The Advent of the Advent Calendar

Tomorrow is December 1 and that means I can begin opening my Breyer Advent Calendar! I may be rather "long in the tooth" and I may not collect Mini Whinnies, but that doesn't matter. I am excited to open those doors!

I will clear the the box, Stablemates, and inkwell off from the shelf today and then I will be ready for tomorrow. 

Our family has a history of using advent calendars. Beach Son Kyle helped me do a little decorating yesterday and we both were delighted to pull these out of a tub.

Talk about family memories!

There are four rows of six pouches on this calendar, perfect for a family of six kids. We went in age order and so everyone knew their column. That worked well in helping us all know just whose turn it was for that daily piece of candy.

I've used the green calendar with the Pony Pals and Cowpokes, too, and I may hang it for them this this year.

This one not only has memories of my children attached to it, it also makes me think of my father.

He loved decorating for Christmas, and would shop for things to give his adult children  to use in their homes.

This advent calendar was a gift from him and not a candy calendar - the ornaments were hung on the tree day by day. 

With two calendars, that meant that every three days each one of our kids had a chance to interact with our advent calendars.

Lisa sent this picture recently to our family chat. 

The red calendar was listed at $185 while the green one was $175. No matter what I might get for them, there is no way I'd sell either of them!

Some of my children continue the advent calendar tradition - with Legos!

Pony Pals Susan, Julie and Kate recently got this Lego advent calendar.

Doors to open are on the back and I think there is a Lego figure or piece inside. (I'll ask.) My guess would be that a Lego piece is inside and as the holidays progress, you create a figure of Santa or something.

Beach Son Kyle and his kids also enjoy Legos and many years ago I got this Lego advent candle for them.

You remove a brick every day and as the season progresses, the candle "melts."

I thought it might be fun to get one for our home, 

but after a little research, I decided to save my money for something else!

I'm toying with making my own advent calendar using blackened beeswax ornaments.

399 and her cubs, a set I made for Hawkeye Sarah.

I have enough different ornaments to put 24 on the tree, and little boxes I could put them in and then number 1 - 24. 

Problem is, I don't have my tree up yet! But I may still go for it.

Stay 'tooned!

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Vanessa did a series of photos of Abby just after I got her and this one (which I call "Contented Abby") is perfect for today. I am contented, I am grateful, and while it has been a challenging year in many ways, all is well.

Today is also another holiday in our family. Happy Birthday, Sarah!!

While not actually born on Thanksgiving, every couple of years (like this one) Thanksgiving falls on her birthday. Then we eat birthday cake and ice cream along with our turkey and pie.

We won't be together today but we will call and chat later this afternoon.

I am so proud of the woman she has become and the kind, caring soul that she is. 

And I cannot wait to see her at Christmas! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

I thought I'd share a few favorite memories of past Thanksgivings today. These three are the ones that stand out the most in my mind.

Jessica's Birth

The most important Thanksgiving memory of all. Sarah was only a toddler, we had just moved to Illinois, and the few people I knew at church who had said they would watch Sarah when I went into labor all ended with the caveat, "Sure, we will watch Sarah! Unless it's Thanksgiving Day. Then we can't."

And of course I woke up at 5:00 Thanksgiving morning in labor and with no one to care for Sarah. Panic!!

Luckily, one of those friends agreed to watch her when Craig called and explained that we were going to the hospital right away and needed help. To this day, I am grateful for their help.

I Broke My Leg (but Saved the Pie)

Fast forward twenty years. We were heading to Indiana on Thanksgiving morning for dinner with our parents and I had those all-important cherry pies to load into the van.

I was dressed in a skirt and heels and carrying a cherry pie out to the van when suddenly I turned my ankle while going down the front steps. Down I fell but I hung onto the pie as I tumbled, protecting it from smashing on the ground. My ankle hurt, but we got the kids into the van and headed to Indiana anyway.  

The next day, still hurting, I went to Urgent Care. The ankle was x-rayed and wrapped and I was told that nothing was broken. (I later learned that that doctor was fresh out of Med school and had just started practicing.)

A month later, I was still in pain when I walked and made an appointment to see my own doctor. Another x-ray was taken and he discovered that I'd been walking around for a month on a leg that was broken right at the ankle joint. A cast was put on, crutches were handed to me, and I got bragging rights for having walked around on a broken leg for a month.

Thanksgiving Day Triplets are Born!

When Jessica was in first grade, her class had a guinea pig for a pet. She loved it so much that we gave her one, Brownie, for her birthday just a few days before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning we were all preparing to hop into the van and head to Indiana when Jessie came to find me, her eyes wide open and visibly upset.

"Mom, Brownie had babies and she's eating one of them."

