BOY ON SLED

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/boy-on-sled-by-m-donna/

 December is really moving fast. We had a bit of snow Saturday and woke up this morning to a winter wonderland! I took this photo out of our dining room window!

 I doubt if it stays around long but kind of pretty for a day! That's all the longer I want it to stay around, though.

🦊

I hope all of you in the US enjoyed your Thanksgiving. We had a very nice family dinner. And the great part of this year's celebration was the guys decided to do the dishes! That was fantastic! And we got to enjoy leftovers most of the next week. 

🦊

I can't believe what a difference my back surgery made. I have been able to do sit ups again. I hadn't been able to do even 1 for over a year so when I tried the other night I was very careful and expected pain immediately! Didn't happen! So I did 5 and will start 1 more each time. I am  going to start walking the road again soon but only when it isn't raining, windy, snowing or icy! I think I have learned my lessons on that front!

 

I wish I could submit my updates faster but I am only allowed to submit 3 at a time. It is going to take me forever. I haven't even gotten through my Autumn designs and to me winter is here.

🦊

I was so hoping Congress would vote to let the states that have already approved to stay on Daylight Savings Time actually do it, but they didn't. I am hoping this is the last time we have to change clocks. We still have a lot of clocks that don't automatically change. And turning them back takes longer. Our vehicles are all older, too so they have to be changed. 

🦊

 I am also hoping that more people  will get vaccinated, now that we have the Omicron here. I have figured that at my husband and my ages, we will probably be wearing masks for the rest of our lives. We have gotten our boosters but we still double mask when we go out. Which is rare. Only Dr. appointments and every other week to the grocery store. 

🦊

 I have made family calendars for years with all our birthdays, etc. on. The program I use is Broderbund Printshop...very old program. When I went to install it in my old, old laptop it said it wouldn't work with Windows 10...but I didn't give up and managed to get it to work! So I have to keep that laptop updated just so I can use that program. And it won't update to Windows 11.

🦊

Has anyone updated to Windows 11? I only have 1 computer that will work with it but I am going to wait a bit. I am expecting my desktop to quit one of these days. My grandson (IT guy at WWU) built it about 12 years ago. He has had to replace a few components in it, put a SSD in several years ago but he says there is too much to update it for 11 so it looks like Grandma is gonna have to break down and purchase a new one and I really don't want to, so will put it off until this one won't work anymore. I have my old Quicken program, my old Photoshop Elements, etc. all set up like I like and I am gonna hang in with this one until it won't work! So keep your fingers crossed for my old desktop! Please!

🦊

 Going to get back to work, make a few designs, and submit a few more. Have a wonderful week! Stay safe and don't spend too much money on Christmas!

🦊

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 I would like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. If you aren't in the USA, take this day to give thanks for just being alive and for having loved ones. We have all suffered through this horrible pandemic, some losing loved ones, some nursing others and just having to keep trying to protect yourself and your loved ones. So take this day to give thanks.

This is the 63rd Thanksgiving dinner in a row I have had at our home. The gatherings aren't as large as they used to be, since we have lost a lot of our loved ones...grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles,, husbands, wives and children. 

I am so thankful that so far my family has faired well during this pandemic. Most of my loved ones have gotten vaccinated but a few have not. I hope and pray they will decide that the vaccine is the way to stay safe but I fear that is not the case in a few of them. And maybe some will be forced to to continue working, schooling, etc. The vaccine has proven itself to be safe for all and the falsehoods that have been posted and whispered are just not true. 

Anyway...I have my cranberry salad (my Mom's recipe) made, the candied sweet potatoes ready to bake (my Grandmother's old fashioned recipe that is so full of sugar it's not good for us, but ....we're gonna eat them anyway! The turkey is thawed...the house is cleaned. (Which, after back surgery is no small fete!)

We faired well through the flood in Whatcom County, Washington...without too much of a headache. Although many, many families have no homes left to celebrate this year. It is supposed to be be a very wet, rainy, windy Thanksgiving but we will have the fire going and the door partly open to keep fresh air flowing. 

Thanks to all of you who read my blog and use my themes. I treasure you all!

Lastly, thanks to Mozilla. They have let me keep my mind busy making themes and allowing me to share them with you. They have been very kind to this old lady for many years.

❤❤💖I'm Back!!! 💖❤❤

 

                                                                                    Stonehenge Sky

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stonehenge-sky-by-m-donna/

 Hi...everyone! I am back...well, partially back. Still have a large padded bandage on my back so makes it hard to sit comfortably but I can feel my legs again! And they don't hurt. The pain now is nothing like the pain before so I am on my way back! Slowly but for almost 83 I am doing very well.

