[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

It is in the 40ºs today and a might chilly with a slight wind blowing. I had an epic dream last night which would have made a good movie. Colorful characters were in it. My upper arm developed a pain in it and I could only think I may have strained it somehow. Anyway I suddenly realized that I have some of the red extra strength Tiger Balm which is a pain relieving ointment and is supposed to be for strains and such and I rubbed some on the areal and it took away the pain. I may have hurt myself doing some of my exercises with my hand weights.

Last night at WW we had fun with recipes building a meal under 10 Points+. I had gone prepared and had one worked up like we were supposed to. Plus I took along some other recipes that the leader wants me to e-mail to her so she can pass them along to everyone. Some of the gals loved that Jicama recipe that she had passed around that I sent to her for they had made it. I said I would e-mail her my Jicama salad that has watermelon in it so she could also sent it out also. Seems lately I am the “go to” person for a recipe. But I do have lots of them and don’t mind sharing them either. Here is that recipe for I do believe you Magnolias would like it also for it is a lovely recipe to serve in the warmer weather when the melons are in season.

JICAMA & MELON SALAD
Serves 4: 1 Point+ per serving
2 cups thin slivers of Jicama
2 cups cubed watermelon
3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 teaspoons honey
1. Toss all together in a bowl; cover
2. Refrigerate 2 hours

This book I am currently going through is a hoot. Feasting on Asphalt which is the river run from LA to MN of three guys on motorcycles. It has a fold out map and tells about their exploits and includes 40 recipes they have tried along the way with pictures on every page. It originally sold for $27 and Will picked it up at the library for a dollar and a quarter. Folks donate books to be sold by the library ~ these aren’t books that have been checked out by the populace. He has bought some really good books down there. The publishers even rounded the corners on this book. Alton Brown and his motorcycle-mounted crew went on a south-to-north journey that follows American’s first “superhighway”: The Mississippi. Starting at the river’s delta on the gulf of Mexico and ending up near it’s headwaters in Minnesota. Alton and his buddies travel the heartland’s byways to scout out the very best of roadside food, and to get to know the people who spend their lives preparing and serving it. I am enjoying my trip along with these fellows though the pages of this book. I’ll let you know if I try any of the recipes they have in it. I know I want to make a jar of their “Koolickles.”

DONNA FAYE Interesting recipe ~ I may just try that one for a group. I think that had will be fine when you do it the way you have figured out you have to. Some of the methods of knitting or stitches you use are Greek to me. But you are the master knitter here for sure. Poor pooch. He is so tactical that he messes up your nice clean carpet in the process of ridding himself of his intake. What color is your carpet? I am imagining it being beige for some reason or other. Maybe because ours is with brown flakes in it and I call it’s color oatmeal. Yep powdered peanutbutter. You may find in your market there also in the "specialty foods" section.

JEAN I didn't do so well at weigh in ~ put on what I lost last week. Soup on a cold day is so good. Also chili on a cold day is delicious also. The deserts at the pot-luck appeared to all be homemade and yummy. I just knew one bite and I would be a gonner so didn't indulge. I would succomb so there you have the why of it.

Have a great day Magnolias ~ Type at y’all later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It has warmed up to 12 degrees but feels like 0. I can't figure that one because the wind isn't blowing today. No sunshine either. I went for a perm this morning and thought I would never get home! My hair was long, for me, so she cut it first and then cut it again afterwards. This afternoon I had several cards I needed to get in the mail, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I went in for a # of hamburger and came out with $60 worth of fruit, veggies, meat then forgot eggs. *sigh*

"Gma" -- I think we got about 2" of snow, covered the ground but Bob just shoveled and didn't use the snowblower. The plows didn't come out and it has to be over 2" for them to do so. We got our toll pass at the grocery store in FL. The stitches you mention in knitting are clueless for me. I hope Jay's hat turns out the way you would like. Thanks for sharing your recipe. It's sounds delicious!

