Name three things - 2016

[Primula]

Good luck with getting that cast removed, Primula!

Our son made it through surgery yesterday. He ripped his bicep in two places and needed to have everything repaired. His entire upper left arm is black. He wasn't in a lot of pain until after the surgery. Now it hurts. A lot. He is not happy. And he can't do anything with the arm for at least three weeks, other than PT. He's not amused about that either.

Sorry about your son. Trying to imagine that injury but cannot. I'm in love with my ortho so it wasn't too bad. He literally is one of the handsomest men I have ever seen, but not in a fussy metrosexual kind of way. I'm dying to ask if he was an altar boy 'cos that's how he strikes me.

Cast is off and now I have a glove/wrist brace kind of thing. First time I took a regular shower today since October 11. Physical therapy booked for 2 weeks so cannot start until December 4, which is a pain. Ortho wants me to go 8 times, but don't know if I will do that. It's two towns over by bus.

@Primula
-- i hope your cast removal goes smoothly. when i badly strained my wrist a ways back, something that i found the hardest was finding a comfortable position for it when i slept -- which i was told is not uncommon for people with wrist injuries. some people wear a nylon fabric wrist brace (that has velcro to hold it in place) when they sleep.

Thanks. Yes, I am wearing that kind of brace now. It's not that bad though without the brace.

Oh boy. Busy day. I'm leaving work early, so I can get a head-start on things. Did the laundry yesterday, so I wouldn't have to deal with it today.

• Run to the store on my way home from work this morning to pick up an extra container of sour cream. I thought I'd have enough. I was wrong.
• Make iced tea (sweetened and unsweetened), the praline pumpkin pie, the salted caramel chocolate pecan pie, the braided peppery cheese rolls, cube and toast the sourdough bread for the stuffing tomorrow, make the salad dressing and the sugared pecans for the mandarin orange and pecan salad, get the turkey in the brine tonight. Chop all the onions, celery, and carrots today that I will need tomorrow. Make the gravy tonight, so all I have to do is heat it up tomorrow and add the turkey drippings (man, I just hate messing around with gravy at the last minute!).
• Wash the tablecloth and napkins for dinner tomorrow.
• Clean and wipe down the inside of the fridge.
• Wipe down the bathroom and the kitchen.
• Oh, and it's trash night tonight, so we'll have to clean out the litter boxes

Holy Moses. I am exhausted just reading that. Funnily enough, I cannot drink iced drinks unless it's summertime.

 

[Primula]

It has been one year since The Beast came to live with us. One very, very, very, very, very, very long year.   

Are Jackie & the Beast one & the same animal? If I read your post correctly, Jackie was your MIL's dog? How was it that she now lives with you?

 

[Winchester]

@Primula, I am 61, not as young as I  used to be and I was pooped last night with all that running and cooking and cleaning. I did manage to get everything done that I wanted to get done, but I was tired. I was in bed by 8:30 and slept like a log until 4:30 this morning when the cats started in about breakfast.

Yeah, Jackie is The Beast. She was Rick's father's dog. He passed away last year and Rick's mom went into assisted living. We were worried about Jackie living the rest of her life in a cage, not finding a good home, may be getting abused, etc.So we took her. She has some medical issues, nothing exotic; most of her problems are behavioral (screaming when we come home, eating cat poop.) Our vet started her on Prozac; it hasn't really stopped the screaming, but the periods are much shorter and she calms down quicker. When she first started taking Prozac, we noticed a change right away. Since she's been on it now for a couple of months, we've got her down to once a day, unless we are going out at night.

When I come home by myself, I pay no attention to her at all. Yesterday, I came home from work and she started yelling. I got to the top of the steps, stood there and pointed to her bed. She shut right up, went over to her bed and flopped down. About five minutes later, I went over and told her she was a good girl. But she can get away with more when Rick's around and she knows it. Rick is pretty lenient, not good with a dog.

