Mary Frightening for DH to have high BP and pain, too. Hope the insurance and medication needs are solved soon.
I'm pleased that you can walk up to 2 miles on a track, still! Wish I could. I'm up to a mile and with cooler weather coming in I'll be trading the gardening for more walking.

Wow! You got to see that special Blue Moon? We have such cloudy skies that there wasn't a sign of it, but Ted saw it while watching a NFL foodball game one TV.

Carol Hope you survived the visit last night, and that you actually received some peace to sleep. Sympathy on the issues with DH wanting to spoil the little ones, and them growing older and accustomed to getting their own way. OUCH. My husband was much the same but I often went to our son's home to babysit while they were young. They lived in the neighborhood then and I could walk home easily. I was strict and followed same ways I did with our kids.

As the kids got older we'd have one at a time and our grand son slept in TV room and so did DH. Don't know what they did, but snack papers filled the garbage cans. Our granddaughter would sleep in sleeping bag in the Master Bed room or the spare bedroom if it was empty and she did fine. DH would take her "shopping" and she loved the long process of opening all the packages from his lavish spending. Of course he was still working then, and so was I.

Wallpaper? Never had it on any walls in any place we lived. Sounds like I was lucky.

New doors with leaver handles are such a blessing. We have those all over our home, thanks to DH exchanging them about 10 or 15 years ago.

This morning I spent 4 hours in garden. Digging up more plants to divide and plant elsewhere. Surprised how terribly hard some areas were to dig because of the lack of rain in past months. Even the bit yesterday did little to soften the soil. Now have lavender blue Geranium (actually 3 because when I dug up the one it fell into 3 parts). It balances the one that blooms continuously on the other side of the burning bush.

Also took beautiful Patriot Hosta that was exposed to too much sun and moved it under the Crab Tree where it brightens the shadows and will thrive. Added 3 more Variegated Liropi to back fence line. Now the spikes of deep lavender are so beautiful among the ferns.

Karrine Good to hear about your enjoyment of your daughter's visit. Laughing is so refreshing. We planned on our youngest daughter being here this weekend, but she ate bad salmon and was very ill.

Peanut butter recall? Any real info? We eat a lot of Peanut Butter so I don't want to get more till I know for sure.

I'm sore, but happy to still be able to do as much as I do in the garden.
Tomorrow I go to the GYN and get Mammogram, glad to get that over with. If it is close to lunch time when we get thru, I'd love to go to our favorite Indian Restaurant in the city that we avoid most of the time.

HI Everyone,

Had a WONDERFUL trip to NYC. Great outside café for lunch. The One-Day-University was GREAT - lecture on the 8 books that changed the world - The Bible, The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, Hamlet, To the Lighthouse, Catch 22, The Invisible Man, and To Kill a Mockingbird - was VERY interesting & well-presented.

After the class, we went to a film festival & voted on 7 short films. Next day, got tickets for an off-Broadway play in Greenwich Village. We had time to kill, so found an independent cinema down in the Village & saw The Prophet (about the FLDS cult & Warren Jeffs) - VERY chilling movie. Had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant near our theater & went to the play - The Flick.

Hotel, restaurants, events, transportation, my travel partner, even the weather were all GREAT!

Only problem was timing for meals. Both nights held off on eating supper too long & ended up eating pizza one night & snacks the 2nd night.

Despite the eating glitches, it was a FANTASTIC weekend.

Lynn

Glad you had a nice NY trip, Lynn. Lots of interesting things to do. Don't worry about food.

Sandy, my grandson's sleep over isn't until Saturday. I am just starting to worry early. It would be so much better if we went and stayed at their house to babysit, because the dog behaves there. But DH wouldn't do that and John likes to come to our house.

Mary, I sure hope DH is OK. When I went to the ER before I had my open-heart surgery my PCP told me I should have taken nitro instead of coming to the ER. I rarely think to take the nitro though I have done it a couple times and so has DH. The directions say to take the nitro and if no relief after 3 pills, then go to the ER. I skip steps 1-3 and go directly to the ER. LOL

Gayle, I was reading up about inflammation because of my psoriasis. I am reading Wheat Belly for the second time and noticing things I didn't notice the first time. He said that wheat raises acidity along with meat, and vegetables add more alkeline, and you need your body to be on the alkeline side to fight inflammation. So you should eat less meat, no wheat and more vegetables. I think that's part of the idea about Eat to Live. I rarely eat fruit, but I was reading about histamine blocking foods and several fruits are mentioned, so maybe I'll start adding them. Now that cooler weather is coming I can get back to making the roasted vegetables that I love. Are you still feeling better with this way of eating? Is Steve? Is he sticking to it, too?

Good morning ladies,

Carol - What breed is your dog? That really is too bad that whenever you have company he is so misbehaved and hard to deal with. Wish you good luck for your GS visit. Let us know how it goes.

