Back for personals.

Shad: I am thrilled to hear of your "all normal" health status!

Anne: What a nice picture of you and Sam at the Christmas Tea.

You are doing great stay true to the Keto diet. I am up 2 lbs and if I could get back to my regular workout routine it would be helpful. I just need to get back to taking care of me first and work second.

When I am off starting December 18, I plan to get back to my 5 to 6 day a week workouts. This week it will most likely be 3...but better than nothing.

Ceejay: i hope you have no more trouble with the pilot light.

Also I hope getting back home and having time and space to yourself will help elevate your mood.

Laura: I love orchids. You will have to post a picture. How nice that they are sharing the arrangement with you and that office services was helpful and boxed it up nicely so you could transport it home easily.

Happy: What a nice thing you did to help that young lady with the application. I am praying she gets a job.

I have to agree with you and Laura about foot doctors, the one I saw for my foot a couple of years ago really didnt do anything to help me when I was having issues.

I have my fingers crossed that maybe the one you are seeing on the 21st will be different from all the rest and have a clue as to what you really need.

Have a great day ladies, the bathroom and kitchen are calling me.

Morning all,
Be a short post today since I go to the neurologist professor today. Hope there are some answers for my hands especially the left one which I use such a lot. It's a darn nuisance when things slip through your fingers since the brain obviously hasn't told it to hold tight.

I'm behind on personals - well behind. Lets see if I can catch up.

Happy - Grrr, can't imagine cold pizza especially in your temperatures these days. Not nice. I like olives but not on cold greasy cheesy stuff. Yes sometimes God does help with diet plans. There are times when I find myself hungry too, and I look in the fridge and check out what there is to eat. These days it is mostly fruit in there. I keep a boring refrigerator. Hope you managed the hairdresser. There's no way you can turn down a doctor these days. Bit of a pity that the hot pack toe warmers are not as efficient as claimed. Still at least the feet weren't frozen. Like you, if my feet are cold, the rest of me is also very cold. Well done on the new shoes. Isn't it nice not to have to be a fashion model anymore.
How nice of you to help out with the application for T. Like you I hope they call her.
I love Sushi. I've made it for a few years now. It doesn't always look as professional as the Japanese make it, but I try. I don't make the breaded variety of meats in it either. Generally it is left over chicken or pork, or prawns or salmon (cooked or smoked) I don't eat beef or lamb too often these days as it is so expensive now. I've made it with egg and avocado and lettuce if I am feeling a bit vegetarian. I also make the rice paper rolls with all sort of bits and pieces inside. Having said that about beef, I found a piece of beef (Angus brisket) in with the dog food the other day. I cooked that up last night and it was delicious. Made the best gravy!
Poor old turkeys. DH has spoilt them so much that they can't find their own food now. You do realise that because you are feeding them, they will breed more? And that could be disastrous if you move away sometime in the future.
So if you don't go to the orthopedic man on 20/12 and they don't need you on 21/12, when are you booked in for. Bloody medics.
No set travel plans yet, but think about moving to Outer Mongolia around April/May and order a spectacular spring for your neck of the woods. We may share a birthday together.

Laura - Love to help you keep the orchid going. They are not hard to please fortunately. Especially if they are indoor plants as yours seem to be. Seems such a shame to chuck the arrangement out when replacing it with a new one. Is there other sorts of plants in the arrangement? Do they have any sort of identification on them? Good old mailroom packing it up for you.
The train rides sounds like it might have been fun, pity about not many children on the train, although if it was knock off work time, maybe they were all at home doing their
homework

Annie - your Christmas tea sounded so good. So nice of the lady to get you all presents.

Ceejay - I see you are the convenient great aunt looking after the kids. Nice to have them, good to see them go! I was looking after my eldest great niece last week. It was fun and my neighbour taught her how to knit and we made gingerbread men, women, kids and Kiwis and iced them or at least some of them - which she took home with her to do the rest.
Sounds like you have some furnace woes of your own. Between you and Happy, you will keep the furnace places in work. But at least your menfolk managed to sort something out.
Well done on not bingeing on the doughnuts. I'm not a doughnut fan so don't have the problem.