Maggie -- I hope the Tiger Balm helps your sore arm. I'm babying a knee because I tripped over my big piece of luggage that I left in the hall. I knew it was there but it was dark and I had other things on my mind. Your salad recipe sounds yummy too! We had wonderful watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe while in FL. Onward and downward for the scale this week! I haven't received my WW monthly pass and couldn't get into the site.

Guess I will bond with Judge Judy until Bob gets home. He has a meeting at 5 so could be after 7 when we finally get to eat. Enjoy your evening!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. It is still dark out so don't know if I am going to get any sun today or not. I don't think we are expecting any rain until at least tomorrow, but temps though cold at night are decent during the day.

I have the hat all finished so now I can do the duplicate stitch. I will bore you to tears with a little knitting lesson. Fair Isle is what you see on ski hats and scarves. With fair isle you use two balls of yarn for the two colors and as you knit to a color change, you swap to the other color then back again without cutting and starting over, etc. You will have little lines and dots on the under side of the hat . Instarsia is where you knit larger pictures or pictures and letters etc and you have a "bobbin" of yarn for each section but you knit it the same way as fair isle except you have to knit it only on flat pieces back and forth. Fair isle can be knit in the round like on a hat mainly because it is short changes like little dots and such. Lastly you have duplicate stitch. This means you finish your garment, then basically using a chart, stitch over the stitches with a needle and the color of whatever it is you want on it. In this case it is a shamrock on each side with the ND logo in the middle. I don't like to duplicate stitch on dark yarn as I don't see it well enough but it is the only thing I can do with this project so I am going to give it an ole college try. Here is an example of duplicate stitch with the CUBS done in duplicate stitch. I made this one year for Jay for his birthday. Here is fair isle on Fortune's sweater. I have done intarsia but really only doing stripes and not patterns.

Maggie: Did you know that the book you are reading was a tv show first? Alton Brown and his motorcycle buddies traveled from the south to the north and it was a great show, showcasing area foods and how they were prepared and such. That was in his fatter days. He lost about 40 lbs I think. Yes, we have beige carpets and so the messes are always very visable. We still have a few years until we can afford the wood floors.

Jean: I can rarely go in and get just one thing that I need without getting other stuff. Usually Jack stops on his way home from work if we need anything. I text him a grocery list, which I do so he won't forget and half the time forgets something anyway when he isn't careful enough reading the list. The prices for everything have gone through the roof. I buy those McCormicks packages of dry gravy and the last time I bought them they were something like 27 cents and are now 57 cents apiece. I was appalled to see a can of green beans was almost $1.25 and that's at the commissary. I don't see how people eat. Like I said before, we spent $385 for groceries at the commissary this time. Some of it will last longer than just two weeks of course and I always pick something up when I am using the last one so I don't run out even though I may not need it, but sheesh. One thing we don't save on at the commissary except for the sales tax part is on produce. It costs about what it does in a regular grocery store except I did get a great deal on 3 lb box of strawberries for $5 this last time.

Well girls, time to get out of here and sit and start on the sewing. Have a good day all. Faye

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

My nose is a bit stopped up today. Some allergy has attacked me ~ something on the ever blowing wind no doubt. It is 37º with the wind chill of 33º. I get such a kick out of this cat for he is a character. I love it when he comes and taps me on the knee when I am typing at my computer. If I ignore him he continues to tap until I scratch his ears and give him some attention. I am just so glad he doesn’t like to get on my desk like he does Will’s. He will lie across whatever it is Will is trying to work on. I just received this advertisement for chocolate dipped strawberries. OOOO they look so yummy. A dozen giant dipped fancy strawberries for $29.98. Such a deal. Wonder how many points each of those delicious globs are.

JEAN That Tiger Balm is great ~ it took the pain right away and when I woke up this morning it was still gone. That really hurts when you run into things like that in your hallway. Gotta watch where you are going. It sure makes it easier that you can buy those toll thingies locally before you start your trip. In Los Angeles they have the left lane on most of the freeways reserved for those workers with two or more in a car heading to work. They just all get in that lane and motor right along on their way to wherever it is that they work. No tolls to pay just get in that lane.