Not going to write much right now but wanted you all to know I am back and thanks to all for the good thoughts and wishes.

Also, just a small warning. When I updated Firefox on my big desktop computer that I do all of my designing on, I was asked if I wanted to try Colorways? I thought, why not? Well, I will tell you why not!  You can't get rid of it. Apparently it is for a limited time so when that time is gone, they will automatically take it away. ( I hope!) It is just a mish/mash of plain colored different themes that have no design, just different colors. If you have every used Firefox Color, it is much better and lets you do a lot more. I don't like clutter and now, my Themes are all cluttered with these themes I will never use. So, if you don't want it, don't take them up on their offer! But do keep your Firefox updated!

That is all for today! Have a great week end.

🎃 Halloween & Back Surgery 🎃

                                                                                   Autumn Drive

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autumn-drive-by-m-donna/

Sounds like everyone is having horrible fall weather! Cyclone Bombs, hurricanes, etc. We had all kinds of weather alerts over the weekend but we were very lucky and nothing strange happened. We always get a lot of rain and wind so it wasn't any worse than normal right here in  "MaDonna Land"! I hope everyone got through whatever they got.

It sounds like kids will be able to get vaccinated very soon but so many parents aren't going to get them vaccinated. More than 40% of the patients in our county are children so it will be a hard decision but I think I would have mine vaccinated.

I think I mentioned my back bothering me...well I finally got my MRI and the Dr. called and said he couldn't believe I was doing so well after seeing the MRI. It showed, Multilevel spondylosis, Multifactorial severe central spinal canal stenosis at L4 & L5 and complete obliteration of the central canal! No wonder my back has been hurting and my legs going numb! The orthopedic surgeon that did my knee is pushing my surgery up. He has 400 surgeries delayed  because of Covid but I am supposed to go in this Thurs. and get my back surgery. But I just read that the hospital has more Covid patients than they have ever had so I am so hoping they don't delay it. I went for my Covid test this morning. You have to have a test before any surgery. So I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

I am trying to get a lot of stuff done before Thursday. I am doing all of my floors today so they will be super clean, going to make a couple loaves of pumpkin bread tomorrow and get the house all cleaned good.  

I am still working on getting Halloween and Autumn themes updated. I won't finish the Halloween ones finished before this Halloween, though. I can only get so many submitted a day!

This blog must be so boring for people to read and I am sorry. Not much going on here! I was asked to submit a short comment about making my Autumn Leaves theme because Mozilla is going to feature the theme in their https://addons.mozilla.org/blog/  I really didn't know what to write so will have to wait and see what it sounds like. I will post the link when it is live.

I will get back to Firefox themes, updating, designs as soon as I can. And you know it will be soon IF I get the surgery this Thursday.

Have a good week and will be back soon.....

🎃 October News 🎃

 Kitties Pumpkin

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kitties-pumpkin-by-m-donna/

Well, October is well underway. So far our weather has been fair but there is a definite chill in the air. I really dread the cold, cold winter but that goes with living in the Pacific Northwest. And it is so beautiful up here. 

I just finished making the above theme and was pleased with how it turned out. I had to do a lot of manipulating of  kittens and leaves to get it to show as many kittens and leaves as possible so I hope you all like it. 

I think I mentioned I had been having a lot of back pain the last 1 1/2 year and the last 6 months has gotten a lot worse. I finally got the MRI and it was quite scary looking. Our Primary Dr. called after he saw it and was surprised I was up walking around so well! Saw the Orthopedic Surgeon that gave me my new knee in 2019 and he is pushing for surgery asap. It is just a  matter of when the hospital can schedule it. He is hoping to get it scheduled within the next 30 days because it is getting worse every day. A lot of pain involved but I am keeping going as much as possible and doing quite well for as bad as my back is. I am hoping the Covid patients will go down so I can get in to the hospital. My husband surgery was postponed once so I won't be surprised if it doesn't get done in the next month. So keeping y fingers crossed. Not looking forward to it but has to be done. I will only get 2 days notice. So wish me luck!!!

My husband is doing really well since his heart surgery last month. So all is well there. He has been able to go up in the mountains with one of our great grandsons this week. They both enjoyed that very much and actually saw a cougar. Didn't bring any grouse home but were thrilled with seeing the cougar. 

Going to fix lunch and update a few more of my older themes.

The best to you all.....stay safe.

