Rie - Welcome home! Great job on the tournament results! City Chicken isn't chicken. It is anything but...can be made with beef, veal or pork. I made some pork and some veal. Meat is cut in chunks as for stew, rolled in flour, dipped in egg wash then in bread crumbs. Refrigerated for 1/2 hr or more to make the breading stick. Threaded onto skewers about 5" long. Heat oil in the frying pan, brown well, turning to brown all sides. Drain off excess oil and add 1/4 cup water. Put a lid on the pan and let simmer. Recipe said 1/2 hour, but I did 1 hour, adding a little water if needed. The meat steams and gets tender. You can either eat it off the stick or pull it off onto your plate. I love it.

Donna, I can understand your not liking that someone who didn't work would get 1/2 the SS amount that the spouse makes. I worked full time for 47 years. Since DH took an early retirement, my SS check is actually a little bigger than his. A friend got upset that I got a whole check and she only gets 1/2 of her husbands amount, but she was a stay at home Mom and did alterations under the table from her home. I think you should be below a certain financial level to be able to collect SS, but if rich people, such as polititions have worked under SS and earned the credits, they are entitled to collect. Most government jobs do not pay into SS and therefore cannot collect.

I don't like the fingerpad thing on the laptop either. We bought a little mouse for ours but DH never has it hooked up so when I use the laptop I use the fingerpad. I never used it enough to get used to it.

Rosie - Glad you enjoyed your gs graduation. Sometime to be proud of!

Bobbi - Have you started collecting your social security yet or are you just getting DH's. I don't know if you are old enough to start collecting. DH has a Teamster's pension and it is set up so I will get 1/2 of that if he passes first. I get a smaller pension from a previous employer and I set it up without survivor benefits because it would have been cut by too much. He keeps rubbing it in that he doesn't get any of my pension if I pass. Too bad! LOL He gets my whole IRA if I pass, and he doesn't have an IRA to leave to me!

It is not normal for my wounds not to be healed. Normally, the incision should have been healed in a month. Even with the seromas that developed, they should be healed by now. But since I am diabetic it effects wound healing. Diet and exercise effect it also. They say I should be eating protein at every meal. I usually have protein, but not always. I'm only exercising sporatically. My nurse consulted with a wound specialist and she recommended a gel to put in each wound daily, and also a different packing that is antimicrobial. They seem to have put me back on the right path. My 2 holes are in the part of my incision between my waist and my pubic area, where my belly pooch is.

Gayle - Thank you for posting the info about the City Chicken. I wasn't aware that it was unhead of in other parts of the country. My mother never made it, but my MIL did. I found a recipe and started making it for my family. We here in Pittsburgh are a mish-mash of a lot of ethnic groups and eat a lot of foods that are not found in other parts of the country. The old people cook the foods from their nationality and pass the recipes down to their families. There are recipes that my MIL and Mother made that are gone because no one ever learned how to make them. It's kinda like the southern food that is unheard of up north. I would really like to have a lot of that southern cooking available to me, even though I know it is fattening. But then DH wouldn't eat it.

I am till learning my new computer...one minute I love it and the next I'm about ready to take it back! Usually I love Chrome but today I'm having trouble with it, so I'm now using IE. It's not perfect either but so far better. I will download FoxFire later on so I'll have my usual choices. Love options! I think it's mostly the touch screen that messing me up . Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't. I suppose it will get easier, I hope. Found out I have 90 days to return the computer if I decide I don't like it. That's a good thing about Costco.

I'm feeling better this morning. Dh is picking up my antibiotic but I'm taking the OTC stuff and it is helping. Last night I woke up at 3 am with terrible pain in and around my eyes esp my right. This is dry eye pain, and I get it alot but not usually that bad. Got up and put ointment in them. Still hurting so used drops too. Finally got back to sleep but kinda always aware of the pain so didn't sleep well. I need to be more consistent with the lubricating drops during the day...when my eyes are not hurting I tend to forget them and then have a bad episode eventually.

I got a small win today...a totebag. That's two small wins this month. Not doing so well these days but I'm also not entering so much. That's the way it goes.

Slmn1 - My mom used to fix something like your City Chicken using beef only she didn't put it on skewers. Just cut into largish chunks. I loved it.