Mary - Thank you for keeping all of us up to date on your DH's health. You seem to be coping well with it all. How wonderful that you can walk up to 2 miles on a track. I sure am paying for my past smoking days as my COPD is really quite bad and interferes with everything I do. I can't walk more than 15 min on my treadmill which is almost l mile but holding on to the bars. I have to take so many breaks doing just the simplest tasks around the house.

Sandy - sorry to hear your youngest daughter wasn't able to visit because of possible food poisoning. I haven't heard anything about a Peanut Butter recall.

Lynn - Your NYC trip sounds wonderful and glad you had a good time.

Friends of mine from church have invited me to their place for brunch today so I won't have to make any dinner plans for this evening. Just left overs.
My DD is keeping the "Kitchen Bouquet" that a friend of mine bought for me in the US and gave to my daughter to bring to me. It is for making good gravy and you can't buy it in Canada anymore. She accidentally on purpose forgot to bring it to me when she came to visit last weekend so if I go to her place for Thanksgiving I'll grab it lol. Another funny incident between DD and me. She used it herself when making a roast beef and now wants it LOL.

HAVE A GOOD DAY EVERYONE,
Karrine

I took some med last night to relieve my itchiness and it apparently helped as I slept pretty good and got up later than usual. It's a beautiful sunny day. Dh just left to get gas and pick up some OTC cramp med for me. I'm in one of my cramp cycles although so far haven't had one of the really bad kind. We will be on Halo duty the next two nights so I hope she will be good. Dh hasn't complained of any more pain but I can tell he's a little short of breath.

Karrine - I can walk up to two miles but not on the track because I get too bored on the track. I can walk that far outside where there are interesting things to see and talk about. On the track, dh wears a headphone and listens to music so we can't talk, plus I walk much faster than he so we don't usually walk together anyway. I don't care about listening to music and with no one to talk with I get bored. A few months ago we went to a resort where there was trail not far from the resort and we walked it together. We both really enjoy that type walking however dh did get pretty tired and had to rest frequently towards the end. I think it was at least 2 miles, maybe three. I don't mind stopping briefly because I love being out there with nature. Karrine, on the treadmill (which I haven't used for a long time), I hold onto the bars too. Not because of my breath but because I fell once when I didn't. My balance has never been the best and esp these days I have to be kind of careful. Funny thing...the other night when I was looking for the moon, I was walking around the back yard looking up, lost my balance and was flailing around trying to regain it...I didn't fall but thought I was going to for little bit ....must of looked funny if someone was watching me...they might have thought I was drunk! I know what Kitchen Bouquet is...think I have some around here...it is for making the gravy brown.

Carol Sue - Only recently has dh began to use the nitro now and then...I think he's tried it three times. The first time he didn't tell me just told me later and said it didn't work. At that time we thought he was having heart pain and I told him after ten min if it didn't work he should have tried another. I also told him to let me know that he's taken it. After the second one I might give him a third but I'd take him in or call 911 depending on his condition. He second time he took it, he did tell me, it didn't work but by then I was sure it was his lungs, not his heart. Dh had a friend (a much younger man) who kept taking Nitro and kept working and by the end of the day he was dead. We will never forget that, it was so sad and likely unnecessary if he'd gone to the ER sooner.

Lynn - Glad you had a nice outing in NYC. One day I hope to visit there. Dh and I were talking about that the other day.

Sandy - We missed the red moon because of clouds...by the time we saw it it was white, large and luminous. It was called a super moon too because of the size. My dd and son got to see it when it was red, but I was happy to see it at all. You are amazed by my walking two miles but I am amazed by your gardening four hours! I would not be able to do that. I haven't heard of any PB recall. I too eat a lot of PB...my favorite kind (and only one I buy anymore) is Adams No-Stir Creamy. No sugar and tastes so good to me.

My weight dropped back down today. I think it's mostly sodium that makes me go up and down so much. I'm on two diuretics so you'd think they would take care of it but I still fluctuate a lot.

Bye for now...

Mary Gardening season will soon be over, but walking season lasts far longer. I'm still impressed. However, I agree with you that walking in areas that have interesting surroundings make the walk quite a bit of fun. We have a walking park not far from the Church. Some Wednesdays when I go to 9:00 AM Mass I will go to walk among the trees and beside the lakes. Don't worry about how far, simply enjoy the experience.

What wonderful med did you find to relieve ichiness? I could use some.

Carol DH has been interested in eating more foods for alkaline body instead of acid body. He even puts a 1/8 tea. soda in his ground coffee per pot (for 8 to 10 cups) I've grown accustomed to the taste and drink it black.

Lynn Your NY trip sounds fascinating and I wish I were with you for a good portion of it. Your energy to do it all is amazing!

