Saturday

[Shirlv]

Good Morning All, a late start here because Hazel, the maid forgot to fix coffee. Gloomy morning but am not planning to go anywhere. I leave the roads to working people who need to shop. I took a long walk yesterday and sat in the complex pavilion, was a beautiful day. Didn’t get much vitamin D since I was wearing a hoody to keep the wispy hair out of my eyes. Friend Edith hates technology so she has happy hour every day at 5:00 with her brother by speaker phone. Everyone is coping the best they can. Be safe

“It will get better”

[Colliemom]

Good Morning from snowy northern Michigan. After a slow start with a few spurts of snow, followed by melting sun, Winter has finally decided to arrive. Good thing, as we are at least 21 inches below our norm snow total for this time in the season. The businesses could use a shot in the arm right now. No snowmobilers, no skiers etc., no revenue other than us locals who are doing our best to help them, especially the dining places as They are under close down orders till Dec. 20. This is their busy time as Christmas shoppers like to stop for lunch or dinner while out shopping. Most are offering take outs. I continued to work in my wood lot till yesterday, when I came to the point where I have stopped for this year, knowing that I won’t be dong any more, with a forecasted 6-10 inches of snow covering everything. It was fun while it lasted and it was not an everyday thing as appts., shopping, a dsy off here and there came in between.

My one bit of itty bitty news is that I have a dislocated implant lens (IOL) in my left eye and will go in January to have that put back in place. I had cateract removed from that eye 40 years ago and the implant put in. Not considered anything major. Am waiting to hear on the date. Saw too different specialists this week abut it. The second one being a referral from the first as he’s an ophthalmologist surgeon.

Karen, I love your house. Looks nice and cozy even though you are still a work in progress. My mattress arrived on Thursday after I had reschedule due to a two days notice that I had an appt. with the eye doc Velda, your CPAP machine was like my WIFI router. Just replaced that cause it wasn’t up to par anymore either. Tina, hope you are continuing to improve as the days go by. I haven’t been posting, but have been thinking about you. Beth, glad of the news on the old manager. Now Maybe things will improve. Maybe they will make you the new manager

Okay, this is turning into a book here. Off to do like you are Annie, bake some butter cookies. Putting a batch of beef stew in the slow cooker for dinner. Good day for it. Have a nice day everyone and please stay safe.

[Bethers]

Good morning Shirl, Sue and all who follow. I only got a few hours sleep. Since I'm switching to opening on Monday, I decided when I awoke around 7 anyway, that I better get up and try to get to sleep early tonight. I'm off today. Thought about going into Pahrump, but not driving all that way on so little sleep, so will just hang out. It was only 36* when I awoke. It's 41* now and should get to the mid 60's today. I can't remember how to get the degree circle on this keyboard. Lol

Jumping up to turn the heat up and get this day started soon.

° found it LOLOL it was bugging me.

[Acadianmom]

Sue, I thought about Butter Cookies last night. Like I need more cookies. I took a box of Christmas Cookies to the campout and came home with most of them. I have my Aunt's Butter Cookie recipe and usually make some every year. Those cookies just melt in your mouth and go straight to your hips.

I woke up about 2:00 and didn't go back to sleep until after 5:00. I started watching a program about Yoga on PBS. I'm sure it does a lot of good to lay in bed and watch Yoga. I thought about going to Yoga classes before the virus hit but I'm too tight to pay $15 a class. I see the place offering lessons has closed down. I might order a DVD and get my son to show me how to hook up the DVD player.

I need to get dressed and go feed the cats. I have been shutting Lady up in a kennel and giving her a small can of cat food every day. It looks like she has put on some weight. She was just skin and bones when she showed up.

Martha

[Cudedog]

Okay, this is turning into a book here. Off to do like you are Annie, bake some butter cookies. Putting a batch of beef stew in the slow cooker for dinner. Good day for it. Have a nice day everyone and please stay safe.

I made a mountain of them. I have some cookie tins here, thought I would send some off to my kids. When I asked, I was told they don't want any. Someone here said (was it you, Martha?) that they put their cookies in the freezer to keep from eating them all at once.

LOL. Since when is a frozen butter cookie an impediment? I love these cookies (they are called "Spritz" cookies, and are similar to the Danish Butter Cookies one can buy, only they are a bit more dense in texture and with a more intense flavor), have been making them from the same recipe since I was myself a child.

With a freezer full of spritz cookies (I use a cookie press, and these are shaped like Christmas trees, complete with green food coloring) I am in SERIOUS trouble!!

YUM.