DONNA FAYE Thank you for the knitting tutorial. When I was in my knitting mode I never used such stitches. I admire your ability to do such work and produce such neat knitted attire. Have you set a goal for how much weight you plan on losing before your next cruise? It seems to me you are right on track with your losing now that your system has settled down. That little dog of yours has such silky hair that it makes me want to touch the picture. I can see from that book that it would have made a fun TV program. I am having a great time going through that book.

Have a great day Magnolias ~ Type at y’all later.

[QuilterInVA]

Good afternoon, ladies! A balmy 27 degrees right now. I'm freezing and my pansies are sure drooping. They may be done for. The snow we were supposed to have wasn't even a dusting. There were numerous school and business and meeting cancellations the night before so that was a total bust. Now the schools have to make up a snow day and there was no snow. You'd think we lived in a wilderness instead of paved streets in town.

I'm working every day this week while my boss is in Belize. I got my nails done yesterday. Feels good to get a little pampering. I had lunch out today with another lady who works in our building. That was a nice change.

Faye, all you knitting is beautiful, no matter what stitch you use. It sounds like you could use a Little Green Cleaning Machine. It's like a little spot cleaner for carpets. We have Easy Pass here for the Coleman Bridge and it is good in may other states as well, FL being one of them. I have it because Sandy lives on the other side of the Coleman. The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel had tolls, too and when it was paid for they removed them. There is talk now about putting tolls on all the bridges and tunnels in the state as well as the interstate so the roads can get fixed. I'm glad I got my pass when I did because I was grandfathered in at the old rate when you had to start paying a deposit and monthly free for the transponder. If you pay in cash it is $2.00 to cross the Coleman but if you have Easy Pass its 80 cents.

Jean, I ran into Food Lion to get some k-cups while they were on sale yesterday and came out $50 poorer from the other stuff that was too good to pass up. LOL It takes about 10 minutes to get your eyebrows waxed. They spread warm wax on what needs to be removed, cover it with a gauze like strip and then yank it off real quick and then finish by tweazing anything the wax didn't get. It really doesn't hurt. It's a lot better than me trying to do it without my glasses.

Maggie, Casper lays on the floor near me unless he wants attention. Then he jumps on the desk, sewing machine, my lap, etc. If I ignore him to long, he starts pushing things onto the floor. I enjoyed that Alton Brown tour as a tv show, too. I like programs like that. Our libraries have books for sale all the time, too, from donations and those the library will no longer carry. The Friends of the Library have a book sale twice a year and I like to go the last day because you can fill a grocery bag with books for $2.

Have a wonderful day!

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's hazy, windy, and cold again today. If the sun would come out and stay out that would help so much! I worked in the gift shop this morning. The only customer was me! I needed a couple of cards and bought a snowman that was 40% off. When I went to get the keys from the main desk, they weren't there! Finally a maintenance man came to let me into the store room, and "someone" had left the keys in the money box key hole with the lid wide open. I need to do another load of laundry and that will be caught up, dust, vacuum, and declutter this afternoon.

I am so mad! Before Christmas I got an email, from WW, saying that according to IA law I had to respond if I wanted to continue to have WW use my credit card for the monthly pass. I replied "yes" and now find out that it was cancelled. I was on the $39.95 rate so suppose I will have to pay more if I go that route again.

"Gma" -- Thanks for the knitting lesson! I wish you could give me lessons. Your projects always look beautiful no matter what! I agree with Maggie that Fortune looks so soft and cuddly. I was surprised when we went to the FL grocery store as their prices were pretty much the same as ours. We just bought fruit, meat, cheese, crackers, popcorn -- snacky stuff.

Maggie -- Our wind chill is 6 right now and it just looks cold outside. When we lived in Ohio they had the car pool program. One of our neighbors had a blow up doll that he used; I think he got caught because the doll disappeared after a short time.

Susan -- I thought you meant your had permanent eyebrows done. I've never done the waxing but have seriously thought about doing the permanent makeup. Our library is looking to expand and someone brought up the point of whether or not printed books would even exist in years to come. I suppose with iPads, Kindles, etc., there could be fewer books but I'd rather have a "real" book any day.

