Not a Creature was Stirring?

I don’t get why I have to have a rodent-themed Christmas. Last time I told you our new tradition was having a surgery-themed Christmas. But the longer tradition involves rats and mice.

Simon, our ninja cat, keeps bringing in live mice and then letting them go. Our son, Brandon, says cats do this when they think you have no hunting skills. They treat you like you’re their kittens and they need to train you.

I doubt very much that cats think anything through as thoroughly as this. I mean, what’s a cat’s IQ—10?

          So now we have a mouse hiding in a drawer in the laundry room. I can picture a little mouse real estate agent telling him the place shows dark, and the mouse grinning and saying, “Where do I sign?”

Obviously he hasn’t read T’was the Night Before Christmas. We’re trying to capture him, but mice are quick and sneaky.

You’d think this wouldn’t be that difficult. When our son, Richie, was a little boy he asked, “Why do owls come out at night?” I told him it was because mice come out at night. He said, “Then why do mice come out at night?” And we’re back to IQ again.

          Years ago a rat collapsed and died under our tree, trying to get to the water in the tree stand. Good heavens, right? 

          Then one year I was painting our windows with Christmassy themes and added a tiny little mouse, asleep in a wreath with his little stocking hung nearby. I continued this each year, and one year painted him just a bit too large.  “A Christmas Rat!” the kids squealed, thrilled with this tradition that I blogged about here.

          And now Tiffany, our daughter-in-law, has NAMED the latest mouse Reggie. The one we’re trying to capture and relocate in the nearest wilds. But if he’s named then he becomes a pet!

          I just don’t know. Maybe my own IQ is the real problem here.

You can come over and help me on Mouse Watch. When it’s not your shift you can read one of my books!

Ever Tried This Christmas Tradition?

          We all have holiday traditions, right? It seems mine is to have major medical procedures on them. My main cancer surgery was right before Thanksgiving last year, followed by another two surgeries right before Christmas. Then I started chemo on Valentine’s Day. I think radiation began on St. Bob’s birthday, and now I’m having reconstructive surgery right before Christmas again. I sure know how to get out of cooking a giant feast!

          However, as you read this I am now back from a lengthy hospital stay and am enjoying a whole new tradition: Christmas fireworks. At least that’s what I am anticipating as ALL of our wonderful grown children are with us (hasn’t happened in a long time!) and it’s up to them to cook. One is vegan, one is keto, one avoids glutin, one likes junk food and one hates to cook. Should be hilarious. (Plus varied political views which I have told them to keep to themselves but you know how that works.)

          I’m thinking I will pull up a nearby chair, sit there in my pain-med-induced stupor, and enjoy the entertainment.  

St. Bob has planned a wonderful day for them: Zip-lining, rock climbing, and a Via Ferrata rope challenge at the local Quarry Park Adventures. But I fully expect our plans to get rained out. Plus I looked at the website, saw the words “Free Fall,” and now I’m praying for snow. One Christmas hospital visit is enough, right?

Even though it’s Christmas Eve, you can order a sleigh-ful of my Christmas booklet, A Little Christmas Prayer. You can enjoy it throughout the season (hopefully without any injuries) and even stock up early, for next year.

Now Hair This

          Okay, the chemo hair is growing back in. Yes, it fell out and I looked like an eaglet. Or Golum. But now it’s growing back sassy and defiant. Like this is my fault and it’s blaming me.

          Granted, I had somewhat curly/wavy hair before.

 

          But now I have curls so tight it looks like hundreds of  tiny Slinkies are all over my head. 

Or sheep’s wool.

Seriously, I look like a cross between Sonic the Hedgehog

and Albert Einstein. Like, if they had a baby.

When it gets a little longer I think I may look like Bob Ross:

Who knows-- maybe artistic talents will be included. I still wear wigs, hats, and scarves but soon I’ll be braving the weather with nothing but my tight little curls to protect me. Notice they’re forming two horns? I swear this is just what those particular curls have decided on their own.

If only they could remake Napoleon Dynamite with a crazy Aunt Joni in it. Then everyone would know how he got those curls.

But you can keep your head warm by staying indoors. And while you’re there, read my Christmas book aloud to your family. See if you agree with many of my readers that this would make a wonderful little movie!

Say It Ain't So!

          For years I have been bragging about the Bear Lake Raspberries grown in northern Utah, where I grew up. There’s something about the 6,000 ft. elevation and the chilly climate that makes the plants store more sugar. And that creates the sweetest raspberries known to man. Who knows, maybe even the sweetest people—ha!

Everyone in the vicinity, which includes Southern Idaho (and yes, Napoleon Dynamite felt like a documentary of my childhood) would go to Bear Lake and pick them. Our moms would make jam and it was the sweetest, pinkest, most glorious jam on earth.

Years later as we experienced “store bought jam” or even fresh raspberries grown in other areas, we would grimace, and then bore everyone around us with tales of better berries. We became Raspberry Snobs. Here’s a Vacherin I made, topped with these sweet little gems:

And a cake of mine:

And a creme brulee I topped with them:

But then (cue the sound effect of a needle screeching across a vinyl record), a few years ago it came to a halt. A virus nearly wiped out the entire raspberry plant population there, and they had to tear everything out and start over. Which takes a few years. Some of the farmers gave up entirely.

It was a dark and stormy time. Actually dark and stormy would have been good for the berries. It began to look like authentic Bear Lake Berries would be gone for good.

Thankfully, there are a few hardy souls who are working to bring the industry back again. Pictures of the annual Raspberry Days show lots of happy families enjoying Raspberry Shakes, ice cream, and desserts. So add Bear Lake to your bucket list, and enjoy these juicy red nuggets before they disappear again.

