Name three things - 2014

Winchester · Dec 21, 2014

I hear you, mickNsnicks2mom, and understand completely. We have floodlights at one end of the house, but never put them at the other end. But we, too, have been having some problems around here and decided that we've put them off long enough and the lights must be installed. We live in a bi-level and there's a bit of an insert between the main floor and the basement windows outside. We're looking at some kind of motion detector lights to install at the basement windows, too.

I never liked a lot of outside lights on at night, but I've started to change my mind, esp when Rick isn't home. I wouldn't keep them on all night long, but it's nice to be able to turn them on when it's necessary.

Winchester · Dec 23, 2014

Leaving at noon today and taking a few hours of vacation:

Hair appt at 2:00
Try to finish some shopping (Lowes GC for Rick, DD GC for my brother and SIL)
Go to Staples for Kaspersky Pure. I prefer Kaspersky over other virus software. Rick is giving me the laptop on Christmas, but I need to be prepared. The very first thing I will do to the laptop is install protection, get it updated and configured, and run a scan. Then I'll play.

Kaspersky is on sale right now at Staples for a pretty good price, so I need to take advantage.

micknsnicks2mom · Dec 23, 2014

dumped the wood stove ash pan, added more wood to get the wood stove going better again
gave snick her sub-q's
moved some more firewood to the living room log rack, moved a chicken carcass and a bag of frozen sliced chicken to the fridge to thaw
gave snick and jasper their breakfasts, then made my breakfast
chopped the celery and carrots for making the chicken stock, and for adding to the chicken stock when i make chicken noodle soup with some of it
washed the dishes, and scooped the litter boxes, then took out the trash and brought in the newspaper
worked on my upcoming months budgets, fine tuning things a bit more

catapault · Dec 23, 2014

@Stewball, here's the Lemon Ginger Watermelon Rind Pickle recipe I developed.

August 21, 2011

Peel watermelon rind

Cut into squares

Bring water to boil, add watermelon, boil for 5 minutes, drain and chill

Make lime water - 2 Tblsp alum / calcium chloride to 1 quart water stir to dissolve

Add drained watermelon rind, let soak for 3 hours

Drain, rinse, add cold water to cover and let soak 2 hours

Drain

Grate a 4 inch piece of fresh ginger and steep in 2 quarts of hot water for 30 minutes to make a ginger "tea". Strain the tea through a filter or cheesecloth to remove ginger shreds.

Very thinly slice one lemon, peel and all. Add to ginger tea.

Simmer watermelon rind in ginger lemon tea for 15.minutes. Let sit overnight.

Make sweet syrup: equal parts sugar and vinegar.

Add watermelon rind and simmer until tender

Bottle, seal, process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes

Quick variation for watermelon rind preserves: Boil 1 quart water, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 sliced lemon, 2 knobs ginger, for 5 minutes. Add rind and cook until clear. Let stand overnight. Repeat, and seal in sterilized jars.

First recipe - though more tedious - is better, in my opinion. Rind remains crisper.

What did I do today -

In early morning had followup visit for yesterday's cataract surgery. All is well.
Went to local cafe where we both had tea and he had a cherry dumpling (very crisp, flaky pastry.)
Now late enough so went to vet hospital to get a case of Proplan cat food that I feed Mist 50/50 with the FF
Called regular health clinic and they had a cancellation, squeezed me in to find out about this will-not-end cold. Waited 45 minutes beyond appointment time. Turns out I now have sinus infection, on antibiotic (in addition to the various and sundry eye drops) Stupid antibiotic is a Tier 3 with large co-pay and will go up even more next year.
Fed cats
Wood in stove, repeat, repeat
Made cocoa

Winchester · Dec 24, 2014

Awakened at 3:00 this morning with a bad headache. It's just nasty. I'm at work (don't have a choice; if I don't come to work, I don't get holiday pay), and am praying that they let us out early today. All I want to do is go back to bed for about a week or so.

Well, whenever I get home today:

Make the lasagna for Christmas Day (My wonderful SIL offered to bring a greens salad, so I don't have to do that and Rick said he'd hit the store for some kind of good bread or rolls as there's no way I'll be able to bake tonight at this point. Not unless I start to feel better quickly.).
Still have to put the blue balls on the Tacky White Tree
Still have to wrap Rick's presents

Thankfully Dear Richard is off work today. He will vacuum for me, so I don't have to deal with that. And he said he's going to get the trash around and the litter boxes cleaned and changed before I get home. He and his mom are going to church tonight, so while they're gone, I'll wrap his presents and try to get in bed early.

Winchester · Dec 26, 2014

We are going over to my sister's later on this morning. My niece and her husband and son came home for Christmas and they're going back this morning, so I'd like to see them before they head back. We're taking my sister's and BIL's presents over, too.

