taekwondo tonight, and that was a night for helping with instruction, but also for leadership class.  Afterwards, she visited with Nate for a bit, as he's been sick this week.  It's been tough on him lately.  Mom and Nate - both sick and recovering.  Fortunately, there aren't any big events going on right now.

Tonight's feature movie was "Abominable," which is one of our seasonal favorites here.  We were off to reading from "The Fifth Elephant" after that, and then bed after prayers.  It was a good day.  Maddie's been working on some artwork for Nate, including some origami that she's hooked on.  I'm using this AI song tool to create some really fun versions of each and every Psalm.  It's taking a while, but some of these Psalms are pretty cool.  I'm not sure what King David would think of what I'm doing with his lyrics.  But if anything, I've got the lyrics in my head, because we all know that singing verses is an easier way to memorize things.

Okay, time for sleep.  We all get to sleep in tomorrow, somewhat!

Resting Woodpecker Face

I'm moving through the virtual path from Tupelo to Memphis, and just got another post card.  The has been a great virtual training with post cards like the one above, plus a little slide show going through his early years leading up to stardom.  It's been especially fun walking along while watching actual Elvis movies, so far all the ones I haven't seen yet.  I just finished "Roustabout," and now I'm watching "Girls!  Girls!  Girls!"  

Mom's been sick, and that's why I'm working from home mostly.  I was at the office for the first part of the day, at least while Maddie was at college here.  But once I took Maddie home, we all ate lunch and I stayed by Mom's side the rest of the day.  I was taking those ornaments down off the living room tree while we were having a two-part movie marathon.  I kept Mom hydrated with plenty of hot tea, and of course kept busy with packing, cleaning up the kitchen and so forth.  

Check out these images here of some of our bird visitors to the back porch.  One of my chores is keeping these guys and gals fed, and there was this one point where a hairy downey decided to take a break right there on the suet feeder.  It's a cold day, so perhaps it was just the feeling of warm sun beams pouring down on him that sort of gave him pause to stop and enjoy the day a bit.  He was resting there for over ten minutes, no joke.  I thought there was a problem, but no, he was just sitting there blinking, looking about from time to time, just relaxing.  Good for him!

We read some more before bed, and also said our prayers.  It's super cold outside, and going to get much colder as these waves of chill sweep down over the whole area.  There's the usual talk of snow, although the question of precipitation and accumulation in our area is still up to debate amongst meteorologists.  Not me.  Like a victory from a Georgia sports team, I'll believe it when I see it.

Anyway, it was a good day today.  Mom is resting in the living room tonight, sleeping on the sleeping pad and riding out this illness.  Hopefully it will be over with soon.  At least it's not too bad - she's just tired quite a bit, and that's a familiar pattern from about five years ago when she had that other little virus.  Anyway, we're all in for the night, nice and warm and grateful for the blankets.  Goodnight!

Next Elvis milestone, sick Mom, ornaments coming down, finished skit, woodpeckers resting, Honey I Blew Up Kid, bitter cold on the way, updates coming soon...

First Order: Exploremores

 

Maddie finished the Star Wars puzzle - or should I say, "The Empire Strikes Back" puzzle.  Looking closer at the images, it appears as if this is artwork for the second Star Wars movie, my favorite one.

This one took a bit longer because of the areas of blue that needed filling in, but Maddie kept at it, also getting some help from Nate of course.  It looks great!  Now we can clear off this puzzle and get ready for the next one, right?

Here's Maddie and Emma at the KidPak office area.  Maddie had college today, and afterwards, she ws with us at the office.  We had a meeting, discussing our upcoming weekend and other events.  I was working on some writing, getting about half the skit done for this weekend.  I'll finish it up tomorrow, but the bigger accomplishment was our completion of the February booklet for "Better Together."  That's pretty much done by this point, and that's great news!

Check this out!  It's a new Girl Scout Cookie flavor!  I didn' know this existed until tonight when a few Girl Scouts showed up at our front door.  We resisted the urge to ask if the cookies were made of Girl Scouts, but we did order three boxes of cookies.  Yes, Thin Mints are my favorite.  And for good measure, I ordered some Samoas.  But also, why not get with the hype and try some of these new Exploremores?  You can see above they are supposed to be rocky road ice cream inspired cookies - the order says we'll be seeing a Girl Scout on our front porch some time in February 21st to deliver these cookies, at which point we can share a review of the new flavor, and also inhale a box of Thin Mints. 