A couple months ago, I started actively looking for a shelter for her. I found one and the people said they'd take her, but she would be in a cage, until they found a home for her....and that home might only be temporary. We couldn't do that; she doesn't deserve that, not when she does have a home with us...and even though she makes me crazy, overall, she has a good home with us. And I finally admitted to myself that The Beast is not going anywhere. But it has been a very, very long and tiring year with that girl.

I'm glad that cast is off and you've the brace now. I hope it continues to go well.

• Breakfast for the kids, 3 miles on the treadmill this morning, scooped the boxes (Rick has flopped down on the couch, but he promised me he'd vacuum later on this morning.)
• I need to start cooking. My goal is to have everything finished by 10:30 this morning, so that casseroles can go into the ovens at their allotted times. And no last-minute rushing around. Figure I can get it all done and have time to grab a quick shower and sit down with a nice glass of wine for a while. Dinner will be at 2:00, it is Thanksgiving, and I'm going to have wine around 12:30. So there! 
  
   I have to give Dear Richard credit here, too. After dinner, he will get up from the table, help me clear, and help me with dishes and putting leftovers away. He's really good that way....and he's the only one who will be able to help. I am thankful for Rick, I really am.He's a good man (shhhh, don't tell him I said that!)
• After he takes his mom home and after our friends leave, and the carcass and veggies are in the oven making turkey stock, Rick and I will sit down with all the Thanksgiving ads and make a list. Figure out everywhere we want to go tomorrow, what we want to look for. I'm excited....I really do like Black Friday shopping. 
  
   And then, when we come home, I'll check out some online things.
• And then I'm going to bed!

Happy Thanksgiving, kids!

 

[Primula]

Pam, did Jackie scream & act up when she lived with your in-laws?

You're right about Rick - he's a keeper! As you know after all these many years.

***Cleaned bathroom this morning. One thing I have learned with breaking my wrist & husband filing divorce papers (later dropped) is that "good enough" is going to be "good enough" for me in future. I kept an immaculate house for 30 years, but husband could care less. A very thankless task. In future house will be clean, but not fanatically so.
***Went to local cathedral to "study" the stainless glass windows, but cathedral brochure was MIA so unable to do that.
***Xmas trees at cathedral so that we parishioners can take a Xmas card from the tree & buy what it says on the card for those who need help. I chose a $10 CVS card, but will take another card too on Sunday.

 

[Winchester]

Pam, did Jackie scream & act up when she lived with your in-laws?

You're right about Rick - he's a keeper! As you know after all these many years.

***Cleaned bathroom this morning. One thing I have learned with breaking my wrist & husband filing divorce papers (later dropped) is that "good enough" is going to be "good enough" for me in future. I kept an immaculate house for 30 years, but husband could care less. A very thankless task. In future house will be clean, but not fanatically so.
***Went to local cathedral to "study" the stainless glass windows, but cathedral brochure was MIA so unable to do that.
***Xmas trees at cathedral so that we parishioners can take a Xmas card from the tree & buy what it says on the card for those who need help. I chose a $10 CVS card, but will take another card too on Sunday.

She's always screamed like that, ever since she came to live with Rick's parents as a very young dog. His dad never tried to stop it because "Aw, look how she missed us while we were gone. Isn't that cute? Jackie missed us!" So nope, never disciplined her because it was adorable. Not so cute when she's 11 years old and still screaming at the top of her lungs. Yesterday when we came home, it was just horrible again. She had started to calm down when we first started her in on the Prozac, but she must have gotten used to the dosage. She does calm down quicker now, but it's still nasty. Interestingly, when I come home to her and the cats and Rick is not with me, she doesn't act that way. She really knows better and she no longer acts that way at all with me. But like I said, Rick is more lenient and she knows she can get away with more with him.

We have an angel tree at work where you can pick a child and buy something for him or her. I pick a boy and a girl and we buy for them. We are not to wrap the items, simply take them into work and the people there will wrap them for the child. Plus, for every toy our grandchildren receive, they have to choose something from their other things to give to an organization for other children. The kids are very good with their things; they don't wreck them, and so they're not in bad shape at all to give to to that group. 