What?? Oh, no! I rushed into Jessie's bedroom and she was right. The dead one clearly had been born that way, but the other two were fine. I removed the poor little dead baby, made sure Brownie and her other babies were okay, and off to Indiana we went. The other two piggies lived good long lives and I learned a lesson - even if you are told the guinea pig you are buying is just a baby herself, that doesn't mean she isn't pregnant!

Thanksgiving, 1964 with my Honeywell grandparents. Clockwise from bottom left: my mom, Steve, Great Aunt Faye, Jenny, Grandpa Honeywell, Grandma Honeywell, me, and Leslie.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Thanksgiving Prep & Some Memories for My Kids

Thanksgiving preparation is running apace, for sure! Yesterday we had some spot cleaning done on our carpets. 

Because Tammo the dogs love people so much and can get underfoot as he they "help," Craig and I took them upstairs to the overlook while Taylor cleaned.

The overlook is just that - an open space on the second floor. It looks over the living and dining rooms and functions as a space where people (especially the grands) can go and spread out. With all that open space, the adults can easily monitor the activities going on upstairs and make sure all is good. (*** See note below.)

While Taylor worked, Pep and I spent the time together in one of our favorite places - the overlook couch. She makes a great foot warmer!

The living room is now ready for Thanksgiving!

Since Teacher Daughter Lisa has the day off today, she invited Tammo to come over for a doggy sleepover and play with Nash last night. (Pepper was invited, too, but I knew she'd enjoy having some alone time just with me.)

Neither Mama nor Pepper play hard, but Tammo and Nash together? It goes up to the next level. When Nash and Mama visit us, Craig and I keep our shoes on - the boys go careening all over the house and if they step on your bare foot... chills!

I got a late night text last night from Lisa saying, "Nash is snoring, Tammo is conked out, and Molly is wagging her tail in her sleep. Tammo wore them all out!"

Tammo will be coming home later this morning and I am sure he will be one very happy dog. (Tired, too.)

Today's plan for Thanksgiving prep? First priority is to make two cherry pies. (A blog post with the recipe is here.) They are a tradition that goes back to 1955 in my family.

Then, I plan to set the dining room table. Because we are a smaller group this year, I may get out my mother's sterling silver tableware. If it's really tarnished, then I will use another set that I inherited from Craig's grandmother. It's not sterling so it doesn't tarnish, and actually I like it much better than my mom's set. It's old, too. I did some research a few years ago and it's from 1936.

I'll do a final check on the guest bedrooms and bathrooms, set out the platters and servers for the cheeseballs/appetizers table, tear up the bread for the stuffing, and maybe some laundry. Surely I will find other things that need to be done, too.

I can't wait until tomorrow! 

***A tongue in cheek note to my children who I know are reading this: I'm glad you are such good parents. Truly I am. It's reassuring to me because you all played "Arrow of Darkness" in the pitch black of our basement. And one of you snuck out your bedroom window and onto the roof during nap time, waving at cars until our neighbor let me know what you were doing. A couple of you accidentally put a hole in your bedroom wall and stuffed it full of Barbies. Then there was one of you who figured out how to spider up the wall in an L-bend corner of the hallway and hung up there by the ceiling, surprising startling terrifying me when I came around the corner and spied you up there. So, so glad for the good parents that you all are!

Love, Your Mom who once brought a horse into the house when she was 17 and should have known better.

I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!! 

 

Researching & Writing & Cleaning & Cooking, Oh My!

Currently I am doing research for a couple of upcoming blog posts. One pertains to Breyer and other advent calendars that we have used, past and present.

I get to open the first door of the 2024 calendar in only five days and can hardly wait!

The other? I've been going through my collection and looking for B stamp Breyers.

And in so doing, I've come across some things that make me smile.

Like this Rearing Stallion in alabaster. Some have been found with a B stamp but mine did not have it. However, what he had was an unexpected treasure to me.

His old tags from when Music City Son Cole was little and live showing with me were still on him!

Oh, my heart! That tag is never being removed! A year ago I gave Cole back an early Lady Phase that had been his and he'd said he wanted for his girls.  I plan to ask him if he'd like this one, too. 

As I checked pieces in my collection for that elusive B stamp, there were also some things that dismayed me and made me sad.

It was very hard to photograph, but my carpet herd Clydesdale Mare, Whippoorwill, seems to have some plastic disintegration starting on her near hock.

A Breyer Western Horse from my collection mid-disintegration. Poor boy, I finally had to throw him out. She will eventually look like this.

Knowing that one of my childhood pieces is starting to deteriorate was saddening but not really a surprise. What was surprising is that I have not found any others with signs that their time on my shelves is drawing to a close. (Grateful!)

(Kirsten Wellman did several well-researched articles on Vinegar Syndrome, shrinkies, and oozies. Worth a read!)

