Less Stressful Holiday Gatherings

 Top 5 ways to make your holiday gathering less stressful and budget friendly

So you were informed that you will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year at your house because everyone else is too busy, or will be out of town, or just doesn’t have the room. Maybe this is your first Thanksgiving meal you’ve ever prepared. Whatever the reason, here you are, planning for what tends to be a large meal with many people. Where do you begin? How do you make it easier on yourself so that maybe you’re not spending all day in the kitchen and not socializing on the day of the event? How do you keep the budget within your means and make less overall work for you? Here is a list of some of the top ways to achieve a nice family (or friends) Thanksgiving meal that won’t break your bank account as well as ways to keep the meal a little less stressful for you and easier cleanup as well.

Whirlwind

UPDATED: Last Edited in 2025 WHIRLWIND By Holly Stoner

There I was, sitting on the counter in that sterile room, staring at the sparkling clean floor. In fact, it was so clean you could eat off it, if you really wanted to bring food into the bathroom that is. I hopped down off the counter and planted my bare feet onto the floor, which was surprisingly warm despite how icy it appeared. I slipped my feet into the sandals that were sitting beside the tub and glanced at the shiny pink nail polish on my toes. The time had come. I took a deep breath and turned around and looked at myself in the mirror before looking down at the counter at the thin white stick which was showing two distinct pink lines.

My heart started racing, and I reached for the box which previously housed the plastic white stick. The purple box read “Pregnancy Test” on the front and showed the logo of the one-dollar store where I had purchased the test last week. I flipped the box over in a panic and read my worst fear. I was pregnant. I wondered if the test could be wrong. How could this have happened? We were careful, and it only happened one time.

Twilight saga in my own words

Original publication Feb 22, 2012 

Updates made June 19, 2025

With the upcoming release of the last installment of Stephanie Meyer's best selling vampire drama series, Twilight, I thought I'd take today to post a summery, in case you need a refresher. The Twilight Saga was written by Stephanie Meyer and published by Little Brown between the years 2005 and 2008 (for the original 4 book series). The following is in my own words. No copyright infringement is intended with this summary.

There was a girl named Bella Swan who moved from the dry heat of Arizona to the wet cold of Washington to live with her dad and let her mother have some time with her new baseball player husband. Bella never really felt like she fit in anywhere and it was never more apparent than when she attended Forks Highschool. The teens in the small town were a little strange and one family in particular, the Cullens. The Cullens were pale, with golden brown eyes, which sometimes looked black, and kept to themselves and they missed school whenever the sun was shining. Edward Cullen intrigued Bella with his sparkling good looks. She soon began to crush on him. When she learned of his interest in her, they quickly became an item, but Edward had secrets, secrets that he started to share with Bella. Most people would have been afraid of the things he told her, but not Bella. She never felt more alive. Falling in love with a vampire isn't without problems of course, you know, the whole I want to bite you thing. Edwards protectiveness of Bella also became an obstacle and something the other vampires didn't understand.

15 Years Later

 I was doing some blog work on this and my other blog today and my post from May, 2010 came up with the image of my now 15 year old cat. We named her Daisy. You can see that post here. Sadly her brother seen with her in that photo is no longer with us. He died just this past month. In that post I wasn't sure where he was going to end up, well, he ended up with my brother and his family. They named him Dakota. Dakota than lived near me for a few years, moved to Montana and than moved to North Carolina where he spent the rest of his life. As with any aging animal health issues came up and his quality of life suffered, so they let him go. My cat, Daisy, too has had her share of health problems. To be expected at the advanced age of 15. Last summer (7-2-24) she had a sudden decline and I thought we were going to lose her. Aside from arthritis she'd been doing well to then. But in June my young adult son brought home a kitten to live with us. They were kept apart even after he'd had a vet check 2 days after his arrival. But the kitten had fleas and thus began the nightmare of getting rid of fleas. If you've ever had them, you know. We haven't had fleas in this house for over 15 years. All my previous cats were indoor only and our dog never got fleas as she was primarily indoor also (and would be treated during bad summer months).