Wednesday, December 23

[Colliemom]

Good Morning everyone. The countdown to Christmas is going down to two days, for those not ready Looks like most of us are, for however we plan to spend the day.. I’m not going anywhere. Staying home with the fur kids and watch it snow. Forecast is calling for Arctic air and Lake effect snow. Ordered a Turkey dinner special from ine of our local restaurants. They have 4 of their midsized dinners for $35, so am getting 4 and dividing it all up into smaller dinners for the freezer. Will have one at Christmas. Also ordering a pizza to do same. So no fuss, no muss in the kitchen this year other than make a pumpkin pie and jello salad.

Karen, things are really falling into place for you. Beth, I liked your horoscope. As they say, when one door closes another opens. O’Sharon, you could lok for one of those long handled car cleaning brushes that dealers use to clear snow from cars and attach it to an extension pole to clear Lola’s roof. I use a snow rake on my trailers roof, but I have my cover on, so I don’t have to worry about damaging something. I’m careful around the vents and stuff up there, but I can reach from the ground as it can be extended to 20 feet.

Peggy, like you take on the Baileys Tina, hoping you are continuing to get better.

Time to head for a shower and hair washing. Heading to town later to pick up dinners and Pizza. Snowy weather starts tomorrow, so don’t want to go out. Have a nice day all.

[PeggyinCT]

Good morning Sue and all who follow. You’re getting snow and we’re getting rain on Christmas which will wash away all the
snow.
I like your idea of stocking up on meals; no fuss and no mess and you’re providing income to others. I’m cooking a roast beef dinner and may even make some yeast rolls. My son wanted to know where the rolls were on Thanksgiving. Kids
never forget holiday meals.... mincemeat pie for dessert; another once a year food.
Looks like $600 may be coming our way in time for the tax man. That’s good... enjoy today. Peggy

[Redetotry]

Good Morning Everyone, It is turning cold here and I need to head across the street and turn up the heat in a neighbors house for his 25 year old catfish. Not sure what type but 25 years seem like a long time for a fish. They are away for three months and the fish sitter can't make it until Friday. It is supposed to be very cold before then. Nothing much surprises me anymore but this request rather did sound unusual!

Sue good idea to plan meals ahead. We are so tired of eating the same things, I did order from a local BBQ place for Christmas Eve. I chose to get the meal cold which turned out to be good as now the woman who is fixing Christmas dinner is cooking for Christmas Eve. We aren't getting together, each of us are making certain items and we will exchange during pick up. At least we should have good food unless the weather does something drastic.
Peggy I miss yeast rolls. My Granny used to make the best from potatoes. She would make cinnamon rolls with part of the dough using brown sugar icing instead of white. So good!!

Thinking of Tina and sending good energy her way.

[Shirlv]

Morning All, Sue thanks for the idea of carry out dinner. I’m going to have a crab cake dinner from local Fishermans Inn for New Years. Will also help support a local business. I have been on intermittent fasting which works well for me. I lose weight and do chores better on an empty stomach. It’s a good time since PT has me started on strength training. I will look amazing by spring and besides my underwear was cutting off my circulation. Edith and I have been comparing notes on our chunky hairdo which is accomplished by cutting chunks of hair. Can’t see the back so don’t care if it is uneven. Not baking my coconut cake because #1 daughter dropped off a bucket of cookies which all family members contributed to. Will freeze or share generously with my brother. Be safe

https://youtu.be/550lqspGqhQ

[MandysMom]

It's a grey foggy morning here. I will walk on treadmill and we will work on our Lego Christmas Firestation we started Sunday.
I learned this morning that my handyman is so far well, but his girlfriend, hospitalized nearly two weeks with Covud pneumonia is now in ICU, so far not on vent but on CPAP or BIPAP for support. Praying she has the strength to recover.
Have a good day.
Velda

[OregonLuvr]

Good morning, it is chilly here in the high 20's and cloudy so isnt warming up to the predicted 44 YET. Did some housekeeping chores this morning and now a load of sheets in the laundry. Going to make a pot of chili and then freeze the leftovers. Having pizza and salad on Christmas day. Easy peasy.