Susie - Glad to hear that the skin lesion is an infection. Good that you got it sorted. I would have asked for the biopsy as well - as I do ask for the blood tests every 3 months or so. There is one thing that happens once you have been diagnosed with cancer and then declared 'fixed' and 'clear'. You tend not to believe it. So until I can get my head around to the theory that I am a cancer survivor, not a cancer victim, I will be requesting these blood tests. Fortunately my doctor understands this.

And with that I am sort of up to date with personals. Thanks to you all for the lovely comments both here and on Facebook as to my continuing clear cancer results. I have so many good friends. I am overwhelmed with the help and support I have received. Okay, now it really is time for me to get off here and go change the bed, dust and sweep the bedrooms, and clean the bathroom and laundry. I'm already behind and I need to leave here about 10:00am to get down to the place where this expensive Professor works.

Monday Monday...

Hello Ladies.

Was a peaceful weekend. Meeting, shopping, church, lunch. Samantha and I wrapped ALLLLLLlllll the presents yesterday afternoon. Took us about two hours. Glad that is done.

Just checking in...busy here...end of year BS.

Hugs.

Good morning all,

Going to be a fairly busy day today. I have a few things to get done this morning - write out checks for bills, pack up one of my Mom's gifts to send out and itemize the dozen or so erroneous credit card transaction mistakes from the Thrift Shop so the bank can reprocess them. They are having beef stroganoff at the Senior Center (one of my favorites) so I am picking that up for lunch as take out and then DH will drop me at the Thrift Shop for my afternoon shift. I have to hurry and close tonight quickly as the Peach truck is coming to town today - but this time filled with luscious Florida oranges and I want to get a box. I love eating orange wedges, especially if they are cooled. Last year I made a big mistake and put them in the 3 season room and they froze overnight. Ruined a very large box of oranges. I won't make that mistake twice.

Weekend was on the quiet side. I went out on Saturday and picked up eggs and meat from the Farmers Market farm lady who comes once a month now in the winter time to sell her wares. I felt badly for them - it was sunny but very cold - she said they had snowmobile suits on and it was only for 2 hours so they'd be ok. They are farm people and used to being outdoors all year long anyway. Made steak bites and a baked potato which DH enjoyed. I made my broccoli / grape / apple salad which I absolutely love. I could eat the whole crunchy bowl. I used a prepackaged broccoli slaw with matchstick cuts of broccoli and carrot and had shredded red cabbage also. I added chopped apple (with the skin on), red grapes sliced in half, toasted sunflower seeds. When they made it at the senior center they added those colored tortilla strips but our store of course didn't have any so I added some crunchy wonton strips as salad toppings. I could have and should have added some chopped walnuts - will add that for leftovers. The dressing is made with mayonaisse, some sugar and vinegar. I had a bottle of juniper berry balsamic that I used. Yummy. It was a little on the sweet side, so I will cut back the sugar in the dressing next time since the apples and grapes lend their own sweetness. I just love that salad and it's made with stuff you can get all year long. It also lends itself to all sorts of ingredients.

I still don't feel like decorating for the holidays. Christmas is 2 weeks from today. I keep telling myself I should send out some cards also. Tried to put together a bunch of DH's photos for a new calendar which I need very soon - but that's an awful lot of work involved. I put about an hour's time into it and then had to give up. Was trying yesterday to tackle the list of to do's I had - and it's a big list. Some things are time dependent - like getting Mom's present to her BEFORE Christmas

Shad - much as it would be fun to spend our birthdays together - April is NOT the time for chilly little black ducks to come to this side of the pond. April is still winter up here. There is a hint of spring in the air sometimes but we have been known to get several inches of snow the beginning of May. June/July/August are the best times for tropical visitors. Even then you may still need a jacket at night for what you are used to. Just sayin' for planning purposes. I'm sorry you continue to have issues with your hands - that has to be most frustrating. Hope there is some sort of resolution to that and it's not something that will linger for ages. I was having problems once with the ulnar nerve in the elbow - I'd grab something and my hand would just open up and let go on it's own - frustrating and does make quite the mess! As for my appointment with the orthopedic guy - they originally had an opening on Wednesday but I thought I was needed at the senior center that day so I took an appointment on the next day. When I found out that I was available on Wednesday I called the doctor's office back but they had already filled the Wednesday opening. I still have and will keep my appointment on Thursday. My frustration was with the senior center receptionist who told me she needed me and then she didn't. This is what happens when you have a barmaid that turns receptionist - they have much to learn. Anyhow, glad you enjoyed the beef. I am learning that it's easy to make gravies and sauces from pan drippings - so flavorful too! So in a country where there are more lambs than humans the price of lamb is rising in price? Could it be that lamb is getting very popular and they are exporting it? I am learning to like lamb myself.