I have bell choir later so need to accomplish something before I leave. A guy from here is going to be on Wheel of Fortune tonight so I'm anxious to see him. I remember his name from school but don't know him. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[gma22]

Good morning ladies! Still cold here this morning and back to being overcast. Think we are going to get some rain today. I slept in this morning as the dog had we up 4 times last night to go outside. Getting old stinks for dogs too!

I am having a dickens of a time with the duplicate stitch on the dark navy yarn. You can't see the stitches for one thing and I took them out 6 times yesterday. I have one "leaf" done and the stem and will work on the rest of the first shamrock, actually clover as this isn't 4 leaf I couldn't find a pattern small enough. I need one of those lighted magnifying glasses that fits around your neck that cross stitchers use. I told him on Facebook it would fit better than the CUBS hat did, but if he hated it, wear it once, even to bed, for his mom then stick it in the closet with my other failures!

I think I am going to fix salmon patties for dinner tonight. I fixed pork tenderloin in the crockpot with onion gravy last night and Jack loved it. I told him I thought crockpot bbq with the pork tenderloin would be good too. I took the tenderloin and cut it in half so that each half was about a lb and froze the other half so I can use it and make bbq sometime down the road. I am trying to get more fish into us. The only fish Jack likes is salmon unless it is Long John Silvers, so I fix crab cakes for him or scallops. I eat some fish like talapia, but hate fishy tasting anything. I do like tuna, salmon is ok if it is canned or smoked, and I love shrimp. I always have cold shrimp when Jack has crab cakes. Jack and both like lobster and crab legs are ok too.

Maggie: We have this family owned chocolate shop called Dinhstals. They sold it awhile back but they still make these amazing chocolate covered strawberries. They wrap them in a fondant then dip them and when you bite into them the strawberry has released it juice and they are magnificent. I imagine they would set you back a few pts for each one though as they are huge. Jack had chocolate strawberries delivered to out stateroom for my birthday and they were crummy and expensive. I was really disappointed and Jack doesn't eat them so they were all mine to eat.

Susan: When I fail at a knitting project, I fail grandiose! Believe me, I have lots of things I have made that did not turn out well. Fortune will bark at me when I sit at the computer too long or on the weekends if I am knitting or away from my chair and Jack is at the computer he will bark at Jack until Jack gets up and comes back to the recliner. Otherwise, except needing to go out, he never barks and believe me, we have a lot of noise around here for him to bark at.

Jean: On my first appt with this new stylist I had my eyebrows done. It isn't bad at all, though if you have a lot of eyebrow hair it might be. I hardly have any, but wanted them shaped for the cruise. I didn't see much difference when they were done because my eyebrow hair is sparse as is my eyelashes. I barely have anything to put mascara on. What an idiot to leave the cashbox open and with the keys. Don't you wonder who did that. They should have a response to your email so I would contact WW and explain to them and see if they will keep you at the lower rate. I got a call on Sunday from CVS about that drive through experience and the supervisor called and fell all over herself apologizing and such. She was really nice and never excused what the girl had done except to say she usually didn't work there and was a first year intern or whatever. I told her flat out my dil was a PIC and she would never have done such a thing. She promised to go back and make sure they were trained in how to handle a customer properly and she hoped I would give them another chance. I don't know that I will simply because we have a Walgreens directly across the street and they have gone back to taking express scripts again. The CVS is about 3 miles from here.

Well girls, I have a load of laundry in but need to unload the dishwasher and reload it and today is upstairs cleaning day so I better get to it. Have a great day today. Hope the sun is shining where you are. Faye

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

I am making a pork recipe in my crock pot today which will be served over some rice for dinner. I didn’t have a can of cranberry sauce that the recipe called for so I substituted some raspberry sugar free jam for that and had to mix my own French dressing but the sauce tasted great so I believe that it will work. Those pork steaks I thawed yesterday had to be cooked today. I like to start out my crock pot on high for the first hour then turn it down for the duration of the cooking. My honey wanted to go to I-Hop last evening after class so I didn’t cook them as planned. Since I have the time before dinner crock potting them was a good idea I do believe. Today is his day to work at the museum so I can have dinner when he gets home then we can watch a couple movies. He left a bit early so he could stop by the library and see if they have any more books that were donated put out on the table that we might enjoy. I am still enjoying going through that Feasting on Asphalt one. I don’t know what is going on in the neighborhood but I hear several dogs barking in a choir ~ not ours for they are in the house. I think they have finally gotten it in their heads that barking is for outside and then they can let loose. But no barking in the house is the rule and they can easily join the choir by using their pet door. Each dog hits a different key and it is rather amusing to listen to them.

