Happiness is a pair of fuzzy slippers - but not cheese.

I cleaned out the fridge the other day and found a package of cheese which seemed to have a life of its own.  I thought I saw it moving, but wasn't sure.  After all, we just got rid of the mouse population in the building.  I seem to see them all over the house...phantom meece.  I will take a nice pair of warm fuzzy slippers (not made from mouse fur) over that bag-o-fuzzy cheese.


Tomorrow I have to attend an appointment with Mick at the doctor's to find out about his treatment.  It shouldn't be a big deal...except for his stop smoking programme.  Now that might be the worst part of the treatment.  Emphysema he can handle.  Calcified lung tissue, sure.  Stop smoking?  Wellllll???


So the next couple of weeks might be a little rough around here.  Hopefully we can tackle this with humour and probably a lot of prayer.  And it would also be great if Mick's company called him back to work.  That would be a nice Christmas present.

Black Friday and Other Stupid Ideas - Plus...

Black Friday is the dumbest idea anyone has come up with.  First of all, people get up before 12:00 AM, dress in eight layers, stand in line for hours, then trample everyone else trying to get inside the store for that "perfect" gift, while saving a bundle doing it.  We over spend on everything and for what?  This is Advent people.  Get a grip!  It isn't Christmas and this is the time of year when we celebrate the upcoming birthday of Jesus Christ.  This is actually a penitential time of year - one of reflection and introspection.  Yes, we should buy a gift or two for our loved ones to give when Christmas gets here.  Yes, we do need to support our merchants and increase our economy, but going overboard sends the wrong message to our kids.  They expect all kinds of expensive things they don't need - but want because everyone else has to have them.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  You can't buy your children's love with things.  It's called parenting - not spending money.

When I was a kid, my parents - to the right - gave me one gift each. Chanel No. 5 from Dad (when I was a teen), something Mom hand made for me (always, well almost anyway) and Granny gave me a savings bond.  There was one gift from the Chicago cousins and that was it.  I think my sister Jan and I exchanged something when we got older.  And we all went to church as a family on Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day we opened gifts and invited people for Christmas lunch who didn't have anyone to celebrate with.  And sometimes we didn't even know them!

Not everyone shares the Christian traditions of Advent and Christmas.  But simply because a person isn't a follower, it doesn't mean they can't enjoy the sights and sounds of the Season.  There is plenty to enjoy.  And for our brothers and sisters who share a different tradition, such as Hannukah or Kwanza, it gives us a chance to learn about their holiday, traditions and culture.  To me, it's a win-win situation and it makes me happy to see what they enjoy.  There is richness in every tradition.  And it's also a time of respecting others.

Advent is a festive time of year when we share what we have.  We decorate our homes with ornaments passed down through the generations.  We add to those each year (well, many families do).  Many share an Advent wreath and light the candles to mark the weeks coming up to Christmas.  We live the traditions of the generations which came before us with food, stories, decorations and love.  By giving of ourselves, we receive so much in return.  This is the time for sharing memories of our own childhoods, creating new memories with our children and grandchildren.  We may not all live in a two parent family unit.  Some families are single parent homes.  Some are grandparent homes and many are blended families, like mine is now.  But this is the one time of year when we can all include everyone and show that by giving our love and sharing what we have, it brings the message of Love, Peace and Hope to all those we encounter.  For when we meet a stranger, we are seeing Christ in them and how can we refuse Our Lord?

As we begin this Advent Season on Sunday, may it be a time of reflection for all of us.  May we honour those who will not be with us this year and are celebrating with us in Heaven.  May we remember those who are in our military and unable to return until their tours are done.  And we can keep their families in our prayers as well.  This is a time of great love and expressing that love to our family members and friends.  Tomorrow is another day and we may never be able to tell them again - so say it often...and mean it.

May you all have a blessed Advent and wonderous Christmas.  For me, I will be following a star in the East... (and no, it isn't the International Space Station.)

Something New

I've been complaining for a while now that my profile picture is a bit outdated.  Not that I don't like it - it's on my last book, but we finally got a decent few shots today and both Mick and I think they aren't bad at all.  So here they are.  If you want, you can vote on which one you like best.

Actually, this last one is my favourite.  I'll probably use it on my other author's web pages.

The Results Show

We have the results from Mick's tests.  He does NOT have cancer, but he does have Emphysema and calcification on his lung.  So we will see the pulmonologist on Wednesday next week to hear what type of treatment Mick will have.  My guess is a nebulizer, and/or B-Pap or C-Pap for night-time. And the doctor could give him some Spiriva or other med.  Plus, since he must now stop smoking, the doctor will work with him to design the right program for Mick.  It's a great new beginning to get Mick healthy again.