Susie - did you get snow after all? Find a scarf for the gift? I'm sure she will appreciate it very much. No Von Mauer up this way but we had them up in Chicago and they were nice stores. Sending you prayers that all goes well with the biopsy. Glad you were able to get some peace of mind - there are enough things to worry about. Are things easing up a bit in the office lending you some chance to catch up or is everyone busy planning for the new year's goals?

Laura - the holiday train sounds fun. That's something I have never experienced. I think you are very smart about portioning out the cookie dough just to make a few cookies at a time. I don't go seeking them out myself like DH does but if certain kinds are there - they will tempt me. Better to just have a few at a time. I was thinking I might try merengues this year. My old oven did not seal properly so it cooled too quickly and the cookies would never bake/set properly. I'm thinking the new oven will work much better. DH likes them too - I used to buy them in a tub for him and like so many things at the grocery store - they watch what I buy and that's the top of the list of things they stop carrying How nice that they packaged the orchid for transport for you. Did you get it repotted this weekend? Is all your decorating done?

Ceejay - yay for you for resisting the doughnuts!!! If I want one, I buy it single from the bakery section and I only like one kind and they mostly don't have it so that's a big benefit! I was going through some magazines and in the Readers Digest there was a suggestion that when you get sugar cravings to eat a spoon of peanut butter. I happened to have some in the refrigerator and I'd have to say that did help. There is too much in my house that is sugar based and I'm not even talking about candy and baked goods. Good luck with your plan. Did you get all your rearranging done in the house?

Annie - did you have a good weekend with the family? Things going better on the homefront or is it just trying to get through each day?

That's enough blabbing for me at the moment. Better get my prep stuff done. Happy Monday ladies.

Afternoon all.

Susie – I’m so thankful the spot isn’t cancerous, and that the biopsy will confirm it once and for all. == I hope you enjoyed your night out with friends and found the scarf to give. == So one more week of work and then will you be off until after New Year’s?? Wow, nice to have all that time off work. (…except for everything piling up while you’re out. Is it at least quieter at the time? I like when it’s so quiet.)

Shad – Fingers crossed and hoping the neuro doc can help with your post-chemo hand issue. How frustrating to not have your hand work the way you want it to. == You mean doggy didn’t get the Angus beef?? So he’s not as spoiled as I thought, hahaha. C’mon, isn’t it your job to spoil all the furries and little kids?? == Glad to hear the orchid might not be so difficult to keep alive and even thriving. It is definitely an indoor plant! It's 36 F today, so what’s that – a bit more than 0 C? Definitely indoor. The other green plants that came with it is a croton and I believe a philodendron. There’s also something else with larger leaves, but I haven’t figured that one out yet. There was no identification on it because there’s a service that comes in to take care of all our plants. We have a lot of plants in the office - especially philodendrons - around the office to try to offset all the chemicals in the air from the carpet and other office materials. Guess it’s not so bad now after being here 8 years, but we did have a new space buildout a couple years ago on the other half of our floor that emanated chemicals for a bit… plus whatever nasties get pumped through the hvac system. Lovely that we get to go through the “new office smell” again when we move to our new space next year.

Annie - Yay for a peaceful weekend. I take it the boys were with their dad? I also thought that was probably the case when you reported getting all the gifts wrapped.

Happy – That salad you made sounds delicious! I feel that making a salad without those low-nutrient lettuces would make it more appealing to me - it would be healthier. And more filling too. I bet it was crunchy enough without the added tortilla or wonton strips. Toasted walnuts would be a great addition. == You’re not alone with not having decorated for the holidays yet – we haven’t done anything inside the house yet. Except for that poinsettia… I’ll get to it. Though I think the tree might not go up this year. Bf’s piano is in the corner of the living room, right next to where we would put the tree. He’s been trying to sell the piano for several weeks now and he finally found a buyer who gave him a down payment yesterday. The buyer (whose name is Harmony, how fitting) will be arranging to move it, but who knows how long that'll take. Maybe we’ll just put up all the other decorations and leave it at that. Or put up the 4 foot tree instead. But that one’s not pre-lit and needs to be strung with lights… Maybe not… I dunno. == I used to buy chocolate meringues from Trader Joe’s years ago, and of course they stopped selling those. I didn’t care for the vanilla ones…

Hello Ceejay.