I have some things to put up and re-arrange in my kitchen this day. I want to make it more user friendly for the winter months. Seems I use different items according to the season and I like to have them handy. I am going to get some things out of that room that I no longer use also. We have some shelving downstairs that can hold them till we have a yard sale.

I love learning new words and heard one used that I had to look up today. Coterminous an adjective: Co-ter-mi-nous ~ \(ˌ)kō-ˈtər-mə-nəs\ . It’s like a pen of sheep with one goat in it so they are considered coterminous. Using the same pen at the same time for different animals. Don’t you Magnolias just love new words. You do know to keep our minds active we are supposed to learn 3 new things each day. Now if you haven’t learned anything new yet today that is your first ~ unless, of course you already knew the meaning of it then it doesn’t count.

I am eating my lunch as I type and I fixed myself some tomato soup and spiced it up. I put some of the “hot” sauce that they gave me when we last at our favorite Mexican restaurant and it is sneaky. I take a drink of my soup then the heat hits later. I love it. Mo hotta mo betta.

DONNA FAYE Lots of sewers and knitters use those neat lighted magnifiers ~ I do suggest you get one for it will surely halp you and you will wonder why you never got one sooner.

JEAN Do you suppose they meant for you to contact your credit card company to let WW deduct your money from your account? I have seen cars in that employee only lanes with those blow up dolls ~ even in the back seat when there was a passanger in the fron. I guess he had it "just in case" he didn't have a rider one day.

Have a great day Magnolias ~ Type at y’all later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's another cold, windy, gloomy day in my neighborhood. I'm tired of it "feeling" like it is below 0 outside! I decluttered, dusted, and vacuumed this morning, then after lunch went in search of a birthday card for a church lady who turns 100. She and her son were/is customers of Bob's; she dearly loves cats and I managed to find a cat card for her. The "100" birthday cards are $3.50 and up! I did find a cat card for $2.49.

I did receive a standard response, from WW, that I had closed the account, which I didn't do. I did go this morning thinking maybe the leader would have a suggestion; she did and that was to rejoin at the higher price. I'm wondering if that's why it got canceled in the first place.

"Gma" -- I had to at your telling Jay he could wear his hat to bed! I think back in the old days men espeically wore night caps to bed to keep warm. What are Walgreen express scripts? My mom used to make salmon patties but I never have. What all do you put in yours or how do you fix them? Have you read any books by Wendi Corsi Staub? I read Nightwatcher while we were gone and thought it was good. I was disappointed our library doesn't have any of her books. I'm reading Playing With Fire by Nancy Price right now. It's kind of different but has held my attention. We were in a store where you can dress up in costumes to have your picture taken and there was a pile of books with a sign that they were free. The book jacket says she is from Iowa and winters in Florida. She has several books and the library has several of them.

Maggie -- Your pork menu sounds good too. Anything I don't have to fix sounds good. I need to do some rearranging in the kitchen, and get rid of some dishes I never use. My car will be getting a new windshield tomorrow so I will be home all day. I will have to think about what I want to accomplish as each room could use some attention. I've never heard of your new word for the day, so thanks for the lesson.

Guess I will think about something hot for supper . . . soup of some sort for sure. Hope you all stay warm and enjoy your evening!

[gma22]

Good morning girls! We are getting some light rain this morning and since it is dark don't know what the day will bring, but doubt it is sun with the rain. Ahh well, it is one day closer to spring at least. I noticed this shrub we have off the deck already has buds on it. It springs some kind of tiny white flower that only lasts a very few weeks then they all fall off. We have a holly bush too, but don't get many pretty red berries on it. I guess I should be thankful as they are poison and I don't know whether Fortune would try to eat them or not. You never know with him. His biggest love is anything potato. He loves chips, tots, you name it, if it is potato he wants some. He likes those Bugle snacks too.