Anne

[OregonLuvr]

Another cold, foggy, and damp morning. Good thing I dont have much outside to contend with. I like puttering inside tho. Still relining my shelves but need more shelf paper and sure dont want to go out on the weekend especially to the stores we have around here. ie: not too many ha ha I am going to Medford on Monday so will do a bit of shopping while I am down there for the week. I am also taking quite a few coats that just dont quite button anymore LOL I am taking them to the Fire Victims Donation center. Also some sweaters and a couple of vests, these were all in storage (for a reason I am sure LOL).

Vacuumed the living room with my Robot and also placed the magnetic strips where I do not want her to go. Like behind my couch and underneath it and the dumb thing couldnt get out. I had to turn her off with the remote, get down on my hands and knees (hope I could get back up) and drag her out of there. I couldn't just move the couch because it weighs a ton. So needed to test my placements and it worked fine. I didnt like the 3M sticky things to hold the strip down so I used electrical tape, worked great. I can move them from room to room if I need to. I like to just do one room at a time so she concentrates on that area and it gets very clean. Used the big upright on the family room and hall so done now for that chore.

I need to go get some computer paper so I can hook up my printer but will do that on Monday. I ordered new ink so it should be here this coming week. Since you all are making baked goods you are making me hungry. So decided I might make some banana nut bread. Might have pizza for dinner. Choices choices choices. Or I might just have a big salad. That sounds good too. Yup feeling a wee bit peckish ha ha

[Acadianmom]

Anne, I freeze the cookie dough so it's not so easy to eat them out of the freezer. Then I only cook about 6 at a time.

Martha

[MandysMom]

We had almost a quarter inch of rain, since 5 pm yesterday. Every drop is precious here. Supposed to have more rain tomorrow. A little at a time is ok, as long as it keeps coming each week.
I used to bake a lot! I have a notecard where I kept track each season. One year, early in our marriage, I baked/cooked 37 different kinds of cookies, cakes, and candies. Gave that up long ago. Last night we baked 8 of the chocolate chip cookies that you get in refrigerator section. Together we ate 4! Just didn't want anymore, though they were good. Since I was a child, I was much more likely to eat cold leftover mashed potatoes and gravy, than join my parents for pie on Sunday nights. Now I don't even eat the potatoes, as I figured out it was just a holding place for the gravy and meat.
We got tree up and lights on, after using my new reciprocating saw for the first time! Boy was that easier than the hand saw my son and I struggled with in 2018 ( in 2019, we had the tree lot cut it, then rushed home and put in water). Tree will look even better when we add ornaments today. And son wants to hang a string of lights around the front window, so I dug out Command hooks.
Only 50 degrees here at 11 am. Chilly out, but cozy inside.
Karen is your Robot a Roomba? I keep thinking about getting one as I clear stuff out so it could actually run.
Anne, do your Spritz use cream cheese? I have my Moms recipe that was called Lemon Cream Cheese Spritz, which were a once a year favorite, probably because they weren't very sweet.
Have a good day everyone.
Velda

[BarbaraRose]

Almost noon here but good morning anyways! For some reason, I was thinking all day yesterday that it was Saturday! Hard to keep track of what day it is when I am not working (not that it was much better before!).

Beth, can you switch shifts with those who like the eary shifts, even after the schedule comes out? We do that a lot where I work. Maybe remind the GM that others want the early shifts and you like the later shifts. Too bad the other GM couldn't come back to help. At least now it isn't busy with the shut down so you have more time and less pressure to figure things out.

Anne, I love spritz cookies!! My mom made them for Christmas every year when I was little. I liked the ones with jelly or a cherry in the middle. I mostly loved the dough tho! Yum!! I might make some cookies and give them out to friends around here for Christmas.

Still laying in bed after watching several You Tube videos. I discovered a new painting technique today. I want to get my table set up in the living room so I can start practicing all these different techniques, altho some have to be done outside since they involve alcohol (no, not the drinking kind! That gets done inside! ) and needs a lot of ventilation.

Haven't heard from Dave yet about installing the light fixture but it is the weekend and I think they get together with their adult kids then. I am in no hurry.

Looks sunny with a slight breeze outside. Yesterday started out sunny but the clouds rolled in by noon and it stayed cloudy all day. Still was able to keep my motivation to get things done outside tho. Got quite a lot done too. Will post some pics later. Am avoiding the inside stuff but really need to get to that today too.

Have a good day!