==

Well, I was a sloth this weekend and didn’t exercise either day. But I did take mom to the furniture store where she had her order for two chairs. She managed to finally make a decision on the fabric for them, so the order will go forward. Didn’t see any tables she wanted though. After that she wanted to go to Walmart again, which she didn’t mention at all until after we’d left the furniture store. Big package of boneless/skinless chicken (5+ pounds!), two more steaks, ground turkey, veggie burgers, more frozen veggies, more frozen entrees, more brown rice. And I can’t recall what else. Less than we bought last week, but still quite a bit. I left her place shortly after she started trying to cram it all into her already-full freezer. I couldn’t believe she bought all that after buying so much last week! Just have to shake my head. I’m taking Thursday and Friday off this week and will certainly phone and see where she might need to go this weekend, but I will flatly refuse to go grocery shopping with her. If she needs milk or eggs, fine. I'll run in and get them for her, but that’s about it.

I went out later that day to shop for a pot for my orchid/plants. Went to four places and didn’t find what I had in mind, but decided to get the one I saw at the first place - Home Depot. Did that on Sunday. Bf needs to drill a hole in the bottom for drainage.

I also finally pre-washed the flannel for my pj bottoms in with some clothes, and also did another load of laundry. Ho hum. Watched the end of the movie Christmas Vacation. Funny movie. Started watching Elf, but decided to record it so I can fast forward through the commercials.

Okay, enough rambling. Have a good Monday/Tuesday everyone.

Neurologist was a long and boring session. First I was tested for nerve reaction. They reacted alright Seems that the nerves are okay. The left thumb which is the one that really upsets me most is probably osteoarthritis - oh nice - and the problems with tingling, aching and pins and needles are more than likely carpal tunnel. I have to wait until he gets his results back to my GP who will probably call me in and tell me the same as what he told me and then sort out what we are going to do about it. Most likely a night wrist glove thingy and then maybe if the situation gets worse, surgery. I was extremely grateful that I didn't have to pay for that bit of nothing - the cost would apparently have been $318.70 and probably plus gst of 10% - make that close to $350.00. I got there in plenty of time and found a park not too far away, and was fairly early for my appointment so sat outside in his beautiful garden and read for a while. 20 minutes after my appointment was due I got into the nerve torture chamber with a lovely young man called Reuben who tested all the nerves in arms and measured and filed etc. Then another wait of an hour or more before I got to see the specialist. All up around 3 hours in the surgery - 10 minutes of which were with the specialist. Y'gads.
Then I went to find my brother who lives nearby the doctors place. I hadn't been able to get hold of him for days and it turns out that he decided to change his phone from a contract plan which was due to finish yesterday and go to a pay as you talk plan. It seems the ISP stuffed up (so what else is new) and they have cancelled everything even though he had paid through until the 11th and then another $30 to the pay as you talk thing. No phone for him. His wife and he had had a flu injection recently and they both got the worst version of the flu I have seen. Lots of coughing and spluttering going on. To make matters worse, P the wife had gone out to clean her sons rental units one morning leaving D (the brother) at home. He wasn't feeling well and got up to get some Panadol and blacked out. On the way down, he hit the side of his head on a side table. Something on it broke and glass shards hit his face and left arm. When he came to, he was lying in a pool of blood. He managed to get hold of P (thank heavens it was before his phone got cut off) and she came home and carted him off to the ER. He has a sensational black eye, cuts to the left side of his face and a split lip and cuts on his left arm. He is a bit of a mess. So this week he needs to go back to hospital for a brain scan to see if he has done some damage or if there is anything there that caused him to black out. I suspect that it was something to do with this rotten flu he has.

Other than that, not much is happening around here this week. Dog is back, niecelet is not.

Annie - great that you got the wrapping done. That's always a good thing to get out of the way. Might get mine done this week (if I can find the wrapping paper). And I am so pleased to hear that it was a peaceful weekend.