The advent calendar post is scheduled to drop on November 30th, and the B Stamp possibly the day after Thanksgiving depending on if I can finish that research.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, things are ratcheting up here for the big day. I've got carpet cleaners coming today, the sheets in the guest bedrooms are clean, the bathrooms are all cleaned, fresh towels are out, and the house is just about ready to go. The grocery shopping is done, too.

Today we move on to cooking prep.  Here is the most up to date menu and info about the day that I just sent out to those who are coming:

Craig & Lynn: turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, butter, cherry pies, spiced peaches, olives, pickles, traffic jam, paper products

Leslie & Rick: pumpkin pie, whipped cream, cheese

Jenny: green bean casserole

Steve & Cindie: asparagus casserole, beets, O'Rears' rolls, pumpkin butter

Lisa: cheeseballs & crackers, corn casserole, apple butter

Reminder:  

~ Come any time after 11:00 and cheeseballs and nibbles will be available. We will eat at 12:30 or close to it. Dogs welcome as always.

~  I have a lot of serving spoons in my kitchen drawer that have accumulated from family gatherings over the years and are not mine. Please check and see if any belong to you while you are here.

~ Last year someone brought their own containers to take home leftovers. (I think it was Jenny.) That was so helpful! If you can do that, that would be nice.

~ Feel free to stay and socialize, play games, etc. We have a couple of new ones that are easy to play and really fun. Football will be on, too.

~ Open kitchen when you get hungry (if??) later in the day. Help yourselves.

Off to get ready for those carpet cleaners to arrive. There are umpteen million doggo toys to pick up courtesy of Tammo. 

Although he will start getting them out as soon as I put them in the basket. Silly boy!

Well, I *Did* Set a Precedent

As I continued doing research on the upcoming blog post series I'd mentioned yesterday, I came across another blog post from December, 2010 that made me smile.  

Since I was out for a several weeks recovering from knee replacement surgery, I was writing daily emails to my students. Many were centered on Zeus and his "attempts" to be helpful during my recovery.

 Zeus "helping" me grade their book reports.

Others were just updates intended to reassure them that I was doing well and missing them (both true!)

And as you can see, I guess I did set a precedent on those Math problems that my students wrote and were shared yesterday. The email below was written  several days before they wrote their own story problems.

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Hey, All!

Greetings from the land of the couch and the pillows. (Also from that of the laptop - can you say "online shopping"?? :D)

BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Kathleen for being the Hershey Geography Bee Runner Up! Sweetie, I am so proud of you, even more so for the wonderful sportsmanship I hear you showed. And to our other participants (William, Chris, Matthew, and Noah), a shout out for you as well. Woot!

As for me, I am doing great! Would you believe there is Math involved in my recovery? Really! For example:

If I could only bend my knee 3 degrees right after surgery, and 87 degrees now,  and if I make 12 circuits of my living room on my walker, can I eat an extra piece of pie? ___yes    ___ no   ___ Mrs. I., just eat the pie and quit worrying about degrees!

Or, here's another one:

If I can bend my knee 87 degrees, can I go outside for recess without my coat?  ___ yes     ___ no     ___ Let's just stay inside and play Twister!

You never know where you will find Math, right? :D

Over Thanksgiving we had a family picture taken with the entire Isenbarger clan. (Well, Zeus isn't in it, but everyone else is!) It is attached - I thought you might like to see us all (can you find me among all the family members? I'm in there - trust me!)

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the snowstorm that's coming! I miss you all!

Love, 

Mrs. I.

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I was so lucky to have been a teacher. 

Blast from the Past - Story Problems

I'm working on a series of blog posts (hint: think Christmas count down) and as I did some researching, I came across this post. For background, I was home recuperating from my second knee replacement surgery in December, 2010 and my sub (and former student teacher) sent me an email to keep me updated on my class.

I'd totally forgotten this and it made me laugh so I decided to share it again. 

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Turn About is Fair Play (written December 24, 2010)

When teaching Math, I often make up stories about my family or a couple of students, incorporating them into story problems or whatever. It keeps the kids' attention, lightens the "Math mood" and makes the subject a bit more fun. My sub sent me the following email yesterday morning. Looks like the kiddos turned the tables on me! (Me? Playing Twister?? Eating M&Ms, yes, but NO Twister!!)

Mrs. I,
For a fun math activity on Monday, I assigned the entire class the project of creating 3 of their own story problems related to what we have been studying in math since both groups have stuggled with story problems. It ended up being a great activity and a few of them wrote some about you that might give you a laugh... :)

Emma:
Rudolph and Mrs. I. were playing with dice. There was one dice numbered 1-6. What is the probability of rolling an even number?

Ellen:
Mrs. I. was playing Twister. There were 20 circles on the mat all together. If 2 1/3 of the circles were red, 1 4/6 of the circles were blue, and 5 2/4 of the circles were yellow, what fraction of the circles were green?