Marie - No my computer only has Win 7. I figure touch is probably the future so I might as well learn how to do it. I just have trouble with control sometimes plus the touch desktop moves a little sluggishly but I was doing better at that last night.

Andi - Oh I see you're talking about when the spouse hasn't worked. Yes I understand that. But for people like me who draws her own ss check, what happens if my dh dies before me? Do I get both checks or a choice between 1/2 his or mine. I think now mine might be larger if I get only 1/2 of his.

Hi to everyone I missed Have a good day GGs!

ETA: Just a tip for when you get a new computer. If you have everything backed up it's a lot easier to restore. I use Mozy and it automatically backs up my files. The first time I did this I had a hard time with the restoring but this time it was much easier.

Hi -

Got some bad news yesterday evening. DH has prostate cancer. We will meet with the doctor tomorrow to discuss it. Never met with a doctor on a Saturday before. I know prostate cancer is very treatable. My dad had it almost 20 years ago and he is 85 now. But DH had Mantle Cell Lymphoma(MCL) in 2004. He has outlived the 3 year life expectancy but statistically is likely to need treatment again, probably an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. I want to be sure that whatever treatment he gets now will not conflict with that. He just finished 4 ablations for Barrett's esophagus high grade dysplasia this year. He has been through a lot. Because of the rarity of MCL we went to a special cancer center in Texas for all of his treatment. They did a great job, but all that travel adds to the exhaustion - for both of us. We just weren't ready for one more thing. I had a hard cry yesterday before I had to go to bridge. I couldn't find a sub at such short notice. I consoled myself with 2 giant Twix bars before bed....Today, I've only had a protein drink. I need to go to the store to buy my psyllium husk caps but am tired and have a headache. But I guess I just have to make myself go. Please send hugs.

Hi everyone. it was sunny early this am but has clouded over. my dd sil and afriend of theirs came to help my dh do some yard work and such. they cut up a dead fall tree and moved lawn benches and planters for me. im thankful for the help. the city chicken you all are talking about i have had as akid in minnesota. we called it mock chicken legs,not sure what the meat was but it was ground and shaped like a chicken leg and a wooden stick stuck in it and then breaded. my mom pan fried them,they must have been good as we had them often.slmn1, after my back surg my wound opened up and it took at least 7 months to heal,i also got mersa becuz of it. it was packed and had a wound vac on it. the hole was big enuff that my dh could put his fist in it. i was diabetic too,and they where always encouraging me to eat protein and brought me protein shakes. it took along time to heal. all thats left is bad memories and an awful ugly scar. hopefully yours will heal soon too. try the protein shakes they helped me.maryea sry you didnt get agood rest hope tonites better.marie enjoy the solar eclipse awsome you get to see it. Bobbie are you planting your garden as big as last year? my dd brought the new janet evonovich movie over to watch "one for the Money" with kathern heigel. it wasnt bad, i enjoyed it better than i thought i would, but thought it wasnt as great as i had hoped it would be. i loved her books. hope your weekends fun rosey ps im so sry deelee (((hugs)) we must have been posting at the same time. thats awful news .

Howdy all....Spent the afternoon with Doc Martin and found out that season 5 is not released until 6/5 Then read about "Behaving Badly" and that lead me to"William and Mary".....which means if I get all of them I will be locked in my room all summer. Thanks Donna! LOL

Rosie...It was wonderful to read you are walking with a cane. You have come so far.....good job mate(Brit influence)

Donna...We need a spy/cam on the Cat. Maybe not might be too racy. Hey we've tried soap chips, human hair(from barbers) mothballs and even used tampex and Nothing keeps the deer away. The state of NJ built 10' fences around DH's grandfathers orchards...we called them the deer pens. Have 60 deer every night eating fruit.

Mary...Neat on tote. UTI drink drink drink water until your eyeballs float and that takes care of 2 problems at once....TADA!

Marie...Glad to hear the DF came thru sugery okay....phew!

Rie...Hindsight or hindplay never works. Neither do iffins.

Carol Sue...We always cooked venision like your city chicken recipe.

Karen...That is the sweetest puppy. Happy Traveling!

Bobbi...You should know as soon as you say something out loud ...Bam...it get slammed. Can't do without a well pump.

Gayle...That is one thing I sure don't miss! Inspectors must go to evil school.