BJ is busy "catfish" sitting ha ha WOW 25 years is a long time for a fish I think. Shirl your crab cakes sound wonderful. Since I am now living in a podunk kinda town no real good place to pick up any fish. Might just have to bop over to the coast one day for some seafood "dashboard dining", cause I dont think we are opening anytime soon for inside dining. In fact no real kind of restaurants here at all. Mostly chain restaurants and fast food. I like Papa Murphys Take and Bake pizza tho, kind of homemade ha ha And they have a fast food place called Taco Time, has the best tacos. I did find one kinda steakhouse, a bit pricey but the one time I ate there it was pretty good. So will try that again when our state opens back up, if they last thru the shutdown. I do mostly my own cooking at home and make up a couple of meals to freeze and have for later. I havent done much of that yet as I just got my freezer a couple of weeks ago. Now if I could just get some dang mattresses I would be happy. Hopefully first 2 weeks of January something should arrive...washer, dryer, bedroom set, and mattresses.....we shall see.

okay enough whining for now LOL

[SoCalGalcas]

Good Morning, did my water jogging this morning, water OK but air cool. Now on couch bundled warm and reading. GS wife Ill...neg for COVID. I will be home for Christmas. Daughter cooking dinner, don’t know what. Probably go buy a pumpkin pie tomorrow. Love pumpkin pie. Beth, your horoscope was very interesting!!! Are you staying in SKP Parhrump? I almost bought a lot there. Town has really grown these past few years. Hope Tina is improving.
Lyn

[Acadianmom]

Shirl, you're so funny. My underwear is 2 sizes too big but stretchy. Hope I don't ever gain enough to make them tight. I think it's my jeans that cuts off my circulation. Somehow I ended up with 3 pair of skinny jeans and I hate them. I think about April they might become Capris but don't know if that would make them any better. I used the Flow Bee on my hair last night. I can't believe it's been almost 6 weeks since I got my hair cut. My friends use to tease me about cutting my hair with the Flow Bee but the other night George Clooney had one on Jimmy Kimmel's show.

I made it to town before noon and hope I have everything I need for the rest of the week. I had 3 things on my grocery list and spent $80. Sue reminded me of the jello salad so got what I need to make that. I found more turkey thighs so guess I'll have that for Christmas. Now I know how to find them, look right before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I found a frozen sweet potato casserole so will see if that's any good. My sister-in-law got me started on Bailey's in coffee one year but I had to quit that. My stomach couldn't take the alcohol that early in the morning.

BJ, you'll have to let us know how big a 25 year old fish is. My sister's mother-in-law made the best yeast rolls. I have her recipe but mine aren't as good as hers were.

The sun just came out and it's warmed up to 73. It doesn't feel that warm because it's windy. We are suppose to have a line of bad weather and cold front come through tonight. Two of my friends are having surgery today so thinking of them today. Hope Tina is feeling better.

Martha

[Irmi]

Hi to all of you from warm, central Florida!

Tina, You are in my prayers everyday for continued healing.

Martha, we are having the same temperatures as you are but not as much wind. We will be warm again tomorrow but have rain moving in tomorrow night with very cold weather headed this way for a couple days. We will definitely see frost again.

BJ, the friend that takes care of our house & mail in MD, allows us to pet sit when she & her hubby are away. They had a gold fish they won at a county fair and probably ten years or so later, I was still feeding it. It had to be 8" long, if not longer. They also had a turtle, that originally was the size of a quarter, when they got it, and it was larger than my hand the last time I saw her. They named her Hilda.

Shirl, you won't get any better crab cakes than Fisherman's, unless you come here. Lol!

Peg, I'm looking forward to another stimulus check.