Kamryn:
Mrs. I. was playing Twister. 1/4 of the time she spun yellow, 1/3 of the time she spun blue, and 2/8 of the time she spun green. What fraction of the time did she spin red?

Grace:
Mrs. I. set out 8 2/3 bowls of red M&Ms for her Christmas party. Before the party started, Mrs. I. ate 2 1/2 bowls of M&Ms. After the party was over, another 4 2/5 bowls of M&Ms had been eaten. How many bowls of M&Ms are left?

Just thought I'd share with you! :)

Jessica Windsor 

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Some of my students playing Twister during an indoor recess. They LOVED that game! (And it was pretty fun to watch them play, too.)

Sometimes I really miss teaching. 

Friday's Busy-ness

Happy Birthday, Mountain Mama Jessica! Born on Thanksgiving Day itself, you made my favorite holiday even better! (Although hospital turkey and pie just isn't the same. But you were worth it!)

I am starting a new blog tradition of wishing each of my family members a birthday greeting. (Local in-love Vanessa/Pearl Studios took a slew of photos at JC^2's wedding and  now I have updated, professionally done photos of everybody!)

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Alarm set, I was looking forward to Breyer's Collectors Club Black Friday Early Bird sale all Friday morning. (There's a name for ya!)

I was quick, but not quick enough. Just before noon I was logged in, had some blankets I also wanted already in the cart, my email and Breyer's site both open and being refreshed....

The sale went live and I saw Robin and Nestling - a vintage pair that I had not been drawn for when they were first available!! Yes!!

I got them in my cart and was actually in the process of checking out when the screen "jumped" and changed. The pair was gone. Fast as I was, I was not fast enough. 

Adding insult to injury, Breyer then began emailing me that things were left in my cart and I hadn't completed my purchase.

I was disappointed, but losing the pair was not unexpected. Quantities were very limited and it is not the first time I have had an item snatched out of my cart at the last moment. No doubt it will happen again - that's collecting for you!

When I'd written yesterday, "It's going to be a busy day for Breyer Collectors Club members," I was more right than I realized. At 4:00 another Breyer email arrived announcing the 2024 Animal Web Special, Earl!

Aside from a Spanish Fighting Bull and two Brahmas, I have no cattle in my collection. (I had Tatanka for years, but just gave him to Hawkeye Sarah.) 

I like his name (Earl, my Grandfather Honeywell's first name) and the color is nice, but I'm on the fence. I have two more days to think about entering but at the moment I am waffling back and forth.

As for our wedding anniversary, Craig and I went to our favorite celebration restaurant, Mountain Jacks.

We have been going there for our anniversary for years.

Two of my former students are currently working there - William U. and Angelina P. 

While not our server that night, Angelina did come over and chat. A fellow horse lover, she first came out to meet Abby when she was in middle school and has joined me at the barn several more times since.  Not having heard that Abby had died, she asked about her and was really taken aback by my answer. 

Angelina didn't know what to say (who does, when you hear that kind of news?) but I told her the truth - that while I was terribly sad that Abby was gone, I was so grateful that Angelina had asked about her and had fond memories of my sweet mare.

We had a lovely visit and  have plans to meet for lunch and catch up the week after Thanksgiving.

That snow we got on Thursday melted by early Friday afternoon, but it was on the ground long enough for me to discover that off-roading with a rollator doesn't work well, even in a minor snow of two inches!

The wheels accumulated snow on them, making it difficult for them to turn and causing the walker to make unexpected and jarring stops.

Since I don't use the rollator in the house, I have been leaving it in a sheltered area on the back porch where I can grab it easily when I take Pepper and Tammo outside.

While it has stayed mostly dry from any rain and snow in that spot, I discovered that parking it there in freezing weather after accumulating snow on the wheels is a bad idea - that accumulated snow froze and I had to chip and break it off before I could take the dogs into the yard!

Lesson learned, and the rollator is no longer parked outside - it is now in the garage. I will take the dogs out through the garage door when it's snowy or icy. 

But, there is still the problem with accumulation on the wheels as I walk the dogs. Of course, Craig shares doggie duty, often taking them out more than I do. My main concern is the early morning hours when I get up to write. I absolutely am not going to wake him up to let the dogs out then. (He's a night owl and up very late while I am an early bird, sometimes getting up as early as 4:00 AM.)

Longer leashes so they can go out into the yard while I stay on the shoveled driveway and sidewalks is one thought I've had but I am still thinking this one through.

Speaking of the dogs, Tammo walked through the living room and then suddenly stopped and set his head on the arm of the couch.

I think he was simply looking out the windows (a favorite pastime)

but in doing so, he nodded off and fell asleep! What a goofball!

That's all for today, folks. Have a good one!