Freda...Working instead of gathering bum splinters this weekend. My fanny wore a hole in the bench watching my kids.

DeeLee... Had LOL about eye rolling. My DD was complaining this am about company and I said how come she was living my life. Could hear her eyes rolling over the phone.

Zoe....How is retirement?

Isabella....You have now fixed a picture in my mind of you as "The Church Lady". Always ready witha pot of soup and warm hug.

I tried hoped I didn't miss anyone....know I am sending hugs to you all.

Just a footnote....really wanna get William and Mary. He is an undertaker and she's a midwife that meet thru a dating service....British humor again.
and black enough to grab me. k3

ps DeeLee and Rosie you both snuck in on me....hmmm...Deelee I put you DH in my prayers. k3

Karen3, you're going to get a British accent watching all that British comedy. Doc Martin is one of my favourite shows.

I'm dead tired today and didn't even get on my bike. I was trying to tidy up the house some and do a little cooking and baking before the kids get here tomorrow. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do but it will suffice what is done. My DGS was sick so that's why they didn't come tonight. It was just a bug that had him throwing up for a day but he's on the mend and was able to eat some today. I imagine he'll be tearing about by tomorrow. We were going to have a big family dinner tomorrow but will do that on Sunday as there is no hurry as it's a long weekend here in Canada.

Anyway, I'm going to crawl in bed soon so take care and have a nice weekend.

Dee, I just posted this long post after working on it most of the day. So sorry about your dh. I will send love and hopeful thoughts.

Isabella, hope dgs is feeling better. Rest well and take care. You have had a hard week.

Good evening GG’s,

One more ½ day, then a day off. Worked just ½ day today ~ my coworker needed help. We each worked ½ a day Friday and Saturday. It was cool to get out at 2pm ~ ran some errands.

Got something to make something for Sara to try to cheer her up a little after her disappointing mother’s day. I think she did say that her husband said that stupid thing to her that she wasn’t his mom. I think she had a few choice words for him. I still felt bad that she felt bad, so trying to make a little thing to cheer her up.

The state people are gone ~ we passed our inspection with just one little thing they didn’t like. Funny ~ it is the same ladies who were there last year and shredded us. Anyway, glad it is over.

Frustrated ~ I make adjustments to my work station and relieve pain in one area, only to get pain in another area. The sciatic pain is better at times, but then I started having pain in my neck, which ended up in a headache. I think it was because I was looking up at things above my head, or reaching things while seated in my chair ~ causing strain on the muscles in my neck. So, I thought I would try standing up instead of looking up or reaching from my chair and see if that would help. I had two days then of less neck pain and no headache, but now today, my knees are killing me ~ I guess from popping up and down. Darn ~ back to the drawing board ~ gotta come up with a new strategy.

I am gonna try something different for my exercise. I am kind of excited about it. Don’t laugh ~ chair dancing. Last weekend at work, it was kind of quiet and I was looking online at exercises that can be done at your desk. I came across this web site for chair dancing. It looked fun. Is for elderly people or people way out of shape (that’s me). I’ve gotta do something/start somewhere, so thought I would try this. DH helped me order ~ it is a 3 DVD set, one of the chair dancing, one of stretching, and one for toning. I won’t be doing that at my desk ~ LOL, but at home. I am excited for it to get here.

Isabella ~ sorry you are feeling so tired today. Enjoy the weekend with your family.

K3 ~ glad you are feeling better and glad you are enjoying those shows.

Rosey ~ glad you family was able to help you guys with the yard work. Glad you enjoyed the movie.

Deelee ~ sorry about the news of your husband ~ good thoughts and prayers for you both.

Mary ~ sorry you are having a UTI again. Hope you feel better soon. And hope the new med helps your husband feel better too. Sounds like your new computer is a challenge.

Donna ~ enjoy your weekend. Glad Sabrino reappeared. I will have to tell my sister about the soap chips thing ~ she planted some of her favorite flowers, and then some rabbits got them

Carol Sue ~ hope the changes they have made to your wound care help it to finally get all healed up.

Marie ~ enjoy the solar eclipse and your weekend. Do you have any projects in the works?

Freda ~ hope it is good weekend for you at work.

Andi ~ glad you had a good vacation ~ sounded like a nice relaxing time

Bobbi ~ did you get the rest of your plants planted? Sorry for the unexpected glitch for your budget.