Sue, I love your idea about freezing the meals you're buying for future meals. Right now I have a pot of navy bean soup on that started with a meaty ham bone, and I do mean meaty. I also put a pound of cut up kielbasa in my soup, as we like thick, meaty soups.

Beth, I breathed a sigh of relief when you made your announcement that you left Death Valley. Although I seldom read horoscopes, yours was spot on. Enjoy your time in Parump.

Lyn, I'm so glad the pool is open for you to use.

Karen, hopefully after the first of the year, you'll be sleeping on new mattresses.

Our good news is that the materials for the pergola were delivered today and the contractor should be back Monday or Tuesday to start the construction on that!

[MandysMom]

I've known for two weeks that my handyman's girlfriend/fiancée has CoVid and is in the hospital. I got the difficult news a short while ago, that she's now in ICU and they are intubating her and putting her on ventilator... And her daughter just went into labor with Darendas latest Grandbaby! Please, if you pray, include Darendas Kimm in your prayers. Sean is out of his mind scared. She has helped me so much since Mel died, taking me to eye surgeries and appointments when I couldn't drive.
Velda

[Redetotry]

Well I can't report on the catfish because I didn't see it! By the time I got in the door, it had a security code I was hoping the police weren't going to show up, I was already a bit frazzled. I found the thermostat and they had a really bright light and a camera focused on it. I still haven't had that cataract surgery so the bright light was blinding me. I couldn't see the writing but I could see the numbers, I got 68 to come up and pressed another button that I hoped was hold so it wouldn't revert back. I was a bit concerned because there was one number that said 103 ....looked in a couple of nearby rooms and didn't see a fish so I left. My assignment was to turn the heat up! Next was to get out of the door.The dead bolt was out so I got it back in, slammed the door and left! Thankfully they called later and said they could see the thermostat and it was up to 66 already.
Pet fish seem to be a thing. A friend and I were talking to a woman last year at a party and she said she had to go home to feed her husbands 30 year old fish! He was out of town so she was having to make it special food and be sure it was fed on time. The food preparation she described was a lengthy process. When she started describing the fish my friend and I who had been drinking a bit... were laughing so hard we couldn't stop. When she started to describe how the fish could change sexes we fell completely apart. Of course neither of us could remember what kind of a fish she said it was.

Monday I was finally able to access my bank account online. I was on the phone with the man every day for over an hour!! Come to find out man 'helping' was the VP of marketing and not a computer person! Plus he totally misunderstood what the issue was from the beginning. Monday when I told DH he was going to call again he said "so are you going to ask him to Christmas dinner?"

I commiserate with all of you who are gaining weight but I am going in the opposite direction. I need to order suspenders!

[JudyJB]

Sunny day here in Napa, but cold. Got all my grocery shopping done yesterday, but going to get some ice cream and make an ice cream cake for Christmas eve. Can't buy one because grandson is allergic to nuts, so we have to bake from scratch. Just glad I am still not getting kicked out of RV park here in Napa. Planning on heading to Nevada on 29th.

My knee and my elbow, as well as the bruise and small cut on the back of my leg is healed, but the bad scrape on my foot is really bothering me. It has been 8 days and it is still sore and stinging. It's about 2" long and an inch wide, but I really took off all the skin, so it is still messy in the middle and red around the edges where it is healing from. (Seeping a little, but I don't think it is infected.) I tried a triple antibiotic cream, but that just made it sting more. (Showers make it really sting!) Had to wash off the ointment in the middle of the night because it was burning so much. Then tried Vicks, which my dad used to use. Still stung worse with ointment than without. Called nurse line and she said to try Bactricin instead of triple antibiotic, but still really really painful. So, I guess it is telling me it does not want ointment of any sort, so now just dry non-stick bandage--much less painful, though when I bend foot, it stretches wound and is painful, so walking is funny. And wearing slip-on slippers because shoes hurt. Never had a scrape this bad, but could be worse, I guess. NOT going to urgent care of doctor with all the COVID going on.