We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and although we really don't do anything different on this day (since we don't have family or friends here to celebrate with), we will have a quiet day of reflection and give thanks for all the prayers of our prayer warriors, a warm home to share and a better outlook for the coming year.  Hopefully Mick will be called back to work next week and if not, then we will deal with that as well.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends in the US.  And for our UK/Ireland friends and family - hope you have good shovels.  And no, we didn't send you the nasty weather this time!!

And now we wait.

Mick has had a chest infection for a while now - as in over three years, so he finally went to the doctor and got some antibiotics.  The doctor decided a chest x-ray was a good idea, so Mick got one and there was a 1.5 centimeter nodule on the left lung.  And the doctor told him to stop smoking.  Okay, so this afternoon, Mick went in for a CT scan and blood work.  And now we wait.  We probably won't know the results until next week, as the clinic is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday.


Mick isn't that worried,  but it will be either nothing or something.  If it's nothing, then that's great.  It rules out anything nasty.  But if it's the latter, then that's something.  We will have to face that if it happens.  Thankfully, Mick has a strong faith and knows that if this is the big "C", God will get him through it.  And if he should pop his cloggs, he will meet the in-laws...and Granny!!  He's actually looking forward to that, because he would like the folks.  However, he is hoping not to meet them for some time yet.


So now we wait.  And we pray.  Now we are tested.  Just when you think things are moving ahead, you get smacked down.  So for those of you who pray, we could use a couple of prayers.

Thanksgiving Week

I thought about cooking a turkey in our oven but Mick wouldn't fit in it.  Then I thought about baking dumplings, and I knew I wouldn't fit in the pan.   So what to do?


Perhaps we should go out for a nice meal.  Nope, that's a waste of $40.  We could always cook a turkey pot pie and call it a day - but that's really not terribly exciting.  So I think we may opt for what we always do - a turkey roll, stuffing and cranberries.  That's quick, easy and relatively inexpensive.  Okay, done deal.


We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  We have a nice little flat (although with only a couple of chairs to sit on), but it's warm, cozy and quiet.  My book will be coming out soon and we have good friends throughout the world who keep us enlightened and informed.  We have a deep and abiding faith in God and in one another.  We may not have the earthly treasures most covet, but we delight in the riches of the Spirit.  And that's everything to us.


For those who read this blog, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  May you all feel truly blessed at this time of the year and always.

November News from the Scriptorium

Greetings from Wisconsin.  It's becoming colder here in "Gods Country", along with the snow, like the photo on the left (from the front of our flat) - perhaps for Thanksgiving??  The coming months will bring new things emerging from the Scriptorium.  I have a new e-book coming out called "Seven Doors of Time" and if all goes well, it should be ready by Thanksgiving or the beginning of December.  This is my first foray into the burgeoning genre of electronic books.  My books could be rated as family oriented, but children wouldn't like them.  Going by a movie rating, I'd say PG-13 sounds about right.

"Seven Doors of Time" contains seven independent stories written in different 'voices' with an array of subjects.  I'm always fond of writing weddings into my books, so four of the stories have short wedding scenes.  The other three stories don't lend themselves to weddings at all!!  There is plenty of romance (no sex scenes in anything I write), a bit of mayhem, time travel and paranormal activity, lots of theft, lying and stupid people, plus a story line which deals with environmental issues, one dealing with crime and drugs, money laundering and cartels.  These stories took over two years to write, as I was also working on other books at the time.  A second book is planned after I see how well an e-book goes over.  This will be published first with Smashwords.com, then later Kindle and PubIt.  And if all goes well in this venue, then I will publish the book in either hard cover or paperback.  I'm looking at a cost of around $3.95-$4.95 for the e-book and may even offer it free for a trial period to see how it goes.  A portion of the proceeds from this e-book will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who, along with Rotary International, help bring Polio vaccines to poor countries.  Because I had Polio as a child and now have Post Polio Syndrome some 40-odd years on, I want to do what I can to save a child - or many children from having to suffer with the debilitating effects of Polio.  Yes, it's still around and we want to do all we can to eradicate it.

And I decided to resurrect my dot com as well.  If you go to http://www.karinfickecook.com/, you will also find a link back to the family web site, which gives photos and details of what we've been up to.  Hubby Mick keeps this updated (I hope).  The dot com has a starter page, but eventually I want to expand it to include excerpts from the new book.

So I'm off to continue working on the new book.  Once everything gets formatted for Smashwords, then becomes ready to launch, I'll post the details here.