Karrine "Kitchen Bouquet" is a real meal savor. I"ve never let my family know why my gravy is better than theirs!!! Sorry it isn't available where you live.

Sandy, I just took some Tyl PM. I was told a long time ago by a doctor that Tyl and Asa can relieve itching. Of course, the Benedry in it helped me sleep too. If itching is caused by allergy it could also help with that but mine isn't. Your walk among the trees sounds lovely!

I made this tonight for dinner and we really liked it. I wasn't sure we would.
Feta Spinach Salmon Roast
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c crumbled Feta
2 scallions, thinly sliced including the crisp part of the green (I didn't have so use a few thin slices diced of a yellow onion)
1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped
2 skinless salmon filets of roughly equal size and shape, totally 3/4 pound - I didn't weigh, just used two filets dh had cut. I forgot to cut the skin off the bottom one but did cut it off the top one. They were kinda thick so I cooked them twice the time the recipe states. Since we don't eat a lot it was more than enough for us. I used the rest of ingredients amounts as recipe states.
Olive oil

1. preheat oven 350 degrees
2. combine cream cheese and feta, mashing and stirring with fork til well blended. Add scallion (or onion) and spinach and combine well.
3. Spread the mixture evenly over one salmon filet. The filling will be about 3/4 inch thick. Top with second salmon filet. Brush both sides with olive oil, turning the whole thing over carefully with a spatula. I didn't turn mine...I just brushed the top and all sides and it was just right. Of course the skin on the bottom probably helped.
4. Place the loaf on a shallow baking pan, and bake 20 min (I doubled that since my filets were thick!). Slice carefully with a sharp serrated knife.

Yield: 2 serv each with 5 gms of carb, a trace of fiber and 45 gm protein.

I served with rice and a little extra stir-fried spinach on the side.

Living in chaos while the wallpaper is coming down & the paint is going up. They are doing a GREAT job & clean up every day when they are done, but my condo is not big enough for me to hide while they are working. In my bedroom right now. Dining room table filled with kitchen/dining room/utility room stuff - Spare bedroom filled with bathroom, walls & bedroom stuff.
Yuck!!!!!

Halo would not cooperate last night....she whined, whimpered and barked most of the night. Nothing worked, dh finally put her out about three, and an hour later she was barking again, so he just let her have free run of the house and she finally let us sleep but I don't like that. I have no idea where she slept. We slept in very late and at 10 she was outside our door whimpering to go outside.

Lynn - It is a terrible feeling when you are living in chaos. We badly need to remodel our main bathroom and kitchen but I dread the chaos and mess of it. Our old house is falling apart and we do only small steps here and there to correct it. Dh is wanting the man to call and set an appt to come and make the final measurements for our entry door and all that entails. He wants it done before the rain starts and it is colder and is thinking about the loss of heat through the opening while they work.

Lots to do today so need to get started.

Mary, I was going to have them do the closets, but I decided it would be the straw that breaks.....

I decided that after I get everything back in order, I will get the closets done (one-at-a-time) to minimize the chaos.

Next step after the painting, is to get new drapes in all rooms. Mine are torn up from when my kitties were babies & they are discolored. Just have to figure out what type will be cat-proof.

Lynn

Funny, but I had no interest in seeing the eclipse, but DH made me go out and look anyway. The only thing I saw was when there was the eclipse and you could only see a small slice of the moon. I don't know if DH saw the super moon but he didn't see the blood moon. I don't usually care about such things, but one night this summer there was supposed to be a wonderful meteor shower. We stayed up half the night watching for it. DH saw 4 and I saw 3 in a couple hours. Not worth it!!

Mary and Lynn, we don't plan on doing any more remodeling. Whoever gets this house after we are gone with be getting a fixer-upper. Actually, we put in new kitchen cabinets about 15 years ago. We put in a new bathroom sink, cabinet, mirror and lights in the past several years but I love my cast iron tub and won't replace that as long as it looks OK. So far so good. The wall tile around the tub could stand to be replaced, but we won't do that. We put a new garage door on in May. It was an absolute must. The wooden door was falling apart, and wasn't closing properly. Our roof was replaced about 5 years ago, covered by insurance due to a hailstorm. We are only replacing things that absolutely need it now. I would like to get a more modern entry door, but our door is solid wood in good condition, just old fashioned. So it stays.

Mary, sometimes I take Tylenol to relieve my itching, and sometimes it stifles my chronic cough a bit. I'm not sure if my itching is due to my psoriasis or because of my diabetes. It seems that years back my psoriasis wasn't itchy. Why do we get this itchiness? Sandy too!

I love salmon, and I don't usually remove the skin before cooking. Maybe it would be more important since you were stacking it. Sounds good. My salmon doesn't taste as good as when I order it out.

Gayle, I have been reading about alkeline foods off and on. I don't follow it exactly. Does the soda change the taste of the coffee? I wonder if DH would know if I put some in.