Sorry to hear about the lady in ICU. I just hope I can stay healthy until I can get the vaccine. They said over-70s might be able to get it first of January.

By the way, I have been very slowly losing weight since I started full-timing--35 pounds over 8 years. However, one thing I discovered is that: 1) you never lose weight where you want to lose it, like around your middle, and 2) losing weight causes droopy arms and droopy just about everything, which shows up wrinkles more. I have a LOT more wrinkles than I did when I worked for all those years in windowless offices!

[Acadianmom]

One of my nephews has had turtles for pets several times. The last one was a snapping turtle he found when it was only about 2 inches across. My sister said he recently released it to the pond because it was about 6 inches long and needed a larger aquarium. The turtle seemed to recognize my nephew because he fed it. When it saw Chris it would tap on the glass.

I lost 30 pounds when I was taking care of Harold. I can see why care givers sometimes die before the patient. He had to be watched 24 hours a day so I wan't sleeping. I see the weight loss in my face, more wrinkles. I have managed to keep it off but it's sure hard.

The storms are suppose to come through here about midnight. I don't see any red boxes on the radar so hopefully it won't be bad. I don't like nighttime storms. You will probably get it tomorrow Irmi.

Velda, hope your friend survives covid. Sure hope we can get a shot soon.

Martha

[snowball]

I actually made something today for brunch or an early lunch had gotten some breakfast sausage and wanted french toast to go with it... over cooked the french toast but it was ok it's hard to make just the right amount of stuff you dip the bread into but succeeded read the other day about a way of cooking an egg think it was Spanish but not sure about that as I watched Marion Gatsby??? make an egg similar method and she referred to it as the Korean I think method... regardless a copious (not enough to deep fry like 1/4 inch) amount of olive oil get it hot put egg in and spoon the oil over the egg take out when it's the way you want... thought it funny that it was similar but two different names or countries .... it makes the egg white sorta lacy I think was the word... I have fried my eggs in olive oil but not that much like it will need to try this method some day...
played games came home and napped dd called me said that I hadn't replied back on her tattoo she sent a photo out in a group text with me and her siblings... I was surprised at how much was done for the 1st session but none the less not something I am going to get overly excited over... but it does look good just wish it was on a wall in a frame and not on her leg... oh well nothing I can do about it...
it was a cloudy chilly day today...
down to one and a half sections plus the border and this afghan will be completed...will be glad think then I will work on the Swedish weave for a bit...
Tina hope each days brings much relief
you all have a good day
I can't imagine fish lasting that long!!! wow
sheila

[Bethers]

After making several appts yesterday, today I planned my trip around them. I have a week to kill after leaving here before my Casa Grande appts so was looking for somewhere I've never been, although I'm guessing I've driven through. That said I called after seeing the website and talked to the owner because it's also a little store and says Chicago style hot dogs and Italian beef. Nothing fancy, the rv price is less than I could have asked for... And, yes, he promised me I'll love the Italian beef. So I may be pigging out in this little town where I do nothing but hibernate for a week and eat lol. I go there next Monday. I was thinking about ordering out tomorrow, but now I'm saving for this special treat. They are from Chicago so I'm hoping they really do it right!

I planned to make some treats for Ty today. Funny how when you have nothing but time you get nothing accomplished. I've been streaming various shows. Most recently working on House. I started with the first season and today went to the 2nd season. Episodes go fast with no commercials, but still, I don't think I should be on episode 10 of season 2 already! Too much time on my hands for sure lol

Velda, I'm praying for many. Will include this family. Sheila, please be careful in Q. I now know of 3 people there with the virus. 1 I wouldn't doubt was going around without a mask. I don't think he's a denier anymore, as he was taken by ambulance the other day to a hospital in Phoenix. Luckily he's improving and going to be released, but still has double pneumonia. The other 2 are a couple and they have been careful. He's pretty sick. I figure it'll be spring before I can get the shots.