 

WAITING

 

                                                           Cutest Fox Ever

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cutest-fox-ever-by-m-donna/

 

Right now I am waiting for my husbands Cardiologist to call me and tell me his surgery is over and all went well. What a horrible time we live in now where you have to leave your loved one at the door of the hospital, go home..and then wait for a call so you can pick him up at the door. I am so upset at people that haven't gotten vaccinated because this is there fault. Right now this is a "disease of the unvaccinated". The first date for his surgery was cancelled because the hospital had too many Covid patients to be safe. A month later there are more patients in the hospital but they can't just keep putting patients surgeries off. I have family members that aren't vaccinated and no matter what I say they still won't get that shot. You can't do anything about that, but I tried.

I just called and he is still in surgery! Taking longer than what they said....

Just made some more coffee...probably not a good idea but I have to drive to pick him up so wine is out of the question!

I got all the floors scrubbed super good as that is a good time taker! 

Have updates going but I can only submit so many at a time and the crew that does the reviewing isn't as many as it used to be so it takes longer for them to be reviewed. 

I am going to sign off for now...I am sure I will be getting a call very soon.

 TUESDAY

    What a horrible day yesterday was! I couldn't get a hold of anyone at the hospital that knew anything. The Cardiologist that did the surgery was supposed to call me after the 150 minute surgery but he got called into an emergency so couldn't call. They had told us the surgery would be 150 minutes and it was 4 hours! I finally got a hold of someone at 6:00 that actually cared and she said she would find out what was going on and call me. To make a long story short...all went well and he is home. But it was a horrible day and I am sorry if I got carried away on my blog. 

I just wish people would get smart and this would all be over. Until that happens...this is going to be our/your world so get used to it. It sounds like kids are smarter than their parents and wanting to get vaccinated and their parents aren't letting them When we were raising our kids I would have done anything to keep them safe and not get sick so I have a hard time understanding their thought process.

Have a good week!

 

September Memories

                                                                             An Autumn Flight

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/an-autumn-flight-by-m-donna/

Can you believe that September is here? Hard to believe that 2021 has gone as fast as it has. It has been a year we probably all would like to forget. And it doesn't look much better for the near future. So this morning I was thinking about the past and thought I would share a little bit of what my life was like 64 years ago. I was pushing buttons on my washing machine when I started thinking about the past and how easy we have it now.

💖 

64 years ago I was an 18 year old wife and soon to be mother. We had rented a cabin in the woods for 3 months and paid $50 a month rent. We felt like we were wasting money renting. There was a house on the Mountain Loop Highway that we kind of wanted and we knew it was being rented out. The owner of the house was a recent widow. Her husband had been killed in a logging accident the year before. I remember it because I was in high school and they came to the school to notify the loggers son that his father had been killed. The widow and son didn't want to live up in the mountains by themselves so moved to town. After we decided to ask her if she would sell, we went to visit her and offered her $3000. It was a 2 story house on 1/2 acre in the wood and not very old. My husband worked for the US Forest Service and was making $4,000 a year! We didn't have any savings at all since we hadn't been married that long. But she knew us and was glad to have a young couple in her house. She talked to her brother and he thought she should ask $3500.00 which was all right with us. She helped us get a loan at her bank...nothing down and $50.00 a month house payment. So, we moved in...I was excited about setting up our own home since that was all I had ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. 

Back to the washing machine! We had purchased a used wringer washer for $35 and it had to sit on our open back porch. By then we had a 3 month old son. I put him in his buggy and put him in the kitchen so I could go out and get the washing machine and roll it into the house. I had to set up a hose from the kitchen sink to fill the washer and rinse the clothes in the sink, and then use the wringer so I could hang the clothes up. It was Feb. and quite cold out. When I shut the kitchen door...I realized I had just locked myself out of the house...our son was safe but in his buggy but I was worried he might spit up and choke. I had on a sleeveless blouse and no jacket available! Our nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away so I had to run to their house to call the ranger station so my husband could come home and get the house unlocked. (We couldn't afford a phone at that point) He had to climb through an upstairs window to get in the house. Our son was perfectly safe in his buggy sound asleep! But it was something that I will never forget since I was so scared for our baby boy. My husband went back to work and I got the laundry done. No dryer, of course so I had to hang everything in the upstairs. My husband had set up a clothes line for me. So just think how easy it is for you to get your laundry done now. No one realizes the difference in how we lived in the past. We had bills to pay and if we were lucky there was money left for groceries...which there always was but I remember when I checked out if there wasn't enough money, I had to take a few things off the counter to put back on the shelves. 

So the next time you have to to laundry just be glad you have that beautiful washing machine!!!!

More memories another day!