[snowball]

I actually got most of what I needed to do done... water in the tank either the pump or the devise that turns it on doesn't work so my friend used his pump he will figure out what the problem is later... tree is up dolls out of their bins bins and tree box in basement and dishes are done... it was a cloudy windy day today but sounds like it's calmed down while I was eating supper the wind sounded really bad... don't know what it was gusting up to but it was howling
I typically don't lock the door until bed time... but saw where there was an armed robbery in Salome and the guy is out there had a picture of him on one of the FB pages not a guy I would want to encounter... so it is locked and now I have to get up the courage to go turn off the generator was ok till I saw that and now the imagination is running full tilt..
hopefully Monday and Tuesday will get the tree decorated and nativity up will the village be put up??? remains to be seen
I always wanted to bake neat decorated cookies and probably tried at times but don't think I ever did much now it's easier to pick up a dozen or less at the store... do remember mom making was it spritz?? dough put in a tube and turned so different shapes came out? perhaps sorta remember it
you all have a great day
sheila

[BarbaraRose]

Sheila, that would be scary going outside with a crazy man on the loose! Hopefully, he is long gone from that area! I have a flashlight that is also a stun gun. Maybe you could get one of those just for added security around there until you get some neighbors nearby.

Yep, Spritz cookies are made from the yellow buttery/sugary dough that you put in the machine with all different discs for making different shaped cookies! Now I want to look up the recipe and maybe make some!



The clouds rolled in and the wind came up early this afternoon! I went outside before it got dark to make sure none of the decorations got blown around. All looked fine. It was chilly out there tho!

Really didn't get much done today. Kind of a mental health day for me. Just got done watching a Bee Gee's concert on PBS tonight. I sure loved their music!

Maybe tomorrow I will get something done . Dave is coming over at noon to install the light fixture and hang up a couple things on the house. I have a metal flower thing that I want in the front of the house up by the peak above the window. I painted it a light teal and peach color to match the house. I also have the teal and orange horse picture I want put up on the side of the house under the carport. Other than painting the trim, the outside is pretty well done. Oh yeah, the lattice. I need to buy that and cut it to put along the deck railing.

Have a good night...

[JudyJB]

Velda, the lemon cream cheese spritz sound really good. I like anything with lemon and cream cheese. Can you post the recipe, assuming it would not upset your mother or other relatives?? I used to own a cookie press, but tossed it when I downsized to go full time. They are not very expensive, so I suppose I could get a new one.

More errands today. Son took me to pick up some small bottles of champagne at winery and some cheeses at Whole Foods. Last night, I gave him the box of print photos from the 80s and 90s before I got a digital camera. I told him to pick out what he wanted, and then I would send remainder to his brother in Ohio. So this morning, after he had picked out what he wanted, I went through and picked out photos of my family and some friends. (Tossed a lot of photos of scenery in the trash.) My kids do not know many people who are my cousins and aunts and uncles, plus all of the aunts and uncles except one have passed away. I did pull out some photos of my deceased brother and my niece and nephew when they were little, so will send that to my niece. So, stuffed what my Ohio son might like into a Priority Mail box and will send it off on Monday. Trying to get rid of that kind of stuff now. Feels good!! Best part was I found a couple of photos of friends at parties 25 years ago that I sent to them!! Told them if they did not meet me for lunch next time I was in the area, I would post them on Facebook!

Also, put up some lights and fake greenery on my dash and a bunch of sparkling lights in my back window. I had a wreath with lights attached to my ladder in the back, but it is for indoor only, so had to bring it in because of rain expected.

Chilly and rainy here last night and more rain expected tonight and tomorrow, and even later in the week. Certainly do need it here and everywhere in the western states!!

[MandysMom]

Sorry Judy, but I have no idea where I put the recipes. I know I have them, just haven't baked in maybe 15 years. My Mom would be ok with sharing, but she's been dead 26 years on the 19th, so can't ask her.
I walked 40 min on treadmill today, yay me!
Velda

[Cudedog]

Yep, Spritz cookies are made from the yellow buttery/sugary dough that you put in the machine with all different discs for making different shaped cookies! Now I want to look up the recipe and maybe make some!

BARBIE!! BAD girl!! Bad!

I was resisting the siren call of my freezer. . . I could hear them inside there, crying "Eat me! Eat me!" But I wasn't listening [fingers in ears, saying na-na-na-na-nas]! And now this photo! YIKES!! And . . . yum.

The little Christmas-tree ones look exactly like mine. . . even though I put green food coloring in, I didn't put in enough I guess, mine are the same color as these. Only without the sugar sprinkles - although I have put on sugar sprinkles in the past.

Barbie, don't bother searching for your recipe. I'll post mine a bit later, after I have had enough coffee to get myself up off of the couch.

For those who don't know, even if you don't have a cookie press like this one. . .

https://www.target.com/p/wilton-13pc-simple-success-cookie-press-set/-/A-80858689#lnk=sametab

. . . it is really easy to just roll a small piece of cookie dough between your hands into a ball, put the ball on your ungreased cookie sheet, then squish the ball a bit with a fork.

[Anne goes to freezer and digs out bag of frozen cookies] CRUNCH!!

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

Ann, I can take care of your cookie cravings. I can give you my address and you can send them all to me! Then I don't have to bake them myself!