Happy - Love beef stroganoff myself. Might have to make me some soon. I like oranges too. As to the April May dates, I have my next 6 month checkup in June (6th actually) and if I leave it to June or July or August, the prices go up astronomically. I might have to leave it to Sept/ Oct as I have no wish to deal with hoardes of tourists again. I did grow up with cold, frosts and some snow, so it isn't new, I just don't have much in the way of gear to deal with it.
That salad sounds great. Might have to think about it myself. Minus the sugar. You lot always like things a lot sweeter than I do.
I'm not decorating either. No kids here this year and I will be away for Christmas anyway, so not worth it.

Laura - Ruger did get some of the Angus beef. When I make his dinner, I buy minced meat (ground to you lot) and then add cooked vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato, raw carrot, cheese, eggs on occasions and chunks of meat that he has to chew. I go to a wholesale butcher and get cheap cuts of meat (gravy beef, chuck steak, and lately brisket beef - none of the packs are over $10) and sometimes kabana or kookwurst sausage. Just so happened that I over purchased this time and the brisket was left over so I thought I would see what it was like if roasted. It was very nice. Next time I might try it in the crock pot as it could have been a little more tender. If all else fails dog and I can eat the same food - only mine would have to be cooked.
Send a photo of the plants and orchid and we will see if we can identify it. They are not overly fussy, just need the right soil, the right light and some food chucked at them every so often.

Okay, that's about it from me. Better get on with the day. I have half my list crossed off. Now for the hardest half - although doggy will be pleased, we are going to play with water shortly.

Saying hi. Im in branson this week. Doing transportation for my niece to and from her new job. More later.

Morning all. Very cold out today, but I think we’re bouncing back to the 30’s after today.

Shad – Well, it’s probably good that the nerves are okay. But odd that the arthritis and CT problems first appeared during/after your chemo treatments. What a long time to only see the specialist for 10 minutes. == How scary what happened to your brother! Thank goodness he was able to contact his wife. I hope the scan comes out clean for him. == Oh how interesting that you get the meat wholesale. We sure know most dogs aren’t picky about their cuts of beef, LOL. So it's just a mixed pack of meats for one price? Kind of reminds me of the deli selling the ends of the cheeses and lunchmeats in a pack. I’ve tried the cheese and it’s sort of an adventure since you don’t know exactly what you’ve gotten until you tasted it. Well now you’ll have to go through the packs and pick out the pieces that look like they’d be tasty for you, especially if you cook them in a way that tenderizes them. == The Photobucket site kept freezing up, so I’m just attaching the photo of the orchids/plants instead of inserting into my post. What is the plant with the large dark green leaves? I’m sure the orchid must be a very common one because I saw some that looked like it at the big box hardware store the other day.

Ceejay – Be careful being while being the Uber driver this week!
==

It was sort of drizzling when I left work yesterday and quickly turned to a wet sleet. When I got off the train at home, I found about an inch of the wet stuff accumulated on the sidewalk. Since I knew it was going to get very cold overnight, I decided to shovel it before it froze into an icy mess. Not a lot to move, so I just used the pusher rather than the shovel.

My new flower pot still needs to have a hole drilled into it, so I couldn’t repot the orchid. I took the plastic bag with the plants in it and put it in a plastic dishpan and watered it a little bit.

After that, I did just the abs part of one of the Firm dvds I'd bought from one of the library book sales, but it turned out to only be about 5 minutes long. I also did the stretch after that, and that was it. Not much of a workout at all. Those Firm dvds seem to use a lot of different equipment and in the past I’ve found it sort of awkward to always be switching it up. And the workouts are what I consider to be advanced level and who knows if I’ll even progress to them. Not sure I’ll keep them…

That’s about it for me. Have a good day everyone.

I have some quiet time this morning. My main job this week is transporting y niece to and from her new job. She is training in Ozark which is about 20 minutes away and of course mom is working. She has an appointment this afternoon at 4.30 in Hollister which is about 10 minutes away. She was excited about her new job.

Yesterday I went to the Walmart salon and was lucky to get an 11.30 a.m. appointment to get my hair touched up and cut. I really liked this beautician.

The kitten is behaving herself this morning. Think she was testing me yesterday.

---------
Happy
Your broccoli salad sounded great. I may try that this week.

Shad
I cook all my red meat in the crock pot. The meat is more tender.

Laura
The Christmas train ride sounded like fun. I could see where if the children were their would make it more fun.
So mom had more shopping to do.

Susie
Glad the carbuncle has been taken care of and hoping that the results return good also.

Have a good day

Hello my lady friends....