I have one clover almost completed and will move on to the ND today. I really do hate doing duplicate stitch! I think maybe I will start Jack's hat today too. Since it is just two colors, it will knit up fast. He is surely going to be able to be seen in the dark with this hat. I need to work on my scarf and get it done. I am almost halfway and almost done with one sock. I definitely have enough to keep me busy. I want to make a sleeveless top for vacation, but am hoping I am down a couple sizes so I need to find a pattern that will fit multiple sizes.

Maggie: You ask me about losing weight for the cruise. I would like to be down around 70 lbs by the cruise and with me losing 3 lbs a week, I will be more than that. If I lose just two lbs between today and the day we leave, I will have lost 74 so I should be able to do it. I would like one of those magnifiers but don't know how much they would set me back. I may look into it. One of my favorite knitting tools are actually these little stitch markers I bought. They are little plastic safety pins so they don't fall off the knitting or off the needles like some of the other markers can. I am thinking of buying more for big projects that I need to mark every so many stitches. They are really inexpensive, under $5 for a little bag of them. My crockpot is ancient, but until it poops out on me I am not buying another one. Mine has a removal stoneware container that is big. You can put a whole chicken in it easily. Once the electric component craps out, I can keep the inner container to bake in. I like the removal kind. I had one that was oblong and just sat on top of a long griddle like think and I hated it. I got it years ago when I had a Tupperware party and who has those anymore??? You can buy Tupperware online nowadays.

Jean: Express Scripts is our mail order prescription plan. Walgreens supposedly takes Tricare again which uses Express Scripts. Some nitwit at Walgreens who makes decisions decided to dump express scripts. A lot of medicare prescription plans uses express scripts and they found out they lost a lot of business so they are back to taking it again. I like it because our mail in prescriptions we can get 90 days at a time. Aren't greeting cards just ridiculously priced anymore? I mean it is a piece of paper with an envelope and I doubt the writers of the poetry and such make big bucks doing it. Just another way to take our money from us. I think they purposely make the 99 cent ones as awful as they can so you will buy the more expensive ones. I am tempted to be like my dil and just get note cards and write notes in them for birthdays and such.

Well, I guess I will get back in the recliner and sew on that hat some more. I really want to get it done. Have a great weekend. It will be quiet around here this weekend as nothing is going on. Faye[/COLOR]

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

It’s another chilly day here in the ♥Land. I woke up with my hip hurting and don’t know what is going on there except maybe I slept on it “wrong” somehow to cause the upset. I’m just getting old is what it probably is. Maybe one of my exercises caused it to act up. Hopefully as the day progresses it will “go away.” Sure makes it hard to walk as it is but sitting it is OK.

The substitution to that recipe I made last evening in my crock pot sure did turn out tasty. We ended up having some stove top stuffing with it. I like those boxes of stuffing and always put chopped up celery, onion, and mushrooms in it and use chicken broth instead of butter. Lightens it up and leaves it nice and tasty that way. I have yet to decide on what I will make for dinner this day.

I ate up all my cuties and Will has those on his shopping list. WW wants us to eat fruit or vegetables with each meal and that isn’t a bit hard for me to do at all for I love fruit and most vegetables. I have been known to eat a tomato along with my breakfast when I do eat breakfast that is. I generally am one of those ~ two meals a day ~ people. If I eat a “breakfast” type meal it is at one of those times. In the morning when I get up it is coffee for me. I’ve never been a breakfast eater and even as a child I didn’t eat much breakfast. I would grab a piece of fruit when I headed off to school. Not eating didn’t affect my grades any for I always made good ones. I’m just not a member of the breakfast club. It always seems that when I do eat something for breakfast then I have a hungry day. I didn’t get FAT until later in my life and the fact that I was not a breakfast eater didn’t cause that. Lack of constantly being on the move was the key factor in my weight gain ~ along with eating the fatty fried foods of course. What I have become is my doing and I am currently undoing some behaviors that were counterproductive. I have learned Splenda® and low fat products, portion control and am a loser now days. Life is good.

