Merry Monday, Birthdays and Strays

Welcome back to Merry Monday.

How was your weekend?

I had a great one..

On Friday we went to A Christmas light display in Mesa, which is about 20 minutes away from us.

It's gorgeous! and it was cold..cold enough for us to need cups of hot cocoa to keep warm.

Have you ever made cake batter cookies?

I made some on Saturday, before we decorated our stockings.

It's so simple!

You need a box of cake mix

1/2 cup of oil

2 eggs

mix everything together

drop by tablespoon into a bowl of powdered sugar

roll into balls then set on a baking sheet

 10-14 minutes at 350 and you get soft amazing cookies!

and there's an abundance of flavors to choose from.

I made chocolate fudge..

 

 And Grinch hearts..(it's just vanilla flavored with green food color)

 

So, it was very cold ..39 degrees is heavy coat weather here in Tempe..

our summer highs are sometimes 120 degrees, so we are chilly when it goes anywhere under 50.

Well, I took out the trash and found a cat trying to get into the laundry room.

I had to bring it in..

I'd already noticed it wandering around earlier in the day.

My niece posted the cat onto some websites .

We also made 'found' posters and set them around.

While we were taping them up we read a note on the mailboxes

stating that someone else had found this cat a few days ago but

didn't want to keep it for long because it was fighting with their cats.

This person just opened their door and let it out..

knowing the temperature was going to dip very low this week!

What's worse is that I think it belonged to a family that moved recently..

So she (I'm pretty sure it's a she) was left here to fend for herself!!

No one has claimed her 😞

 

 

We have not decided on a name yet..LOL

Isn't she adorable!

 

As you may know, from last week's post..

Yesterday was my birthday.

 

 It was the best!

I always start my birthday watching Stephen King movies..and Hellboy.

Then after that, birthday doughnuts.

We made dinner here at home..

Then we drove to a beautiful place called Tempe Town Lake, 

the breeze coming off the water was absolutely delicious!

afterwards, we stopped at a drive thru coffee shop called Dutch Bros,

The drink is free when it's your birthday

I told everyone that I didn't need anything this year..But they got me gifts anyway...

Back in July I honestly thought I wasn't going to be around to celebrate this birthday.

I had large masses in my abdomen which turned out to be cysts..massive cysts on my ovaries.

I was pretty much shut out of my regular ob/gyn because 

she was unhappy with my tumor markers and potassium levels..

 so she sent me to a oncologist.

It was a frightening and painful time for all of us.

But, here we are...

celebrating another birthday and I am more grateful than I can express. 

(Rigby photo-bomb)

I really enjoy watching 'Stranger Things'

so everyone knew exactly what to get me:)

 

And something King-ish of course

 I also received gift cards and books

Everyone spoiled me!

Oh! this was in the fridge:)

We ended the evening by watching 

I really had an amazing time, everything was just perfect.

Our crafts this week were all very small..

A wand I made by adding extra garland to a star pick:

A tart tin ornament

& my favorite..salt dough ornaments..

We actually  painted and glittered a bunch,

but I thought these two would be enough to show,

The candy cane is the one we left at the lake..it has an 'believe in your dreams' 

sticker on the back, plus we added a silver ribbon to hang it.

Thank you for visiting, I really appreciate you.

I hope you have a magical week and remember..