Anyway.....

• Breakfast for the kids, I emptied out the dishwasher, Rick is napping on the couch for a while (he's been dealing with a sinus headache now on his second day), but when he gets up again, he'll do the litter boxes. In my defense, I told him I'd do the boxes, but then he got upset with me and said, "I WILL DO THEM!" so I'm back here on the computer. Men!
• Errands: banking, the butcher, up to another mall that has a Toys R Us for something for our grandson, etc
• When we get home from there, Rick is going to put the traditional Christmas tree up in the living room while he's watching football. He puts the tree up and gets the lights on. Then he and I work together to do the ornaments....we'll do that tonight. While he's working on the tree this afternoon, I'll get the stockings and such out and the decorations that go throughout the house.
• We're going to get the new Dyson out of the package this afternoon. Old Dyson will be used in the basement. That poor excuse of a vacuum (Hoover animal windtunnel) will either go to the dump or Rick suggested selling it at a yard sale next summer; it's not that old, but we don't think it picks up all that great, at least it does not pick up cat litter. However, it does a great job of scattering cat litter about! I like the way the Dyson picks up; it's the hoses that don't last that upset me. But it picks up very well and that's why we went back to Dyson. For us, it works and it works well. I'm excited to try it out.

 

[AbbysMom]

- continuing to put things back from Thanksgiving
- laundry
- work on a few wreaths

There's a little voice in my head that is saying to not do any of it and to go out for the day though. :nod:

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Hubby lost his keys last night while he was hunting. I went with him first thing to a wide open field to look. Luckily, he found them.
After that we stopped by to visit with some of my family members who were here over the holiday at a place they own.
This afternoon, I want to make chicken salad with the rest of the rotisserie chicken from last night. I also want to make the cranberry relish I made a few weeks ago. We will have that for our supper along with a baked sweet potato and some baked beans. Some folks might call it all "refrigerator salad' as it is mostly leftovers.:lol3:

 

[catapault]

• Baked the first batch of fruitcake
• Raked two rather large / full tarps of leaves off path down to area where husband is cutting yet more firewood
• tried various solutions to the most recent entry on my web site which nicely displays text but refuses to show images

• and the usual feed cats / scoop litter pan
• feed us a late lunch
• which means a late dinner. Chicken tetrazzini, I think, from the capon I roasted for Thanksgiving

 

[tracie holladay]

Test my glucose

Take Sonny to the vet for his followup on his ringworm

Get a few more rows done on a blanket I am crocheting

 

[Winchester]

@Catapault, I want to tell you how much I enjoyed my virtual visit to Bellewood Gardens. I love your pictures! I looked at the 2016 garden and your flowers are beautiful. I love poppies and lilies and yours are just gorgeous; I can't grow foxglove for anything and yours is so pretty. I'll go back when I have more time to visit.  

Today is our last day of taking care of my sister's cats; they'll be home this afternoon. We've been going over twice a day. In the morning, I just feed a bit of canned, wash all the dishes....and pay attention to Harley. At night, we go over and I feed more canned, wash all the dishes, put fresh water down, clean all the litter boxes out....and pay attention to Harley. And while I'm doing the chores, Rick pays attention to Harley. (I texted my sister last night that we were "this" close to bringing that little guy home with us

. He is simply that precious. My sister said if Harley doesn't greet her at the door when she comes home, she's coming right over to my house to look for him.) The other cats are older and, since everybody is free-fed dry munchies (with one can of wet divided among the seven twice a day), they really don't care if we're there or not. Harley is still young and he still likes lots of attention. So when I walk in the door, he leaps right into my arms and purrs and purrs. He's a long-haired black boy and, well, there's always a truly special place in my heart for little black boys. And he's a charmer.

So today....