DONNA FAYE That would be wonderful if you are able to lose 3 pounds a week on a regular basis. Just think of the reward from that much of a loss ~ your body will thank you. The longest losing stretch I ever made was that for 6 months I lost one to 1½ pounds each week with only one week having a “maintain.” I would love to repeat that record for sure. I currently have 3 crock pots and all their crocks are removable. I use one of the smaller ones mosty but have the largeer one for bigger amounts I cook for a crowd or for the freezer. One of the smaller ones has a plug in for the cigerate lighter port in a vehicle. I had it for when we were "full timers." I have had the other two since we moved in here years back. Crock pots do seem to last a long time. I don't remember ever having one that went ka-poot.

JEAN Those greeting cards do cost a lot now days. I have a program that I use with my computer to make my own cards. I can use their sayings or my own in them and make them anyway I want. I don't often ever buy a card anymore. I did get some Christmas cards but they were marked down way low. That is a rip that you have to re-join at the higher price. I am not sure just how much I pay for it comes out of our checking account automaticaly and that is our main banking folks out in TN. I'll have to ask Will for he does that book work. We have never changed our bank after leaving TN because they have really treated us nice and we have never had any trouble with them at all. My check from CA goes to that bank automatically. We put money on our Wal*Mart money cards for our purchases so folks cant get into the main account and rip us off. I only had one Wal*Mart money card ripped off and they didn't get much but the company Wall*Mart deals with put the money back and went after the person in another country that stole it. So when we want to buy something we load the money on that card then spend it quickly now days. Right now on my card I have enough to cover a back order I had made and then that leaves me a whopping $8.54 on that card. Before I load anymore on a card I will get a new one and destroy this current one. If the $8.54 is still there they will transfer it over to the new card. That's how we work it.

Have a great day Magnolias ~ Type at y’all later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and it's 32 degrees outside . . . still feels cold though. The streets are wet so the sun is helping to melt the snow. I have been very lazy today. I made chili for lunch and did some much needed ironing. I'm carless since I am getting a new windshield today. Because of the cold weather they are keeping it overnight to make sure the glue sets correctly.

"Gma" -- I keep telling myself that spring is on the way. I did check the newspaper this morning and the sun is setting a minute later at 5:32 and is rising a minute earlier tomorrow. Fortune and I should start a potato lovers club; I could eat potatoes every day! You are coming right along on Jay's hat. I thought maybe I was missing out on something since I didn't know what express scripts were. I can never figure out why "they" try to fix something that isn't broken. I buy most of my greeting cards in the hospital gift shop. I don't remember the brand but they have a rainbow heart with a paintbrush on the back side. They average between $1 and $1.50 with appropriate verses and drawings that look hand painted.

Maggie -- I hope your hip is feeling better as the day goes along. I know what you mean about "getting old" with aches and pains. I always think of Bob's mom saying that getting old isn't for sissies. I sometimes skip breakfast if I'm not hungry, but know I can have something later in the morning if I need to do so. I always had toast with peanut butter when I was in school because I usually ate lunch either at noon or 12:30; 6 hours without food was too long for me. Bob's secretary makes all of her own cards also. I had a program at one time and just never felt very accomplished using it.

I am hungry and need to find a snack of some sort. Think I will make a grocery list and talk Bob into going with me later. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

It’s another wonderful day in the neighborhood. I got the neatest sounding chicken recipe from my WW leader this morning that makes me want to round up the ingredients to make it one of these days soon. I imagine that it would be good with a nice fresh tossed salad. I’ll share it with you also my WW friends ~

BASIL CHICKEN
4 servings, 8 points+ each
Lightly brown in skillet:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Puree in blender:
½ cup water
1 cup fresh basil
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of garlic
Place chicken in a baking dish.
Pour puree over the top.
Place the following on top:
1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
½ medium red onion (sliced)
1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
Bake at 375º for 40 minutes.