Karrine, we got our dog from the Humane Society and they told us he was a Terrier Mix, but I think he is more of a Terror than a Terrier. LOL Today we took him to the groomer for his first haircut since we got him. She called us 5 min after we left telling us to come back and get him. He was carrying on so bad and she couldn't handle him. She recommended another groomer who seems to have a knack with hard-to-handle dogs. We went to the shop to talk to her, only to be told that she was going to be off for a week or two because she got bit by a dog! So much for having the knack! After talking to the shop owner, they are going to try to groom him tomorrow afternoon. I will let them try. They seem to feel that they can do it. They might have more luck because there is more than one of them there and the woman we went to this morning was by herself. She said when she tried to put a muzzle on him all heck broke loose! Poor Rusty. I know he's scared and doesn't know what's going on. He is a sweetie at home, and I don't think he wants to hurt anyone.

As far as him barking and growling at our company, when we go to my step-sons house he behaves so well. When my step-son comes to our house he goes berzerk. I don't understand. They are the same people. He is the same way with my step-daughter. Behaves at her house, and barks when she comes here. He doesn't bark as ferociously at her as he does my step-son, and when my daughter-in-law was here he laid down and went to sleep. I don't understand at all. I know he likes women better than men.

Good morning ladies,

Mary, Lynn and Carol - I am like you now in that I'm not putting any more capital into my house unless essential. I have lived here for 30 years and have put in about $60,000 in upgrades including expanding my driveway to a new double driveway; roof; all new windows; furnace; interior remodelling and it goes on and on. No more though...just maintenance of what is already here.

Carol - LOL on Terror than Terrier. I wonder if they have doggie mild sedatives for when grooming hard to handle dogs or when you have company? If so, I bet that would help.

I have a doctor appointment today (just routine) and hope to go get a few groceries at a new store I've never been to as they have AAA roast beef on sale and to a country market to get fresh picked corn on the cob.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Karrine, years ago we had some sedatives for a dog who did not ride well in the car. He still got upset about being in the car, but he was falling all over the place. I think if this grooming doesn't work out our next step will be to go to the vet and see what they suggest. It was over 30 years ago that we had those pills for the other dog and they might have improved since then. Doggy Xanax. LOL I also need to find out why he keeps biting his butt and tail. We can't see any fleas. I thought maybe getting his hair cut short would help with that but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen.

You are ahead of us with new windows and new furnace. Our furnace and windows are original, about 44 years old. DH replaced the motor in the furnace several years ago, but I don't think he's going to replace it as long as we aren't having any trouble with it. The windows seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the cold out, so far.

Good afternoon GG's,

It is a nice sunny day here today. I haven't been outside, so don't know if it is humid or nice. But, I'll take that sunshine anyday.

It is nice to have a stay at home day. No appointments, no errands. I like being at home and doing stuff here. Working on dishes, laundry. Straightened up an area that had gotten messed up. Been doing puttery stuff. I made my October calendar. I used to enjoy picking out a calendar every year, but when we started to live frugally, I started making my own. There is a web site where I can print the calendar, then I have saved all kinds of images/pictures and I print one of those that is themed for what ever month and glue it to the calendar (it has a space left at the top to accommodate pictures). I love playing (arts and crafts) LOL.

I also fixed up my grocery/shopping list so it is in a more managable form. I love having an idea and figuring out how to make something that will work for my purposes.

Carol ~ Hope the sleep over of your grandson this weekend goes well and that things with Rusty work out ok ~ his behaving around your grandson, being able to get him groomed. I went out for one of those super moons one time ~ they look so awesome and huge in the pictures you see of them ~ I could see the moon, but it didn't look any different to me than any other regular full moon, so I don't bother to stay up or get up in the middle of the night anymore to see them.

Karrine ~ hope your doctor's appointment goes well. Did you have fun at the brunch the other day with your friends? That corn on the cob sounds yummy. Glad you had a nice visit with your daughter.

Lynn ~ how much longer before they are done working on your condo? That would be an uncomfortable feeling having people in there with you and the feeling of no privacy. I bet it will be beautiful when it is done though. Your trip to NYC sounded like so much fun.

Sandy ~ the amount of time you spend in your gardens is as impressive as the length of Mary's walks. When I walk, I have to break it up into little chunks. I can ride my bike (a three wheeled adult trike) for a proper amount of time. I haven't done that for a while, but now that the weather is starting to be a little cooler, I am hoping to get back to some bike rides. I have done some walking ~ sight seeing on our travels, so I guess that counts for something.

Mary ~ Sorry you had a rugged night with Halo the other night. The salmon recipe you shared sounds delicious. Hope Joe is feeling better.

Almost time for Maddie to get home from school ~ so I'd better quit playing around and be ready

Hope you all have had/are having a nice day.