• Breakfast for the gang, emptied the dishwasher, Rick will do the litter boxes when he gets back up from his nap.
• On my second load of laundry....I have 4-1/2 loads to do this morning; that 1/2 load consists of three sweaters, I should have done a load of sweatshirts and sweatpants last night and didn't; I got lazy, I guess.
• Vacuum and swiffer about the house. 
• Rick has promised me he'd put the tree up today. He promised me. 
  
   In his defense, he's had a nasty sinus headache now since Friday morning. But he has still gone shopping with me, even though I told him I could go alone. So I really can't say much. Headaches are a bugger, whether they be migraine or sinus, they're still really painful. He's been popping pills, but they're not doing much. I suggested that he try rinsing his sinuses out regularly again and he said he would. I know he doesn't like doing it, but if it will help with his headaches, it's worth a shot.
• Manicure tonight. I chewed off all the nail polish last night (and then I wonder why I cracked a crown!!!), so a good manicure is needed.

 

[Winchester]

Rick is off work today (first day of hunting season, so many places and schools have off.....only in Pennsylvania

). He has a doctor's appt this morning and then plans to work outside when he gets back home.

• Breakfast for the kids, 2.5 miles on the treadmill, Rick emptied the dishwasher and scooped the boxes
• We took his truck down to the garage yesterday for some recall work to be done today. We should be able to pick the truck up tonight. He'll be driving Clarence to the doctor this morning.
• Groceries tonight
• I really need to get back into the exercise routine. I hate exercising, I despise exercising, but I always feel better after I've finished. And it's been about two weeks, I think. Haven't even done much in the way of my PT stretches. Hopefully tonight.
• Off to bed and try to stay awake long enough to watch Lucifer.

 

[catapault]

@Winchester, so glad you enjoyed your virtual walk here at BelleWood Gardens. The web site is good for "remember when things were in bloom." Nothing much to see at the moment - we're doing more firewood, I'm still raking leaves, and it is cold outside.

This morning I

• emptied the Ash-a-way so I could scoop more ashes from the wood burning stove before I built a fire
• stripped our bed and started washing sheets
• fed the cats
• had my coffee

Shortly I will

• go grocery shopping
• make a library run

And then this afternoon I will

• bake the third (and final) batch of fruitcake
• while it bakes stack firewood that husband will be splitting this morning while I am out and about

 

[Primula]

***Two small victories wrist-wise: I can wear tights again though still a bit of a pain to pull them up. And I gave myself a manicure this morning for the first time since October 10.
***Bought a $10 CVS gift card for church Xmas giving. My other cards said a woman's cosmetics or bath supplies bag and woman's perfume. Very surprised indeed that CVS doesn't sell either of the bags and at how expensive perfume is. I had no idea. Spent $20 on a nice bottle of cologne spray.
***May be on local news this evening. There was a TV crew in a local gas station where I buy lottery tickets. My friend behind the counter told the TV crew to interview me because "I sound nice". So I babbled into the mike for a few seconds. Will check it out if I remember.

 

[artiemom]

I had a very busy day..

Regular morning stuff

took the stuff out of the kitchen, swiffered the floor and then steam washed it.

Swept and steamed the entry area

Dusted the living area/great room combo

Moved all the furniture, swiffered (until the swiffer broke--very old). 

Vacuumed the floor

Steam washed the floor, putting the furniture back ~~ at this point I had to lock Artie in a bedroom because he was such a noisy busybody..

Loaded the car up with the Fall/Thanksgiving items to put in off site storage

Dumped trash

Went to storage, grabbed the Christmas stuff--wow, I am like a harder! I have so much of it.. 

Came home and put the boxes of Christmas stuff in the large closet...

Too tired to do anything else...

So glad I made a salad for supper, before I started all of this.

I now have tons of laundry to wash.. a full hamper of my stuff and the Christmas rugs...

It will be a rainy couple of days, so I can take my time putting the decorations up...

Anyone know what I can do with all my extra decorations?? besides donating them to the Church's Flea Market...

 

[Primula]

What is the advantage of steam washing? Is it easy to do?

You could donate Xmas stuff on Craigslist free listings. That's what I do.