Not much happening around here this day except the regular Saturday cleaning we do. Not much to do really since we like to keep it picked up all during the week. Just making sure the bathrooms are all clean and the kitchen is in order. Mostly the clutter that exists is the dogs toys strewn all over the front room but when that happens, guests can understand. They have mostly deposited their toys under Will’s desk lately so they are not in the front room. They take turns on which room they invade and now it is his office ~ all those things around Will’s feet plus 2 animals on the floor and one on his desk. His office still has carpeting so they like it better to hang around in I think because mine has wood floors. The cat gets interested on what Will is doing on that desk top.

JEAN My hip quit hurting after I walked around a bit thank goodness and my arm quit hurting shortly after I rubbed it with that Tiger Balm and hasn’t hurt since. The muscle in my upper right arm has been giving me fits for it was hurting for several days. I could kick myself for not thinking of using Tiger Balm before for I tried other things. The balm comes in a cute 6 sided little jar. Small jar but a little goes a long way. Something that has been used over 100 years all over the world has got to have merits I would think. I have the “ultra strength” and “red extra strength” jars of it that do what they are supposed to as a pain relieving ointment. There is also a “white regular strength” jar but I don’t have that one. Today I don’t have any aches and pains. What happened to your windshield that you have to have it replaced?

Have a wonderful weekend Magnolias ~ type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun has been playing hide 'n seek today, wind has settled down to a breeze, and it is still cold at 18 degrees. I've been sorting through drawers looking for a credit card. I cleaned out my purse before we went to Florida, leaving credit cards and "stuff" I knew I wouldn't need while gone. I debated about this card because I knew the bill would come after we were home, put it in my purse, and then took it out again. I don't usually carry it, so decided against taking it, then stuck it somewhere stupid thinking I would deal with it when we got home. I know it is here somewhere!!!!! Otherwise it is laundry, litter boxes, and reorganizing gift shop paperwork from 2012. I need to get back to Beth's afghan too.

Maggie -- The chicken recipe does sound good except for the mushrooms. Sonny likes to clean out the toy box. He isn't good about picking up though. Ernie always comes running when he hears his toys rattle. Glad your hip and arm are back to normal. I've never heard of Tiger Balm, will have to look for it. We had a rock chip at the very center and bottom of the windshield. Bob was going to have it fixed but when the weather got cold enough to run the defroster it cracked sideways in both directions. The estimate was $800+ but they gave us a discount and it was "only" $600. The body shop guy said fixing the chip wouldn't have helped because of the location and vibrations would have made it crack eventually.

I hear the dryer buzzing so need to change loads. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[Maggie]

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS

The order for my striped knee sox came today and they are so pretty and soft with that cashmere content in them along with nylon, virgin wool, viscose, and angora ~ made in the USA. With this brace they told me to only wear 100% cotton knee sox with it and you can’t imagine just how hard it was to find those at first. I do have a couple of sources now where I can get navy blue, black, and tan 100% cotton sox from but it took a lot of searching to find those sources. But on occasion I do wear the blended kind but not on an everyday type thing. I mostly wear black knee high 100% cotton sox. If I am wearing my nice tan pants then I will wear the tan sox. I did find some thigh high 100% sox that the reenactment folks wear that pose as old gold panning folks and have a couple pair of those in different colors. One striped pair has stripes of blue and green and another striped pair has black and red stripes. The stripes go around the leg on both pairs as do the new sox I just got today.

JEAN That was one expensive piece of glass to get the windshield replaced. Before we moved here we had glass covered in our policy and they call it different here so I am not sure how much glass we do have covered anymore. I hope you find that card you hid from yourself. It must be frustrating to lose things of that sort. Believe me I do believe we have all lost things in our houses. One time Will was helping a man solder something in his basement and then they came up for a drink of water then when they went back down the flux had disappeared. Will had seen the man put it down on a table before they left the room and neither could find it anywhere. Spookey for sure but I think they must have had a pack rat that lived down there somewhere. They had to go buy another tin of flux.

Have a wonderful sleep Magnolias.