CK ~ have a good trip ~ exciting to try our your new camper.

Rie ~ glad you are back home and that you enjoyed your time and getting to play pool. Like your signature ~ you are one cool grandma.

Lynn ~ did you enjoy your museum visits? Your chopped adventure sounded like a lot of fun.

I’m sorry ~ I know I have probably missed some of you ~ but I have run out of time for tonight.
Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Take care

At my local supermarket, I have seen bags of peeled hard boiled eggs for sale in the cooler next to the eggs. I always wondered who would buy them and why. This week a woman in front of me picked up a bag, looked at the expiration date and put them in her cart. I just can't figure out who can't boil an egg????? LOL I hope I haven't offended anyone who buys these eggs. But how hard is it????? LOL

Besides having a lot of different unusual food items, we here in Pittsburgh have out own way of talking, commonly called Pittsburghese. Yesterday, we went into the supermarket with my grandson and DH said "He has to ride in the buggy." My 3YO grandson said "Pap Pap this isn't a buggy, it's a cart." I really laughed at that! Buggy is a term used around here mostly by the old studda baba's. I try to make myself say "cart" so I don't sound like one!

Another thing he said that was funny. We picked him up from daycare yesterday and I had put cologne on before we left the house. He got into the car and said "I smell something. I think it's Grandma." I was laughing so hard that I was crying. I let him smell my wrist and I said "Is this what you smell?" and he said "Yes." I said "What does it smell like?" and he said "Toothpaste."

Maryea - Now I am more determined to find out what's going on with SS. Here's how I understand it. If your spouse retires and you never worked, or worked part time and didn't earn enough credits, you can collect 1/2 of his amount when you reach retirement age and then get his full amount after he passes away. I used to think that if you did work and have your own SS, you get whatever is larger, his amount or your amount when the spouse passes away. But this woman my BIL talked to said that she gets her own check PLUS 1/2 of his since he passed away. I don't know if my BIL got the story right. I thought maybe she was talking about pensions, not SS. That is how the whole question started. One friend told me her mother had been married 4 times and had buried 3 husbands before marrying her current husband. Supposedly she was collecting a SS check for each husband, that's why she was living so well.

Rosie - Since I have had this problem with my seromas I have talked to or heard about people who have had similar or much worse seroma problems than mine. One woman was like you....her seroma was so big they were just putting in a whole roll of gauze twice a day. I talked to a young woman who had a c-section 3 years ago who developed a seroma and her doctor completely blew her off about it. He didn't get her any wound care. She took care of it herself, and was using maxi-pads as packing because her seroma was so big. Three years later, it still seeps fluid occasionally. This makes me realize how lucky I am to be getting the medical care I'm getting. I just HATE that the nurses are still coming every morning after 6 months, but they tell me that in most cases, insurance turns down requests for home nurse care and the patient has to have the wound care done by family members. I can just see my DH coming upstairs taking a break from lubing the car to put packing in my wounds. LOL

Isabella - Is your long weekend because of Victoria Day? We had a buyer where I worked and his name was John Victoria. He always said he was so great that they had a day to celebrate him! LOL We always wished him a happy Victoria Day.

Donna, or anyone else who might be interested ~ if you google Jodi Stolove and chair dancing you can find the information. It looked like fun and something that would help even if a person is out of shape and having to start with something a little easier. The reviews I read about it were good. There was a video clip that showed the people doing it. Hope this helps.

New to 3 chicks and started a whole foods plan.
Intro on myself: I just hit 50 in december, gained over 100 lbs the last few years after a horse riding accident and just not caring. I also am a nurse, took time off when we moved to a new house and care for an autistic daughter who is 12. I home school her as well. I start a new job on monday much different than my cardio pulmonary critical care nursing in a rehabilitation center as a nurse supervisor. It will be mostly weekend nights so it will work with my schedule with my daughter.
I have 2 horses who are my outlets for releasing stress. One day hope to get back in the saddle. I started a clean eating/south beach program yesterday reccomended by one of the cardiologist I used to work with so hoping for good results. I hope to get to know everyone here.
Deelee- so sorry about your hubby. Hugs to you and I will keep you and your hubby in my prayers. If you ever need to talk just pm me. Be glad to help if i can.