I'm one of those people who has good intentions of doing things. I'm also one of those people who needs to make a To-Do list to keep her focused on performing the tasks. Some times I even complete every item on the list. That said, here are the things I want to accomplish in January. Put photos back into the Mama's albums.  Now, this item I ought to be able to finish in a flash. Make cafe curtains for the kitchen window. A few years ago, I made easy-peasy yellow curtains that are not the easiest to scoot along the rod. I did not put the centerpiece for holding up the rod in the precise center, which bugs a certain precise person, who shall be nameless, and possibly the other precise person, who shall also be nameless, in this household. Make a bird feeder. The screw mechanism for the cover of the feeder failed sometime last year. But, because the birds can still balance and eat on the feeder, I've ignored replacing it. Recently, the birds have taken to poop

Sawing. Clipping. Raking. Sweeping. Pushing dried limbs, branches, vines, leaves, and seed pods into plastic bags. That's how I spent most of my afternoon. It wasn't what I had planned. When the Husband and I left this morning to do the errands, the Mama was reading the newspaper in the living room. Ninety minutes later, I looked out the back door to see a high limb on the miracle tree precariously hanging above the Mama, who sat beside the tall ladder, stripping dried leaves from skinny branches into her bucket. I was furious. One, the Mama had been up the ladder. And, two, I had asked her the other day, after cutting back her banana trees, if she'd like me to prune the rest of the miracle tree. "No," she said. "The green (recycle) can is already full." Good, I thought, I'd prune the tree next Thursday.  Ha! "You know we don't like you on the ladder," I growled, throwing my purse on the ground, and hurriedly climbing the ladde

  Today, for the first time this year, the blackbirds were in the nearby tree. It looked like they had spent the night. I'm hooking up with The Weekend in Black and White . Click here to check out B&W photos by bloggers from around the world. My photo turned out so stark that I played around with the artistic filters in Photoshop. I like these looks the best.  What do you think? With the plaster filter With the cut out filter

Five days into the 2015 Reading Challenge , I can cross off my first item —a mystery of thriller. Whooo-hooo! Queen of Hearts is the eighth book in the Royal Spyness Mysteries series by Rhys Bowen .  This is one of three mystery series that I look forward to reading the latest stories. Bowen's Royal Spyness Mysteries   is set primarily in London in the 1930s. The protagonist is Georgie, the great grandaughter of Queen Victoria. She would become queen should King George and the 33 heirs before her were to die all of a sudden. So, it's very unlikely. Georgie's formal name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie. Her father, the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch, gambled all family's fortune away, so Georgie is broke. Because she's of royalty, she can't make a living for herself although she has tried. In the first book (and maybe the second, I can't remember), she secretly worked as a maid. Queen Mary likes Georgie and often sends for her to do some bid

Are you a z orilla? Noooooooo. Are you a Spanish zorro? Noooooooooooooo. I am Molly the Cat!   You know that. Molly the Cat and I are linking up at Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday . To read other Z posts, please click here .

I forgot to buy a 2015 calendar for the Mama. I had planned to make her one again, but I thought about it too late to have it be delivered by the new year. I figured I'd print out the dates and attach the page to last year's calendar. On Sunday, I did that. The Mama thought it was a new calendar.  Hmmmmm.

Molly the Cat's and my pre-breakfast routine is to fill the bird feeder in the front yard. We do that for the Mama, who worries that the wild birds can't find anything to eat, especially in the winter. I think Molly likes this routine as much as I do. It feels great breathing in the crisp, cool air while the early morning sunlight bathes our bodies.  I'm usually the second one up in the household. Every so often, I'm the first. Molly is no where to be seen until I've opened the kitchen curtains. Voila! The sleepy-eyed cat is sitting before me. Yawning. And, as I take a step towards her, she stretches in all her glory. "Shall we go outside?" I ask, turning the locks to the front door. Molly pads over. When I open the screen door, she rushes out to the sound of birds flapping out of the yard. Not to worry, Molly's meow is worse than her bite. She likes to watch birds and occasionally chase them. But, that's it. She caught a bird once, and ha