We had our AA noon meeting Christmas luncheon today. It was delish. We take donations at our regular meetings year round till about July so all the food is paid/covered. Ham, turkey, dressing, sweet potatos, greenbean casserole, cranberry salad, rolls and cake. Of course I only at the ham and turkey and picked through the greenbeans to not get any of the carby stuff. It all looked good and what I had was great. The church staff cooks all the food for us so it is a wonderful treat. I stopped on my walk to the church and got a Starbucks coffee as a treat to go with lunch. I am special today....bahahaha.

I fixed spaghetti and keto meatballs last night for dinner. Everyone ate and didn't know the difference. Sneaky like that. I just ate the sauce and the meatballs and was stuffed. I also had some fresh frozen blueberries for a treat after dinner. Quite nice.

Bout it for me, hope to catch up on personals later this week. Hugs all.

Laura - the strappy green leaves in the front belong to the orchid, which is a Phalaeonopsis (Moth) orchid. Not sure what the bright green leaves are but the plant at the back looks like a croton variety. Are they in one pot together or separate pots? You may have more than one orchid plant there. I have attached a picture of the one I have in my bathroom.

The orchid will like bright light but not direct sunlight and certainly can not go out side. You can clean down the leaves as necessary with a damp cloth. I think there is a thing called Leaf Shine which will make them look good but I don't know how good it is for the plant. We have croton growing outside here, but I don't think yours will since it has probably spent it's life indoors. I've seen those little bright green leaves before, so I might have to take a trip to the plant shop to identify it. It's an indoor plant too here. Now won't that be a hardship

Forgot to add, that orchid/s looks like it has been planted in spagnum moss. It's good stuff for those plants because it holds the water and the plants can use it as they need it. Not much need for regular watering, but you'll need regular potting mix for the others.

My goodness LAURA that is one beautiful Orchid. No wonder you were admiring it to take home. OH BTW....your stored private messages here on 3FC is at its capacity therefore you cannot receive any further messages until you clear some space out. In answer to you last message to me...you are very welcome. Hope momma's grocery buying slows down. Didn't you say she doesn't cook much? Why buy all that food?

SHADDIE...you bathroom orchid looks quite lovely also. Very pretty. I usually over water things and am lucky they don't die. On the other end I forget to water and they die that way too. Curses. Boo on the arthritis but yeah on it not being a permanent nerve damage of some sort going on. Ruger is pretty spoiled eating people food. We don't let Sassy have any. Especially now that we paid for that expensive stomach surgery.

CEEG...how did your hair turn out? Hope you like it. Is your niece grateful for all the help she is receiving from you? Safe travels back and forth.

SUSIE...hope you get back on your eating and exercising train soon. Would hate for all your hard work to go south. You are looking so beautiful. Have you thought about your goals for next year concerning WL? # of lbs and workouts? Keep the force strong, my sister. Had to smile about shopping at Von Mauer. I always feel like a princess in that store. It is so beautiful. Not to mention the charming ladies room. If they just served tea and coffee in there, I would never come out. lol. My SIL, Pia worked there part time when my bro, Michael was alive just to have a bit of income. Loved visiting her at work.

HAPPY...woman, I hope they can get you some kind of treatment or something lined out for your foot. Bless your heart in all you do volunteering for places that don't really appreciate how hard you work and in the pain that you are. Hugs my friend, and healing hugs at that. Yes the boys were with their dad for part of the day on Saturday for a birthday party for one of his nephews that Samantha also used to babysit. It was nice. They were extra good over the weekend. You know how things are going along good, no mind issues, happy? That is how it has been for about two weeks. Dumb me, I keep waiting on the other shoe to fall. I LOVE salads also, that shouldn't be a problem at the commune for all of us to come up with different ideas. YUMMY.

***********

Last evening was quite nice also. Sam took the boys to cub scouts. Royce really is not a scout but he gets to go and participate in all the activities. He thinks he is a scout. lol. They were gone about 2 hours. C and I had a nice dinner of left over spaghetti and meatballs. Great conversation and binged watched our last episode of Stranger Things 2. Now just waiting for them to make season 3. Rumor is it may be 2019 before they come out with a new season. Bah. We are running out of things to binge watch or catch up on. Finished up Longmier. That is complete, they are making no more seasons of that. Boo. Anyone have any suggestions? We only have DirecTV and Netflix.