It was a good day today.  We had fun with our yearly distraction session, where young speakers are put in front of a highly distracting audience, and tasked with the job of finishing the delivery of a sermon.  It's a zany bit of fun, as we're in the audience creating all kinds of random distractions.  I actually got the security guard to chase me off the stage while someone was speaking, and of course that was pretty crazy.

Tonight we read from "The Fifth Elephant" once again, and after that it was time for prayers.  It was a good day today!

High Kick

Fun moment this evening when Maddie was paired up with a pretty tall guy doing some exercises, some high kicks that turned out to be even higher now!  It was fun watching that pairing for a bit.  Maddie had another good night tonight - lots of fun at taekwondo for Monday night.  No Nate tonight - he was under the weather, but hopefully he'll get better soon enough.  

Oh, look who's at the front door!  Groundhog Day is only a few weeks away, and Mom is always so good to put out decorations.  We're still taking down decorations too - the crossover is pretty big right now with so much to take down and put away.  For example, we got the Christmas framed pictures down today.  We still have trees to go, of course.  It takes time!

But speaking of Groundhog Day, the weather is cold outside.  Very chilly, so we'll see what the groundhog thinks for the next six weeks after that.  In the meantime, another cold blast is on the way Thursday, and later on there'll be yet another one to further things down, down, down on the thermometer.  Mom is feeling under the weather, sort of back and forth - some days she's improving, and others just tired and feverish.  We just have to keep taking care of Mom.

It's January, and I'm still marching towards Memphis, at least virtually.  The Elvis-themed walk has been a real blast because it's giving me a chance to watch all these fun Elvis movies.  The one I was watching today while walking was "Roustabout," another fun movie with a word I don't use too often:  roustabout.  I think I'll start using it more often, as I myself tend to be a roustabout with the various assignments needed to get done at the office.

Maddie was working the Star Wars puzzle today - I think we're almost done with that one.  It's a new puzzle she got for Christmas, and I'll likely show some images of that tomorrow when it is all finished up.  Looking close though!

Tonight after taekwondo we saw "Lilo and Stitch," the 2025 live action movie from last summer.  The last time we saw this movie (also the first!) was on the Disney Magic!  So the movie has a special place in our hearts.  It was nice to watch again, a fun movie with lots of heart.

Okay, moving on!  We finished our "Monk" mystery book tonight, and now it's time to rejoin the Discworld with a new book for Maddie:  "The Fifth Elephant."  We're just getting started, but it'll be good to revisit the gang again, the City Watch, and see what they're all up to.  We said our prayers after that, and soon it was time for some sleep.

The Bugs are Back

 

Back to the bugs again on stage at KidPak.  This is the skit we just wrote, where Nerdo is finally on stage for the first time in 2026.  He's been shrunk to something bug-sized, and these friendly little insects are going to help him get back to Professor Wisenheimer's house.  We'll see how things go with those skits the rest of this month.  It was a great message from the book of Genesis this morning, with solid worship in the morning, and a super videos too.  A lot of work goes into these services, and Maddie was there to take pictures.  Here below are just a few of the ones she shared on the church website.

After service, Maddie went over to Nate's house for a bit, but so did we!  We were there to celebrate Nate's birthday, and we were invited over for dinner.  The family ordered out for some PF Chang's and that was really nice.  And then it was time for cake, and Nate's seventy-first birthday!

Yes, perhaps someone got the candles on there backwards!  Anyway, we got Nate a gift, a LEGO Star Wars book that sort of cataloged a lot of the LEGO creations that Nate currently has, and gave him a glimpse of others that he might want down the road.  It was nice spending a good bit of time over there, talking with his parents, and meeting the family cats.  

When we got home, Mom and I watched "The Bad Guys 2," before Maddie eventually got home afterwards, given a ride from Nate's parents.  We have school tomorrow for Maddie, so we did get to sleep on time.  Before bed, we finished that Monk mystery book, and now the real killer has been caught and arrested.  So no worries there!  Maddie and I are anxious to return to the Discworld tomorrow though, continuing with the City Watch books.  

We said our prayers tonight, and then got under those blankets.  Maddie got tucked in, the Plush Entourage all around her.  And Mom and I sat up in bed doing a few of our online puzzle games.  It was windy and cold out there, and it's supposed to be even colder soon!  Brrrrr!