This Stop Willoughby

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse. The stockings were hidden in the closet with care, Because I was sure that no one would look there. The children were upstairs, sleeping away, Too old to be looking for Santa and his sleigh. Mr. W had fallen asleep watching TV, So the only one conscious in the whole house was me. Out of the corner of my eye I spied quite a sight, From the star shaped decoration that held a tea light. The soft mellow flame had grown quite a bit higher, As the small cup of wax began to catch fire. I blew and I blew, but it did me no good. The air did not extinguish the flames as it should. Mr. W woke from his short Christmas nap, And rushed to my aid as quick as a snap. He blew, just like me, which made matters worse, Unsure what to do, we started to curse. Mr. W grabbed the star, fast as a wink, And rushed the whole mess right to the sink. When he doused it with water, flames only j...

Sorry, this announcement is a little later that I intended it to be.  The names of all participants were put in a hat and shuffled around thoroughly.  Mr. Willoughby then randomly drew one name.  The winner is Joanna of The Fifty Factor!  Congrats, Joanna!  Have fun shopping! Thank you to everyone who entered my Novica giveaway. Willoughby

I am excited to announce that Novica has, once again given me a $50 gift card to award to one lucky winner.  If you're not familiar with Novica , they work in association with National Geographic to bring the work of talented artists and artisans around the globe to the rest of the world via the internet. Shopping their website is a unique experience as you can view information about each artist along with the works they create.  It gives each item a very personal feeling.  In the Keepers Of The Arts section, you can watch videos of the artists at work. I love Novica so much that I could go on and on telling you how wonderful their website is, what great customer service they have and, especially, how talented the artisans are, but it would be much more fun for you to see for yourself.  Before you head over there, though, let me give you a sneak peak of some of the wonderful things you'll discover (and maybe help you find some unique Christmas gifts). Wool...

I'm just not feeling it this year.  Christmas, I mean.  Any enthusiasm I'm able to muster is pretty much forced.  I'm not entirely sure why it doesn't seem to hold the same excitement for me that it used to, but it just doesn't. I feel badly about it.  Christmas should be a magical time. Maybe it's the weather.  I dread winter.  I have no interest in dealing with months of snow and cold, and driving on icy roads get old really quick.  We've only had a light dusting or two so far, but December marks the beginning of four or five months of bad weather.  It's likely colored my outlook on Christmas. More than that, I think it's that the Christmas push starts earlier and earlier every year.  My local supermarket started putting up their holiday displays in September.  By now, I've had my fill of Christmas and it hasn't even gotten here, yet. I find the advertising more obnoxious than usual this year, too.  One store is telling you ...

Last year, our daughter decided she was too old for trick or treating so we started a new tradition of spending the evening around a fire in the backyard and handing out candy from the arbor that opens onto the sidewalk.  It's fun and gives us an opportunity to decorate more than just the front porch. So once again, we roped off the front walkway with "Danger" tape and hung a sign directing the trick or treaters around the corner to the backyard (our house is on the corner). We still wanted to have a Halloween display on the front porch, so we converted it into a morgue, complete with a dead body. We placed our pumpkins along the route to the "Haunted Gate". Last year, we had creature silhouettes peeking out the side windows.  This year, we opted for zombies, instead.  They were a big hit.  A group of boys stood on the sidewalk watching them to see if they would move. It was chilly, in the 40's, so we stayed close to the fire when we we...

We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather over the weekend.  It was unseasonably warm, with clear blue skies and lots of sun.  We weren't sure what we wanted to do to make the most of it.  The possibilities were endless; the beach, the park, a picnic, a day trip.  Snake handling wasn't on the list, but we'll get to that soon. My daughter had just come downstairs after taking a shower and we were in the kitchen talking about what to do with the day when we heard a gurgling sound.  We listened for a moment and determined it was coming from the half bath.  The water in the toilet bowl was bubbling and churning.  I flushed to see if that would stop it, but it didn't.  The water continued to bubble and it wouldn't drain. I called to Mr. W for help.  We knew the toilet itself wasn't clogged, but we thought there might be something blocking the drain further down the pipe.  The trouble started after the shower had been used, so may...

My daughter has a sudden fascination with horror movies.  She hasn't seen any of them, but with Halloween just around the corner, she's seen and heard references to a lot of them.  The Exorcist is of particular interest to her because she heard it was rated the scariest movie of all time.  She asked me what it was about and if I thought it was too scary for her. It's been years since I've seen the film, but I remember the general storyline, so I gave her a brief description.  I told her it was far too scary for her and that it had some very adult scenes that I don't think are appropriate for an eleven year old.  Still, she pressed on, asking me what part of the movie scared me the most.  Without a doubt, I told her, it was the scene where Regan (Linda Blair) scrambles down the stairs on her back in a creepy fast crab walk.  Even a still photo of that scene gives me the chills (which is why I chose to post a different photo). She wanted to know wh...

I was browsing the Yahoo home page when I came across an article about macaroni and cheese .  Maybe you saw it, too?  It gave a link to the recipe for what is considered to be the World's Best Mac and Cheese and listed tips for perfecting it in your own kitchen.  I had hoped to find a few reviews of the recipe, but the comments following the article were full of personal mac and cheese recipes and a lot of opinions on what makes the perfect macaroni and cheese. I find this all very interesting because macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods.  The best I've ever had (sorry, Mom) is the macaroni and cheese served at the Frankenmuth Brewery in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  From their menu: " Our house recipe four-cheese blend atop bowtie noodles sprinkled with bread crumbs, butter, parmesan and parsley."   It's truly cheesy heaven on a plate, with just the right amount of crispiness on top. When I was a kid, my mom made really great macaroni...

I don't know about you, but I find September to be one of the most difficult months of the year.  Most of it has to do with getting in the groove of a new school schedule after three months of summer slacking, but it has a lot to do with the changing weather, too.  It's a month of many transitions. Last year, our school district decided to push the start time of the elementary school and middle school up by an hour.  I really hated it because school also got out an hour later.  Too late, in my opinion.  On a more positive note, my daughter had an extra hour to get ready in the morning and there was less traffic for our drive to school.  This year, we're back to the original start time.  I prefer it, but mornings are rushed and the traffic is so much worse. I'm also making a transition with a new SUV.  It's used, actually, but it's new to me and I'm still figuring out where everything is and how it all works.  One day last week, on the way...

Our little town had its annual festival this weekend.  As I've mentioned before, we're not huge fans of the festivities.  Blame it on the number of times we've had to clean our yard of beer cans, plastic cups, liquor bottles and other assorted garbage.  We won't even discuss the year a bus load of partiers decided to relieve themselves in our shrubs.  Instead of hanging around the house and watching people scramble for parking spots along the street, we decided to bring back an old favorite (which you may remember from a previous post ), the Cheap Thrills Road Trip. For this trip, we wanted to revisit a place we've enjoyed in the past, Harbor Beach, Michigan.  The drive to Harbor Beach takes you through beautiful little beach towns and along the Lake Huron shoreline. As we passed through Forester, we stopped, once again, to pay our respects to the grave of Minnie Quay ( more info. on the legend of Minnie Quay can be found here ).  We brought along a...