Today is my SILs birthday, Cindy. I am running over their house after work, before she leaves for card club for a short visit. She LOVES Disney as does my weird brother, her hubster, Eddie. Soooooooo I got her a Christmas Disney sweat shirt, and pretty bracelet and something else that I cannot remember cause I wrapped them over a month ago. lol. She and my bro, both have this cough chest cold thing like I do. We are convinced someone passed it to us at Thanksgiving as we all came down with it at the same time. haha. Doesn't help that I am a huge hugger person, no surprise there huh? I wash my hands a thousand times a day, I don't get it.

Two other gals from AA and I have started texting each other, DAILY, 3 things we are grateful for. Sometimes I have to think about it, depending on my mood. It can be huge things or as simple are my warm gloves when I pumped gas this morning. It does help a bit to do this. Kind of gets me out of myself and see how blessed I am.

Bout it ladies, leaving for Cs doc appt at 10:45. I am going cause this is his medication appt and I want to know what it is about. Men never catch all there is at these things. Better to have 4 ears than 2.

Make it a great day all. Hugs

Good morning ladies,

We have to go to a Christmas party tonight - neither DH or I want to go but we are giving my friend a ride. She is older and lost her partner last year and is at the point where many of friends and family are passing. She is a lovely woman and would enjoy getting out so she's the reason we are mostly going. I decided I am skipping the white elephant gift exchange - I also wind up with the junkiest of gifts. DH has a doctor's appointment this morning, I am going with him and then he is taking me to the grocery store to pick up the fixings for the appetizer I am making to bring there (another reason I don't want to go). Just totally NOT in the Christmas mood this year.

I decided to try a subscription to Hello Fresh - at least for the next 3 weeks. That's one of those places that sends the fresh food to you along with cooking instructions. I will try 3 weeks of 4 meals and see how that goes. The box came yesterday. You get to select your choices from about 8 offerings - several I would have eaten but they came with side dishes like mushroom risotto that DH won't eat so a couple of them I skipped. They also have vegetarian options. The 4 I got for this week were: Balsamic Steak with green beans and sweet potatoes (I will sub regular potatoes for DH), Chicken Breast with dill sauce, green beans and potatoes, Mediterranean Chicken with couscous and Moo Shu Pork tacos. DH picked the dill chicken last night. Here's my review. Good stuff - everything is there that you need in small packets - fresh dill, chicken, powdered seasoning, fresh vegetables. Some people are complaining that there is too much wasteful packaging but that's how that goes - to me no more packaging than if you got sauce packets at the fast food places. Everything in the menu is fresh other than powdered seasoning packets. The menus are simple in nature - just fresh food. I wasn't sure if there would be enough food - the portion control was another interesting point to me - but there was plenty of food for 2 meals. There's a protein, a starch and a vegetable. Some might find the cost pricy - it's about $10 per serving so $20 a meal for both of us BUT when I go to the grocery store unless I send DH in I always ALWAYS walk out with more than I went in for. So $70 for 4 meals (I had a coupon to start with) was actually cheaper than groceries for us, especially since I pick up stuff I THINK I will use and it goes to the garbage bin a week later. I had exactly what I needed for dinner in the way of ingredients, no waste and we ate it all. DH said it was tasty and that he'd eat it again. It is also simple enough such that he can do the meal cooking on days when I am working late so that's good too. You can skip a week if there's nothing that interests you and you can select your meals for several weeks going forward so there's so leverage. Would I continue this forever? Probably not. But it is a nice alternative - I don't mind cooking but some times I just can't think of what to make. The food was very fresh - the mushrooms, dill, parsley, potatoes - all were in excellent fresh condition - just like I would buy if I was at the store myself. And that's my review.

Annie - I do love the idea of the gratitude thing - it really does change your mindset. Keep it up! Thanks for the good words on the foot - I am hoping they will fix it, not holding my breath about it. Cherish you parts as long as they are working is all I can say I have no recommendations on TV shows unfortunately - mostly I watch cooking stuff. I took a subscription to Hulu to watch the Handmaid's Tale and never made the time to watch it. Good luck at C's appointment today. He is lucky you are watching over him. My sister does the same for Momma.

Laura - that is a GORGEOUS orchid plant. How great that it landed at your house. I hope you can keep it alive and well. Shad has said in the past that they are pretty easy to take care of once you understand the basics. Smart of you to clean off the sidewalk before it froze and got all yucky.

