This and That in no order

I've been saving things to blog about, but they're not organized. So here goes, in no order.

Did you watch the inaugural speech? My favorite quote: "In America, the impossible is what we do best." President Donald J. Trump

Cute quote: You're only down-and-out if you're still lying on the floor. Get up.                                                              Dan Waldschmidt

You'll love this.

Wow! What a wonderful world. Did you know about this? Elly would love it - one of her favorite colors.

My local thrift store had a big 75% off Christmas sale (plus it was senior 20% off day), and I bought all of this for $16.60. 

4 placemats

Spoon rest

Extra dishes for cats

New gift boxes

Gift bags

Advent calendar

Trivet

Bought this for the frame

Pictures which hang by the ribbons. A little switch on the side turns on lights in the lantern and street lights.

A painted basket

Miscellaneous cards, and supplies for card making.

Good sunglasses

Stormy has claimed the throw.

I went back a couple of days later and Christmas was 80% off. 

I bought another Christmas basket and some more Christmas cards. I matched up the cards and envelopes and ended up filling both baskets. Rita took them to the Ozark Senior Center for their leave-and-take table. If you buy cards and then add the high-priced stamps, it can really add up. I predict that we'll receive and/or send fewer and fewer cards in the future.

I also bought those beautiful dishes for $5, which I promised to show you soon, and I will.

Remember my New Year's Spam? Most people say "yuck," about Spam, but I love it. I even have a special container. If I ever run across another, Burt, I'll pick it up for you.

Elly and I are still trying out the restaurants along Battlefield Road. We were interrupted by snow, but we'll get back to it. This is one of our best finds. It's called Max Asian  (northwest corner of National and Battlefield.) You have to order at the counter, but it's worth the trouble. Dine in or take out. The place is clean, the people extremely friendly and accommodating, the food really good, some (like shrimp) prepared on the spot, and stir-fried veggies as an option in place of rice or noodles. This is why we're marching down Battlefield. I might never have tried this place.

Yes, it's Hong Kong

I was having trouble with my keys; everything was tangled up. I discovered this little magnet was pulling things together. 

What??? Then I remembered that one of my purses had lost one of these. If you ever lose one, don't throw away the purse as I did. Wait awhile to see if it turns up.

Our first snowfall was January 6 - not too much, and it didn't stay long.

The second one came the night of January 9.

By morning, it looked like this.

A little later, I looked out and someone was shoveling my sidewalk. I discovered it was my new neighbor, Naomi. She's a tiny little thing, half my size, and I was totally shamed. I told her I usually just let it melt, and she didn't need to do that, and she said, "That's okay. I didn't have anything to do." Then here came another neighbor, Jeremy, and the two of them cleared not only my walk, but also my driveway. Boy, living at Bentwater is great.

I changed to my January winter wreath, but it still looks somewhat like Christmas. I just can't figure out what to use. Any ideas?

I found some pillow covers that sort of match from Temu.

It looks rather bland, but I guess winter is bland outside when you live in states with snow.

I made Hillbilly Stir-fry this week with lettuce salad and Tomato Soup Salad Dressing plus Corn and Corn Muffins.

This is simply sliced summer sausage (I like Hillshire Farms), and the vegetables you have on hand. This one has potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, celery, radishes, zucchini, peas, and a little broccoli.

It's different each time I make it.

TOMATO SOUP SALAD DRESSING

1 10-1/4 oz can tomato soup
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups salad oil
 
Put all in blender and mix at low speed. Refrigerate. Serve on tossed green salads.
 
Makes 4 cups (1 qt.)

CORN AND CORN MUFFINS 

1 8.5 oz pkg corn muffin mix (I use Jiffy)
1 SCANT cup cream-style corn
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
 
Heat oven to 425°.
 
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir to blend.
 
Pour into a greased 12-muffin cup tin.  They’ll be about 2/3 full.
 
Bake 12-15 minutes.

Elly found a great new restaurant, where we celebrated Terri's birthday. It's called Thai Garden, and it's located where the old Tong's Thai Restaurant used to be. We loved it.

Interior got a makeover.

There's a bar.

Real flowers and cloth napkins.

Entrees come with soup or salad.

Elly had Chicken Fried Rice (different, as it was seasoned with curry.)

Katie, Terri, and I had Sweet-Sour Chicken

The waitress overheard that we were celebrating Terri's birthday, so she brought a Thai Custard square and even the cook came out to join the wait staff in singing Happy Birthday.

AND they brought each of us a little bit to taste.

The menu.

I thought $14.95 was reasonable, but then I discovered it was $9.95 because it was lunch. After seeing the size of lunch entrees, I can't even imagine the size of dinner servings.

Of course, my highlight of the month was the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, 45th and 47th President of the USA. Not great photos as I snapped them from the TV screen.

V.P. Elect J. D. Vance is introduced - Wife Usha looked stunning in pink (she had matching pink boots.) Look her up; she's a smart lady.

Trump is introduced.

The hat which got all the attention. Whoops! Couldn't quite reach.

The man to Trump's left is Melania's father.

J. D. takes his oath. His little girl had band-aids on her fingers. If they're to keep her from sucking her fingers, it's obviously not working.

Trump takes his oath.

Kamala sat like this the entire time. Not happy to be there.

And I accidentally caught Barron in this pose. He was very polished throughout, so I don't know what was going on here.

Joe Biden (through his handlers) left some parting gifts:

He gave preemptive pardons to:

Son Hunter

Brother James and his wife Sara

Sister Valerie and her husband John

Brother Francis

Dr. Fauci

General Mark Milley

The J6 commitee

Liz Cheny

Multiple criminals in jail, commuting sentences of those on death row

8,064 in all

Trump discovered that 80% of government workers were still working from home since Covid, so he vowed to require that they go back to their offices. Biden worked with their union, giving them permission to telework for the next five years.

He permanently banned offshore drilling on some government lands, covering thousands of acres.

He put new sanctions on Russia because he knows Trump wants to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

He approved forgiving more student loans.

As I mentioned, I'm re-reading Gone with the Wind. I first read it when I was a teen, so this time I see things with a totally different eye. This is what I told Linda in an email:

I have kept up with my reading schedule. I'm slogging through Georgia with Scarlett, 25 pages a day, so that I'll finish by the end of the month. My eyes have been opened. I'm a firm believer in Karma, breads cast upon the waters, what goes around comes around, or whatever you call it. After what the Republicans put the Democratic south through during Reconstruction, no wonder we just went through the last Obama-Biden (or Obama 3.0) discrimination. There's no time limit on Karma.

So now we're even, but Trump has to clean up the Deep State mess, and he's well on his way.

The J6 political prisoners have been released.

Milley was fired. Remember, during Trump's first term, he called his Chinese counterpart and told him that if Trump was going to attack China, he would give him advance warning. 

Over fifty security clearances have been suspended, mainly those who signed the letter saying that the Hunter laptop information was false.

He revoked security protection for Dr. Fauci and John Bolton. Question: Why did they have security protection? Who else are we paying for when they're already retired? 

These things relate to Deep State, but Trump has already accomplished more in one week than most presidents accomplish in a month. 

Let's go 47!

PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY

FINISH SOME INDOOR CHORES WHILE WINTER IS HERE

MAYBE ORGANIZE YOUR CLOSETS?

PLAN YOUR SUMMER VACATION?

REREAD GONE WITH THE WIND?

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE