When your husband has a song stuck in his head … but only knows one line to it … and keeps singing it … and now its stuck in your head!
When the day cools down to a comfortable 80 degrees, making you realize that you will freeze once you return home to Northeast temps.
When you soon will meet the Wizard behind the Puns … The face behind the computer …An elf from the North Pole…
Pitter-Patter, raindrops were falling on the leaves. Why was she out here walking in the rain? She could go home, but didn’t feel like it. The sound of the rain was relaxing to her.
The alarm went off on her watch. Time to get home, bake her potato and reheat her leftover chili.
Hmmm….maybe she should add some shredded cheese to her chili tonight. Oh, she could barely contain herself, such an exciting life that she led. Friday was always Chili nights.
Stepping out of her wet shoes she took off her jacket and went into the kitchen to make her supper.
Shelly didn’t know what came over her that evening. People in her apartment building had their opinions which they feeely shared over the next week. But no one knew for sure.
They had heard the high pitch scream and ran out into the hallway. It waa quiet. Had they only imagined the scream?
Shelly’s apartment door flew open and out she came. “I did it! I really did it! I am going to take a cruise to Fiji Islands.
She ran from one end of the hallway to the other end. Shelly was feeling giddy. She had taken the leap of faith nd hoped with all her heart that she would fly and not fall.
Laughter bubbled up inside of her. She started skipping and heard Mrs Pauline say in a loud whisper. “That girl is high!”
Shelly burst out laughing when she entered her apartment, Let Pauline think what she wanted. It would give her something to talk about. What would the lady do without having something to gossip about.
. The next few days passed in a blur of activity. Predictable Shelly had decided to have an adventure! No longer was abe selling seashells by the seashore this summer!”
That job had been hers forever! She needed a change, and change would soon be exactly what she would get. No going back now, she thought, as the plane roared to life.
“Seashells, who wants seashells? Seashells for sale!”
Shelly looked and saw a young man selling seashells. His eyes made contact with hers and … the best love story of all started to unfold.
“Hi! I am Shelly. I used to sell seashells hy the seashore.”
His smile was as bright as the summer sun! “I am Peter, do you want a oeck of pickled peppers? I mean seashells! I am not so good qt trying to change.”
Sometimes you know when its right and Shelly knew. A month later they were married and Shelly couldn’t be happier, selling seaahells on the seashore with her true love.
1Together they worked side by side and had a peck of children, who brought them immense delight. Smart children they all were because they all knew how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
This is the conclusion to The Winner Is …
Asher was sitting by the river. He had been in Bittersweet Creek for two months and was still getting used to it. Quite different from the North Pole. Much warmer, which he waa happy about. Though he wouldn’t complain if it cooled down a little bit.
He waa starting over and feeling good. Especially now that he had won first place in the baking contest. The townspeople of Bittersweet Creek were noticing him and his business was really picking up.
No more dealing with tricky leprechauns. He had learned his lesson. Santa and the elves made sure of that! He couldn’t get away from the North Pole fast enough.
His ears were still ringing from the wrath of his now ex-girlfriend, which made his ears bleed. He didn’t know she could get so high pitch! Or that she would be soo upset about stupid elves! How was he suoposed to know that she was a great grandchild of one of the elves!
All the elves had thrown cream pies at him as he tried to climb up on Dinosauris to take him away. He told Dinosauris to fly but he sat so still as Asher got pummeled. The Candy Cane girl sure did have a good arm on her. She threw so fast, as if she was used to throwing pies.
He had told Santa he would start over and he was. This town was full of quirky characters. He had found new people to swindle. He felt positive that he could pull the wool over their eyes. It was only a matter of time.
Getting up he started walking back to his bakery, whistling a happy tune. Thinking of the money be could make. Once all the townspeople were addicted to his sweets he would con them into investing in a new business idea of his. It would be purr….! OUCH! He hadn’t been watching where he was going and now was in quite a bit of pain.
Tippner entered Mason’s diner right before closing time. Cara looked at the clock and made a face at him. “Don’t make a mess I washed all the tables.”
Tippner looked at his watch. “It is 6:58pm. You don’t close until 7.”
Mason ducked at Tippner’s words. “She may break another dish over your head if you aren’t careful.”
Tippner laughed, “All I want is one of your heavenly shoo-fly pies. You won’t deny me their fresh sweetness will you?”
Without a word she went to the back and came out a minite later with a piece of pie on a paper plate and a plastic fork.
“Paper! You have stooped to serving your favorite customer paper plates!”
“Nope! I served Amanda our new china plates earlier.”
Tippner harrumped, getting a smile out of Cara.
“Well, in spite of the poor service, I will try to enjoy my pie. But don’t expect a tip.”
“Fine, being that I accidentally dropped your pie on the floor.”
“Whha-t” his fork was almost in his mouth. “
“Just kidding!” Cara laughed.
Tippner took his first bite., sighing with sweet satisfaction.
Cara headed for the door. “Enjoy! That pie was made specifically for you. I used an extra special ingredient. Tippner puffed out his chest. “Why thank you!” And he took another bite.
“Real flies.”
Cara burst out laughing at the face he made, “Goodnight!” she called as she headed out the door. She heard Tippner sputtering to Mason about firing her. But she knew he didn’t mean it. He would be in his special booth at 7am sharp tomorrow.
Each move that Asher made got him more stuck and more pain. His clothes were jagged and ripped from the cactus. Oh could anything else go wrong for him. Had Santa somehow read his thoughts and thats why he was stuck on a cactus now?
Asher raised his head, he heard something coming. A cow! He had heard mention of some cow named Betsy and a magical cowbell before. He had rolled his eyes at how gullible people were. Magical cowbells! Yes, fooling them would be simple.
The cow was coming closer and it must be Betsy, for she had a cowbell around her neck.
“Hey dumb cow, move faster I think you can help me.” Betsy’s eyes grew dark as she walked closer to him and stopped right in front of Asher.
“Perfect! Lets see what this so called magical bell can do. Hopefully pull me out of here. He grabbed hold of it and pulled.
Everyone was curious. Where had Asher gone, he hadn’t been in his bakery all week.
“I really wanted his recipe for pumpkin empanadas.”
“I bet you could make them as good as his without a recipe!” Sarah and Amanda told her. After a few flops sbe did. Soon they were a hot selling item at Mason’s Diner.
As time went by the talk about Asher died down.
“He was rather strange you know. The guy thought he had been an elf before at Santa’s workshop!” Tippner laugbed.
“He told me the same story and added how be had been tricked by a little leprechaun named Lolly.” Mason said.
“Leprechauns and elves, Oh my! Who knows maybe he went back to the North Pole. ” They laughed, chalking it up to another crazy incident in the town of Bittersweet Creek. The town where things were rarely normal.
Asher was so frightened he couldn’t move. He was stuck in a miry swamp, and there was a mean bull eyeing him up. He closed his eyes fearing the worst.
Happy Tuesday! Surprise! My quote post is early today. Thought I would make up for the writing fairy who fell asleep last night without posting a story. Where in the US are we? Want to take a guess? Or if you don’t want to think today, scroll down and enjoy the quotes and may your week be filled with other surprises that make you smile.
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The weather was unusually hot for the annual Fall Festival, but that didn’t stop the people of Bittersweet Creek from being in a festive mood.
Amanda looked at Cara’s chocolate chip cookies feeling like she was putting on calories already. Her cookies were always delicious.
“Good luck in winning first place again. I think you should display your winning ribbon on the wall of the diner.”
“She hasn’t won yet.” Mason pointed out.
“What kind of bet?”
Cara rolled her eyes at Mason. “Wanna make a bet that I win first place?”
“That I get a day off work.”
Amanda spoke up, “Yes, me and you can go to the Spa!”
Mason agreed to it, after adding his two cents of course. “A day off for you means no broken dishes for me!”
“Funnny! It was only one dish and you just won’t forget.”
“One dish, two mugs and …”
Amanda pulled on his arm, “Don’t worry Cara, I will go get something to stuff his face so he can’t talk anymore.”
Cara chuckled as she watched Amanda drag him away. Ahh! The thought of a day at the spa was wonderful.
Tippner was holding the candy apple he had bought, looking for a place where he could sit down and enjoy it.
He passed by a little girl and she was crying. Being the tender heart guy that he was he stopped and asked the girl what was wrong. .
“I lost my money and wanted an apple!” She wiped her tears looking so pitiful, with sad, puppy dog eyes.
Tippner stared at his apple. Well he couldn’t enjoy it now. “Here, you can have mine.” He handed it out to her.
“Thanks Mister! Now I have two apples! She brought her hand out from behind her back. It was holding a shiny red candy apple. She ran away laughing.
“Weol that…! Hmphh!” Tippner reached in his pocket for more money and remembered he didn’t have anymore. He had spent it on a BBQ sandwich and cheese fries earlier.
“Come test your strength!” Grayson, Mason’s brother, was running a stand. You had to swing a hammer to ring the bell.
“Step right up Tippner, can you beat Mason? He rang the bell on the first try!”
“No problem!” Taking a deep breath he swung the hammer with all his might, but no ring! Mmm…! He swung it again. Still no ring. Then he spied the little girl who had tricked him out of his candy apple. She was standing a little ways from him grinnimg like a Cheshire cat! Frowning at her he swung again and this time when he swung he rang the bell!
“Third time is the charm.’ Though first time was the charm for me.” Mason patted Tippner on the back. “Good job!’
“Next year your luck may run out!” Tippner said. “You have to break your winning streak sometime.”
“I guess we will have to wait and see.” Mason wore a smug smile upon his face.
“Attention everyone, may I have your attention please. We, the judges, have made our decision about the winner of the best chocolate chip cookies. We are pleased to announce that the Best Baker award this year goes to Asher.”
Cara couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t win this year. Last year her Shoo-fly pie had won and everyone loved her gooey,soft cookies. But what she was really curious about was , who was Ashet??
(To be continued)
Tell me something boring about yourself … A teacher asked their students that … Less pressure than being asked to tell something interesting… Smart teacher… Leave your boring fact in the comments …
When you wish you could make your flowers look like this …
When puppy dog eyes are so hard to say “No” too ..
Hilda was looking at her watch and tapping it, wishing she could make time go faster that way.
“Violet, you are as slow as molasses. Are you coming?” She hollered up the steps to her sister.
“Who is coming? We are getting ready to leave, we can’t have company now.”
Hilda shook her head. Why did she waste her breath trying to yell. Her sister had enough trouble hearing when she was right next to her.
Five minutes later Violet finally came down the stairs.
“Who is coming? You never answered me.”
“Noone is coming sister, we have to go. Don’t want to miss our taxi. I told him to be here at 11am sharp. Though we could save money if you would let me drive.”
Violet gave her sister a hopeless look, but didn’t say a word. Hilda knew why she couldn’t drive, eversince she tried driving on the sidewalks. Not to mention stopping in the middle of an intersection for no reason! Violet thought she would have a heart attack if they didn’t get hit first!
Beep!! “The taxi is here, lets go!” They held onto each other as they walked out the door and down the steps. Keeping each other balanced and upright.
A half hour later they were sinking their feet into the sand at the beach. Felt so good. They had grown up near the ocean and it was in their souls.
Gone were their days of surfing. Hilda thought they should try it and be called the Surfing Grannies. Violet reminded her that they had enough trouble staying upright when they were walking! Hilda made a face and sighed.
They put up their umbrellas, and got out their books, ready to spend a day reading and letting the magic of the ocean soothe them. Washing away all their cares.
Hilda put down her book and stretched. She had been reading for two hours.
“Can’t think of a more joyful way to spend this sunny day than at the beach.”
“I agree sister! Would love to have a peach.”
Hilda laughed. “Sorry Violet, we are out of peaches.” Sometimes it was easier to not correct her and just go along with what she said.
“I could go for a soft pretzel. Would you like one?” Hilda asked.
“Yes, please.”
Violet watched a seagull flying in the air and watched the sandpipers scurry across the sand. They were so cute to watch.
Then she looked at the ocean and its rolling waves. Felt the breeze on her face and smiled. Where was Hilda? She was getting hungry.
Oh wow! There were dolphins jumping the waves! Never would she tire of how graceful they were to watch.
Oooh her vision must be getting worse! No, her vision was fine, She had been to the eye Dr last week.
Violet was stunned at the incredible sight! There were only a few people on the beach and none of them were looking at the water. Violet wanted to yell at them to LOOK! Magic was happening right before their eyes. How she wished that Hilda could see it.
“Sorry it took so long, They were short staffed.”
“Thanks!” Violet took the pretzel but wasn’t hungry now. All she could think about was the dolphin and the cow!! A cow looking as graceful as the dolphin. How could that be possible? She always thought they were big, clumsy animals.
“You will never guess what I saw, Sis! There was a cow jumping waves with a dolphin! They were side by side.
Hilda gave her sister a look that said it all.
“I am not crazy, it really was a cow! If a cow can jump over the moon, why not some waves?”
Hilda “smacked her head” and made a mental note to herself to call the Dr.about Violet.
“Look there it is again! The magical brown cow!” Violet yelled.
Hilda’s jaw dropped. Mental note to herself. Don’t breathe a word about the cow to anyone. What happens at the beach, stays at the beach!
This is the sequel to The Secret Plot Begins
LIfe at the North Pole was one laugh after another. Cookie was having a delightful time being one of Santa’s elves. This was the most fabulous job she had ever had. All the other elves were so friendly in welcoming her. Well most of them, Licorice seemed rather cold and distant. Cookie thought maybe she had done something to offend him, but Candy Cane told her that he was always that way. No one knew why.
The day had started out with another delicious breakfast by Chef Salvo. Cookie now knew why Santa was so roly poly. She decided that she may have to be careful about how many of Chef Salvo’s fine desserts she ate, but they were so good. Candy Cane was always walking around with creamy latte’s too, which sent Cookie’s tastebuds into overdrive. Caramel Marchiatto was a favorite of hers.
Everyone was busy at work making toys after breakfast. Sometimes one would have duck to avoid getting hit by flying objects. One never knew what may happen in Santa’s Toy Hop. The name “Toy Hop” stuck. Alabaster and Snowball wouldn’t live that one down. It was the last time they were asked to make any signs and Santa had them reading the dictionary to help wtih their spelling.
Licorice was pretending to work on fixing a toy train, but his mind was racing with other thoughts. It was too long to have to wait until close to Christmas. He was ready to put his plan to work now. Why did he have to stay here longer, freezing, while making toys, he was ready for his gold! Would Lolly really mind if he did thing earlier than they had planned? LIcorice grinned, perhaps he would get even more gold than Lolly had promised him, if he pulled things off earlier than planned. It was worth a try! He would get his gold and then get back to Tess. She was probably pining away for him, after all he was a pretty good catch. With his mind daydreaming about Tess, he wasn’t looking when THUNK, he got hit by a toy rocket.
Candy Cane blushed. “OOPS! Sorry Licorice, I wasn’t aiming for you.” Licorice grunted. Yes, he was going to put his plan into action soon. These elves were crazy, he had to get back his sanity, and he better get his height back as well.
That night he was up late mixing up his potion. Lolly had given him the secret recipe for some extra special treats for the elves. Everyone knew how elves liked their sweets, and he made these cookies extra sweet. No permanent harm would come to the elves, but like Frost, it would make them sick for quite awhile. Poor Santa wouldn’t know what to do, losing so many elves. Licorice would be sure not to give the extra special cookies to all of the elves, some of the elves would get normal cookies. But enough of elves would get them to send Santa into a frazzle. Then Lolly and the leprechauns would appear to save the day! What other choice would Santa have then to take them on, for there were lots of toys still to be made.
Licorice let out a low, evil chuckle as he mixed up the cookie dough.
When the sun came through the window, and Licorice’s Grinch alarm clock went off, he groaned. He let the Grinch song play out before turning off the alarm. It was one of his favorite songs. Better than the happy, jolly songs that they played all day long while making toys. Those songs made his ears hurt. He was sleepy, but staying up late would soon be worth it. His plan was to give out his cookies at lunch time and by the time the day was over, half of the elves would be too sick to function.
Jinx, Jangle and Tink were busy trying to put together a new type of toy. It was supposed to be one of the best toys for this Christmas, but there was one problem. Tink couldn’t remember how to put it together. He thought he knew, but each time he started sharing the directions with Jinx and Jangle, he would only get so far before forgetting again. He would start talking in gobbledygook, which no one understood. Then he would doze off. Jinx and Jangle were confused, something weird was going on with Tink.
Snowball was in the middle of putting a toy together when he bent over with pain, moaning.
“What’s wrong?” Alabaster was concerned, looking at Snowball, whose face was ashen.
“I think I see a bright light … the brightest light of all.” Snowball was squinting his eyes as Alabaster stared at him. “Oh, my head feels woozy!” Before Alabaster could do anything Snowball fell onto the floor. He fell backwards, fainting.
The elves stopped working and rushed over to Snowball to see what was wrong. Licorice rushed over with them, he would really stand out, if he kept working as everyone rushed over to see if Snowball was okay. Couldn’t do that.
Snowball began to wake up, wondering what had happened. Then the sharp stomach pain seized him once more. One by one the elves began to fall like dominoes. LIcorice was feeling elated, but had to keep a straight face and look concerned if he was going to pull this off.
Wow! They were falling fast. Licorice could hardly believe it, he hadn’t expected the cookies to work so quickly. He covered his face with his hands,hiding his evil smirk. The elves kept falling, and soon Licorice’s smirk was beginning to grow wary. Why were so many falling? He hadn’t given out the special potion cookies to everyone! They were dropping like flies, what was going on?
The door to the “Toy Hop” swung open. “HO! HO! … Whoa! What has happened to my elves?” Santa looked around with a deep frown, all his elves were on the floor moaning and groaning in pain. Well, almost all. Poor Licorice was the only one standing, looking so confused.
Santa gazed down at him, for Licorice was really small. “Can you tell me what happened, and how you managed to stay standing?”
“I… I … don’t know Santa. They were dropping so fast.”
“Sooo you have no clue as to what happened?”
Licorice began feeling a funny knot in his stomach. He didn’t like being questioned by Santa. He liked the old man, couldn’t complain about the gifts he brought him. If he told him the truth he would be furious!
“No clue at all, Santa.” he replied in a subdued voice.
“Soo I guess you don’t recognize this? Santa held up a piece of paper with writing on it.
Poor Licorice, His heart fell! Santa was holding up the extra special cookie recipe, how had he found it?
Licorice didn’t know what to do, should he confess?
“No, I don’t know what that is. ” he said, but his voice shook.
“Hmmm… interesting ….certainly interesting…!”
Licorice wanted so badly to get back to his cottage and call Lolly and get the first ticket out of here, after he got his gold of course!
“Well, looks like we have trouble on our hands. I can’t operate my “Toy Hop” without my hard working elves. You wouldn’t happen to have any suggestions would you?
LIcorice couldn’t believe it, was it really going to be this easy!”
Straightening up as far as he could go he said, “Yes, Santa! I believe I may have an idea for you. I know some hardowrking leprechauns. Lolly is their boss.”
Santa was quiet, and his face got redder by the minute. “Hardworking leprechauns you say, You mean the same ones who plotted with you to hurt my elves?”
The color drained from Licorice’s face, he had no words.
Santa shook his head at him, “Santa knows when you are naughty and he knows when you are nice.”
“Okay, everyone, showtime is over! Back on your feet!”
Licorice watched in shock at everyone rising to their feet and acting fine! How did they recover so fast?
“One should never, never try to hurt Santa’s elves. Tell your leprechaun friends that special potions don’t work on Santa’s elves, they are protected.”
“But, but .. they were writhing on the floor?”
Santa let out a hearty laugh. “My elves are amazing actors! They have played charades many times. I told them all to act sick.
Licorice couldn’t look Santa in the eye and he grew sadder by the minute as he saw his dreams of gold fading away. But maybe not all was lost! He could still get back to Tess.
“I promise Santa I will never mess with leprechauns again! They are bad news, and if you could make me taller again and send my back home, I will be as good as gold.”
“Are you sure you want to go home?”
“Most definitely! You see there is a young lady there, Tess, who I know is pining after me.”
Santa let out an impish grin, “Pining you say?”
“Yes!”
“Candy Cane and Cookie can you please tell our surprise visitor to come in?”
With bright smiles they ran outside, leaving Licorice slightly confused. The door opened and when Licorice saw who walked in he was stupefied! It was Tess and she towered over poor Licorice .
“Oh Tess, so good…” Santa held up his hand.
“You may not want to waste your breath. Tess, would you like to say something to Asher? He is no longer Licorice, he doesn’t deserve to be an elf!”
Tess had a lot to say and she started rattling things off at him. Santa stood back and smiled, turning to Alabaster. “You were right, I do believe she will talk his ear off. When you get a woman fired up, watch out. A good idea to send for her. Thanks for the help.”
“Well, talking is something that woman excel at, you know.” Alabaster replied.
Santa let out a hearty chuckle, “Oh yes, when Mrs. Claus gets going .. I often find myself… ”
“Find yourself what, my dear?”
Santa turned around to see Mrs. Claus standing there giving him a pointed stare. Then she looked at Alabaster, “What is it that woman excel at?” Alabaster gulped … looking at Santa … looked like they were both in the doghouse, when it came to Mrs. Claus.
Happy Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a good start. I know one girl’s week that is. Well I don’t really know her, but my kids found out that a girl they went to HS with won over 3 million dollars in the lottery. I wonder how many classmates are going to come out of the blue claiming that they were close friends. In case anyone is hoping that I win the lottery, stop holding your breath, have to play in order to win! May not be able to share lottery winnings, but here is a picture from Pinterest to make you smile and hopefully the quotes do as well.
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Nuggets of Gold 