 

[Winchester]

We have a ton of Christmas stuff, too. We keep saying that, during the summer, we're going to take a couple weeks, go through all the boxes and figure out what's staying and what's going. (I think we're planning on a yard sale next year, so it's a good time to take stock of things.) I know some of our things are old, considered "vintage" these days.

• The breakfast routine, 3.5 miles on the treadmill, grabbed a quick shower
• A quick vacuum about the living room and kitchen tonight, scoop the boxes (I can't do the treadmill and the boxes in the morning; I don't have enough time and neither does Rick, so I do an extra good job at night)

And that may be it for me for the day. 

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today was busy day #2 here, mostly grocery shopping. though i did shovel a good portion of the iceberg, the part that was on my driveway (the neighbors snow that i mentioned days ago).

i also diced, portioned, and froze two 3 pound bags of yellow onions -- i can still taste the onion fumes in my mouth, though have brushed my teeth.

and i got myself organized for making the stuffed peppers tomorrow. i'll just move the 6 sweet bell pepper halves from the freezer to the fridge tonight before bedtime. i've found that using pepper halves that have been frozen, then thawed means that i don't need to parboil them -- one less step to do when making the stuffed peppers......

 

[Winchester]

 
today was busy day #2 here, mostly grocery shopping. though i did shovel a good portion of the iceberg, the part that was on my driveway (the neighbors snow that i mentioned days ago).

i also diced, portioned, and froze two 3 pound bags of yellow onions -- i can still taste the onion fumes in my mouth, though have brushed my teeth.

and i got myself organized for making the stuffed peppers tomorrow. i'll just move the 6 sweet bell pepper halves from the freezer to the fridge tonight before bedtime. i've found that using pepper halves that have been frozen, then thawed means that i don't need to parboil them -- one less step to do when making the stuffed peppers......

I like to dehydrate onions, too, as well as throwing them in the freezer. Mushrooms, too. Yum. Dehydrating onions will stink the whole house up; I can imagine that you're still smelling onions! Bet your stuffed peppers are going to be so good. I really like stuffed peppers. 

• Breakfast for the kids, 3.5 miles on the treadmill, made the bed, grabbed a quick shower, sorted laundry
• Two (smallish) loads of laundry and one large loads of sweats
• Trash night

 

[Primula]

1. Another small victory today re my wrist. I can now slice a bagel in half myself. Hooray!
2. Did a 2 hour walk & met a friend going for his daily walk. Ended up joining him & walking altogether for 3 hours. I love walking & talking.
3. Praying that we have no snow in December. Last winter first significant snow was January 22. Hoping for similar this winter.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
I like to dehydrate onions, too, as well as throwing them in the freezer. Mushrooms, too. Yum. Dehydrating onions will stink the whole house up; I can imagine that you're still smelling onions! Bet your stuffed peppers are going to be so good. I really like stuffed peppers. 

• Breakfast for the kids, 3.5 miles on the treadmill, made the bed, grabbed a quick shower, sorted laundry
• Two (smallish) loads of laundry and one large loads of sweats
• Trash night

actually, the onions smell has passed! i always freeze my onions in the spare fridge in the back enclosed porch -- because the onions stink so much. i also keep a jar with apple cider vinegar sitting on the counter near the kitchen sink. i don't remember if the cider vinegar absorbs or neutralizes the odors, but it definitely does the job here!

and when i chop/dice onions, i always wear swim goggles. otherwise, my eyes water and sting badly. i hate chopping onions, which is why i do 6 lbs at a time every so often and then freeze them. i tried doing 9 lbs once, but got to the point that i was feeling nauseous before i'd finished chopping them all. 

well, i forgot to move the pepper halves to the fridge to thaw last night -- i was just too tired by that point of the evening. so i'll do that tonight, then make the stuffed peppers tomorrow. 

and today, i just did the usual chores -- washed the dishes, scooped the litter boxes, took out the trash, got the wood stove going and have kept it going.