Raspberry jam makes a wonderful hostess gift as you make the rounds this Christmas. But until you can be sure it contains authentic Bear Lake berries, give the next best thing: My latest book!  It’s seriously perfect for anyone of any age, and teaches the magic of gratitude. Find A Little Christmas Prayer on Amazon for just $3.49!

Can You Say This?

          I’ve never owned a racehorse, but if you’re a frequent Joniopolis visitor, you know that I’m crazy about horses.  You may also know that I can sometimes be a monkey.

          So I’ve decided that if ever I do own a racehorse, I’m going to give it a name that will bring me a bit of amusement.  Especially if it wins. Hence the win-win.

          I’ll saddle it, pun intended, with a name that will cause the track announcer (and any broadcasters who try to say the name) a bit of a challenge. Shouldn’t be too hard—just think of the toughest words to pronounce correctly.  Worcestershire, Didgeridoo, and Onomatopoeia come to mind, but I think we can do even better.

          Some friends of mine live in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Nobody except locals say it right. And just imagine, with the state name included, it would take so long to pronounce it that the race could be over.

          Inspissate, obstreperous, floccinaucinihilipilification, inchoate, viviparous, dicotyledonous—the world is teeming with great choices.

Wait—hold the presses! Why not be sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, and give the horse one of those crazy drug names that no one can get right?

          Here’s a good one. It comes from Gulliver’s Travels, where giants were called Brobdingnagians. Try to say that one three times.

          Which brings us to tongue twisters, and why not? You could have a horse named Peter-Piper-picked-a-peck-of-pickled-peppers.  I thought I’d look up the world’s toughest tongue twister and found this quote: “Pad kid poured curd pulled cod." A team of researchers from M.I.T. have dubbed this tongue twister the world's most difficult. "If anyone can say this (phrase) 10 times quickly, they get a prize," said Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, an MIT psychologist.

          HOLD ON again. So that’s harder to say than Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, the very woman running the contest?  She could get a racehorse, name it after herself, and achieve my exact goal.

          I tell you, the pieces are simply falling into place. Now I just need the dough to get a horse. And here’s where you come in. All you need to do is visit my website, buy my books, and then wait for the pennies to stack up. A perfect choice is my latest, a short Christmas story that costs just $3.49 on Amazon. It’s called A Little Christmas Prayer. Hint: Sometimes it takes a child to raise a village.

Know Any Cheapskates?

          Sure you do. You know me. Okay, I’m not the worst cheapskate ever, but I do try to use the very last of the toothpaste before I toss the tube. I tell myself I’m being thrifty and frugal—much nicer words—but I also get great satisfaction knowing that I re-use and repurpose bottles and boxes that most folks throw away, and even greater satisfaction when I find good deals that save beaucoup buckos.

          St. Bob and I are well matched. One time he started a dining club called Cheap Restaurants of All Kinds (Acronym: CROAK). Maybe I should start a penny-pinchers’ club where we get together and brag about bargains we’ve come across.

          Meanwhile, I decided to see where the term “cheapskate” originated. Turns out nobody really knows (or were they just too cheap to do a study?). It started popping up in the late 1800s, has nothing to do with skates, and generally means someone miserly and stingy.

          Well that’s entirely different. I’d be much more likely to splurge on a gift than on something for myself.  And, with Christmas approaching, we all try not to be like Scrooge.

          BUT… I do have an amazing suggestion for you as you scour the internet and stores for gift ideas. It’s a terrific present that only costs $3.49, less than the price of a greeting card! Perfect for everyone on your gift list. Yes, it’s my latest work, a short story about gratitude called ALittle Christmas Prayer, and it’s perfect for kids or grownups of any faith. Hint: Sometimes it takes a child to raise a village.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Chocolate

          Yep, it’s that chocolatey time of year. Actually the entire year is chocolatey if think about it. There’s Halloween which we just had, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years' LOADED with goodies, then Valentine’s Day, then Easter, then Mother’s Day, weddings, birthdays, then chocolate ice cream all summer, and now we’re back at Halloween again.

          But did you know these 10 facts about chocolate?

1. When wanting to melt chocolate, most people use chocolate chips. But those were formulated not to melt, so they could maintain their shape when baked in cookies.

2. We've all heard that dark chocolate is heart-healthy, but I have inside info on this, from a friend of the man who led that study. Turns out they only tested dark chocolate. So milk chocolate is probably just as heart-healthy. Just not vegan.

3. Aztecs and Mayans used cacao beans as currency and yes, they had counterfeiters making cacao beans from clay. 

4. The earliest form of it was hot chocolate, and that stayed the case for hundreds of years. “Eating chocolate” came much later.

5. Africa is the main producer of cacao beans.

6. Hershey’s makes 70 million kisses a day (and so named because of the sound the machine makes).

7. White chocolate isn’t technically chocolate, but does contain cocoa butter. 8. The chocolate industry makes over $75 billion in annual worldwide sales.

9.   The blood in Psycho's famous shower scene was actually chocolate syrup. 10.The Snickers candy bar was named after the Mars family’s beloved horse.

Now that I have you salivating for chocolate, there’s one more fact that will give you some willpower: It's believed that people who are allergic to chocolate are actually allergic to cockroaches, as around eight insect parts are typically found in a bar of chocolate, according to the Food and Drug Administration (Google it). Yikes!

Thankfully, no insect parts are in any of my books, which make marvelous Christmas gifts.  You can find them all here, and the most recent one, A Little Christmas Prayer, is a timeless short story about how one boy raised a village. Only $3.49— perfect for those little gifts you need to buy in bulk.