A bit of shopping. I can't believe we have finally used every scrap of wrapping paper! First time in a good ten years or so that the paper box is empty. And I have no more Christmas cards either. Time to take advantage of the after-Christmas sales for wrapping paper and cards. I also need to do a bit of shopping for our Christmas dinner on Sunday. We have to pick up the roast at the butcher shop, too.
Other than that, I think we're going to take it a bit easy today. I still have that migraine that started on Wednesday morning, although thankfully it's not that bad right now. I did work on the new laptop yesterday (had to do some Windows updates--72 of them!--and installed Kaspersky Pure, Chrome, and Word, Excel, etc.) There are some other programs I'd like to install. Rick says he wants to play on it for a while tonight. It came with some games and, before I delete them, Rick wants to check them out.

stewball · Dec 26, 2014

@catapault.
Thank you for the recipes.

micknsnicks2mom · Dec 26, 2014

dumped the wood stove ash pan, added more wood to the wood stove
gave snick and jasper their breakfasts (and snick got her UTI antibiotic pill), then made my breakfast
got the turkey stock out of the slow cooker and strained out the bones and veggie chunks through a colander, then strained the stock through a mesh strainer into a medium canister and put it in the fridge to cool until tomorrow morning -- and the fat will rise to the top, so i can just skim that off easily
washed the dishes, scooped litter boxes, took the trash out, brought in the newspaper
will start on another deric longden kindle book today -- i'm really looking forward to reading it

catapault · Dec 26, 2014

@Stewball, you're welcome. You do realize that the first recipe is for a pickle while the second one is for a sweet preserve.

stewball · Dec 26, 2014

Catapault said:
@Stewball
, you're welcome. You do realize that the first recipe is for a pickle while the second one is for a sweet preserve.

yes tku. I got that :-)

Winchester · Dec 27, 2014

Must pick up the white coconut cake and do a quick grocery run for our Christmas dinner tomorrow
A very quick vacuum, Swiffer, and clean the litter boxes
Do ahead some of the side dishes for tomorrow and make the Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

jcat · Dec 27, 2014

Did the weekly cleaning and some laundry, then went out and shoveled snow. Did some clicker training with Mogli and put some food out for the birds. I still have to cook dinner and probably shovel again.

smokem · Dec 29, 2014

Cover the d... windows with tin foil...see if it works.

cover windows with plastic,its getting colder

dishes,hem last pair of pants.

crochet a couple of kitchen dishclothes for the landlord.

vacuum

listen to last christmas tape Harry Connick,jr.

Winchester · Dec 30, 2014

I have off work Wednesday and Thursday, so today is my last day for a couple of days. I'll have to go back to work on Friday, but that's OK. Dear Richard is off work the rest of the week as they're doing inventory where he works. He doesn't like doing inventory, so he takes off work instead. I'm not sure what he has planned for his day. I know he's trying to work on the budget for 2015 and I know he's having a lot of problems with it. Prices for everything keep going up, but our paychecks are staying the same.

I did one load of laundry this morning and started the second load before I came into work. That's pretty much it for laundry today and Rick will get to it when he gets out of bed.

And that's pretty much it. I don't plan on doing much when I get home tonight, other than scooping the litterboxes.

Winchester · Dec 31, 2014

Off work today!

Rick and I are going to the farmers market this morning. We have a few things on our list to buy (some deli meats and cheese, a new bag of instant yeast, and Rick "needs" a hot sausage sandwich and some fries for lunch today. Oh, and some sauerkraut. Our local Lions Club sells homemade sauerkraut as a fundraiser and it's delicious. (We always have pork and sauerkraut for our dinner on New Year's Day.)
Scoop those boxes
A quick clean-up about the house

That's pretty much it. Some cooking/baking to do for tonight. And I'm hoping to catch a bit of a nap this afternoon; if I don't, I'll be sound asleep in the middle of movie-watching tonight.

I don't stay awake as well as I used to anymore.

micknsnicks2mom · Dec 31, 2014

dumped the wood stove ash pan, added more firewood
give snick her sub-q's
load more firewood onto the living room log rack
give snick and jasper their breakfasts, then make mine
wash the dishes, scoop litter boxes, take the trash out, and bring in the newspaper
write up the "to do" list for friday's busy day
start working on february's shopping list

as a side note: so happy there's not more snow to shovel today...

mservant · Dec 31, 2014

Had a day off work for a change, and no family responsibilities or anything to use up my time. I stayed in bed until 2-30 pm but then managed to get a surpriseing amount done:

Took down all the Christmas decorations ready to put away in their boxes for the year.

Vacuumed the apartment.

Got a load of washing done.

Also got a big pile of dishes washed up and the kitchen cleaned, and unblocked the bathroom sink which had been getting rather sluggish.

The place is looking nice and clean and clear, ready for the new year. I always like to start the year feeling my home is clean and tidy. I might even do a bit more sorting and tidying before the evening is over. It would be nice to spend the next 2 days off just relaxing and not feeling like I should be doing chores.

stewball · Dec 31, 2014

Blood tests.
flu injection.
Hairdresser.

Name three things - 2014

In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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Mo(w)gli's can opener

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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In the kitchen with my cookies

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The Mouse servant

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