Ceejay - sounds like life makes plans for you and fills your day. Glad you found a hairdresser that you like.

Shad - argh - should have known the travel expenses would jump up terribly once the good travelling season started. That's the same for renting places up here - can be 3 times the price in the summer. We will work something out. I love your pink orchid in the white bath - looks lovely. Nice of you to pass along your plant knowledge to us. With the tingling in your hands - can you be putting pressure on your arm by leaning on things or is this all related to the after effects of chemo?

Hi Susie - getting ready for your time off which means working 4 times as hard now

I have to get cleaned up and ready to go out now or I will miss my ride with DH and can't let that happen.

Later chicks.

Afternoon all. It’s my Friday! Now that the important meeting this morning is all done, I’m excited for the day to be over. Except that the holiday party is tonight, so it’ll be a long day. I was more excited about the party before they emailed us saying wearing jeans would be frowned upon (their words). So now, in addition to being dressed uncomfortably, I’m also not thrilled to have to board a bus (a school bus to boot) that goes from downtown all the way south to this museum. It’s only 8-9 miles away, but in rush hour traffic and possibly snow, who knows how long it’ll take. And then take the bus back to the office and then get myself to the train station. And then the trains only run hourly starting at 6:30. Right now I’m tempted to get to the party, check out the exhibits, and head home right away, but I’ll try to force myself to stay and enjoy myself for a bit since I’m taking tomorrow off work.

Shad – Thanks so much for the information and advice about the orchid. You can tell I didn’t examine the plants very closely to not notice that the big dark leaves belong to the orchid. Duh. Everything was originally in one big pot, but I noticed that the orchids look like they're sunk separately into small plastic cups. So I imagine there are 3 separate orchids in there. I may end up separating this arrangement and planting some stuff separately. Maybe one will go in the bathroom – yours looks very nice in there. We don’t have much bright light at this time of year…hopefully artificial light will be enough. I believe the moss was a thick layer on top and a very lightweight soil on the bottom. Bf has drilled the hole in the pot, so probably more questions to come once I pot it. And I’m starting to think the pot might not be big enough…

Ceejay – Nice you found a stylist you like. That certainly helps!

Annie – The AA luncheon sounded nice. == I’ve deleted some messages from my 3fc mailbox, so I’m okay now. == You remembered right - Mom doesn’t cook much, but she does eat at home. Frozen entrees and frozen eggrolls, etc. Oatmeal every day for brekky. She does make a soup consisting of low sodium v-8 for the broth, plus noodles, mixed veggies, and bits of Morningstar veggie burger patties. She doesn’t need all that food, it’s just a hoarder tendency. I believe she also thinks she’s doing my sister and me a favor by not having to shop more frequently. Once a week is not bad at all IMO, but she definitely has more than one week’s food in the house now!! == LOL that R. goes to scouts too – he’s like a scout intern, haha. == I hope you don’t catch what your SIL & brother have! == Good to text the gratitudes. I try to keep what I call a “structured journal” and one of the things I write is what I’m grateful for. And yes, sometimes it’s the little things – warm clothing, etc.

Happy – I hope you enjoy your Christmas party tonight. I think we’ll both enjoy our respective parties more than we think we will, even if we’re not exactly in the mood for it. == The Hello Fresh meals you chose sound tasty. They are a bit pricey, but did you say it was enough for 2 meals – is that one meal for each of you, or two for each of you? I assume you’ll still go to the market for other items – snacks and breakfast and lunch foods? In which case you still might be buying more than you intend…I hope this works for you, but it’s probably fun to at least try it.

Susie – Hope your week isn’t too crazy. == Saw your fb posts about getting the ornaments on your tree. I’ve also collected ornaments from my travels, though I totally forgot to pick up any when we were on our cruise & in Key West back in Apr/May. I do enjoy the walk down memory lane when we’re trimming the tree.
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Nothing much to report. Last night when I was trying on clothes to decide what to wear to the party tonight, I was so unhappy. Everything is tight, uncomfortable and unflattering. Of course much of it is old and somewhat dated now and even if it fit me properly I would have been unsatisfied with what I had available to wear. But the excess weight just makes it worse. I must lose it!

Okay, gonna get this posted before more distractions and interruptions come along. Have a good rest of the day everyone.