Good morning to you all! I had to have Jack turn on the furnace this morning. It was quite chilly in the house this morning.

I have started getting Jackson's Christmas stuff so will have to face wrapping presents soon. One of these days I am going to have everything shipped to Jean and she can wrap them all nice and pretty and ship them to me so I don't have to do it! I am trying to get Thomas to send me his Christmas list but when I asked him about it he told me he wants Itune cards for his Itouch to buy aps for it. I would like to get him some other stuff besides Itune cards! lol

Jean: Eating out unless you are very informed and such can be a real diet deal breaker. I always have the best intentions and sit down and open the menu and then order something way outside points and such. You can buy some very very expensive yarns if you want to. I just got tickled because this was sock yarn and it would take $70 to make a pair of socks. Unlike a sweater or hat or something, walking on socks you will wear them out and put holes in them a lot more quickly so that makes them even more expensive. I guess though that being cashmere yarn they are truly very very soft socks and get softer after each washing. I still can't see it unless it is a very special present. I saw they used this yarn to make a baby afghan and it cost nearly $200! Now that would be something you would have to demand they never give away! I know the stuff I bought for my nieces little boys blanket cost me about $75 to make the blanket. It was fuzzy and really really soft and he still sleeps with it I guess.

I think we are going to have a couple steaks and hash browns and yeast rolls for dinner tonight. Jack wants to get his hair cut tomorrow and I want to take the comforter, shams and bedskirt to the laundromat and wash them. It is cheaper then taking them to the dry cleaners. They want $40 for just the comforter. I can do all of them for $5.50 wash and about $2.00 drying. I usually take them about 4 times a year. We also need to shampoo the upstairs carpets and Sunday we will "winter" clean the deck, put away the bbq, get the leaves all out for the landscapers to eventually pick up and trim the bushes. Busy weekend.

I did get a honeyed ham ordered for Thanksgiving, but have to discuss the turkey and such with Kelly. I am more than willing to cook it here, debone it and put it in pans and take it to her house like we did last year. It's a lot better than having the mess at her house trying to debone it and such. We always do a buffet line type thing and not all the dishes on the table so it makes more sense. Should be a good time this year. I am not a beer drinker but Jay micro brewed his own beer this year and I guess he is bringing stuff with him. I promised to taste it to be nice, but truly I hate beer and though I like the foofoo drinks, would rather just have them without the alcohol. I just don't like the taste.

I just can't believe we are roaring to holiday time again. Seems like we just did it. I am deciding about putting up decor this year or not. We cannot get a tree into the house with the big screen tv this year. There just is no place to put the darn thing now. We won't be doing Christmas at our house nor Thanksgiving either more than likely since Kelly's house is so much bigger and she has a huge dining table. It will be up to her though.

Well I should go. Everyone have a nice weekend. Don't forget to turn your clocks back on Saturday night! Faye

Afternoon gals! We were out really early this morning because I took my kingsized comforter, pillow shams and bedskirt to the laudromat and wanted to get there before it got busy. We got there before it was too bad, but it was getting nuts by the time we left.

Jack then had to get a haircut, I had to go and get another steam mop because mine died and get a few more things at Target then we got some lunch at Jason's Deli, Jack got a sandwich and I got their great salad bar. We headed back home and lugged everything in, Jack took the bed stuff upstairs and I balanced my checkbook, put in my credit card purchases and put stuff away.

While I was waiting for the comforter my phone rang and it was my best friend calling. I haven't talked to her in quite a long time and now that we have changed phones I can blab at her as long as I want without huge charges. She is the sweetest and best gal in the world and for the last several years seems to have had nothing but trouble. She has her 94 year old mother and her husband's sister living with her. Her mother has dementia/alzheimer's and needs a lot of care. She got laid off from her job in August and I never knew. Her husband doesn't have a job (frankly this is her 3rd husband and he seems a bit on the lazy side) and she has been the breadwinner. She has schooling for medical coding, but jobs up there are pretty scarce right now and she is 56.

I am back to having female trouble again so I imagine it will be back to the doctor for another round of tests just to make sure it isn't something serious. It is such a bother! lol

Maggie: You vest reminds me of an old kids show I used to watch on one of the Chicago stations. The host wore these zip up coveralls and to remember everything he had to do, he put notes all over himself. Instead, you have a vest where you can stash everything you need to remember.

Well gals, I need to go. I think Jack is going to watch the Boise State game in about half an hour or so and I am going to knit. I am still a bit dopey from a muscle relaxer I took last night for back pain, but now I am wondering if it might be the female thing instead. {{{It is always something}}}

Last but not least, I had a high school friend who posted this on facebook. I thought it would give you all a giggle. I sure feel like this sometimes! Faye

Good morning to you all! Hope everyone set their clocks back. Wonder if Susan remembered before she left for her retreat?

We are doing rugs today. Good thing too. Fortune ate too fast and just urped it up in the living room. {{{SIGH}}} I have laundry to haul upstairs and put away and I have to put the bedding back together from taking it to the laundromat. It will be nice to have nice fresh comforter and such again. It is kind of a hassle, but a whole lot cheaper than sending to the dry cleaner that's for sure.

Jack sat around and watched football until about 7 so I didn't get to watch much tv yesterday. I did get some done on the sock though. I think I have figured out what I did to my rib area on my back. It has been really sore like I pulled it for several days and I have put heat on it, took one of Jack's Flexeril's the other day, which knocked me out at 5 O'clock on Thursday night, but it is still sore. The only thing I can think of is that it rained all day on Monday and I went to do some errands in the afternoon after Jack got home and slipped getting into the suv. Has to be it. It is still a little sore but much better than it was a few days ago.

Jean: Hope your bedroom windows are sparkling. I hate the windows here, the whole back side is impossible to wash because of how they were put in. I usually take a hose to the outside or use window cleaner on the them, but we don't take the outside out because they are nearly impossible to get back in. It is one huge window and weighs about 100 lbs. I think the hospital needs to seriously consider the shop there and maybe what to do to generate business a little bit. Kelly called me and we discussed Thanksgiving and who cooks what. Since I have the ham on order I am getting a smoked turkey from across the street and I usually debone it into two pans light and dark meat, put chicken broth over both pans so they stay moist then reheat them before dinner. It works great. I think since the ham is a spiral sliced precooked job with that nice honey glaze I will put it into a crockpot with a mix of pineapple juice, brown sugar, and ground clove and just warm it up so it doesn't dry out. I also have stuffing because Kelly doesn't know how to cook stuffing. She said if she did it we would have Stove Top! lol I make homemade cornbread dressing. I also have the olives and stuff for appetizers, and the yeast rolls. Kelly gets veggies and desserts. Jay can just contribute monetarily or take us all out one night! lol Jack is taking Wednesday off and he can help and we were going to try and go to the Harry Potter movie that day since people will be at work and I thought the kids would be in school, but looks like they have Wednesday off. I swear I don't think the kids ever go to school here. Jay and Alicia won't be here until lunch time on Thanksgiving so we will have our meal late I imagine. We are also going to do Christmas stuff for Jackson at that time except for Thomas, which we will do on Christmas Eve. I will just bring a couple gifts for him to open. I just remembered I have to ask Kelly if we are going to do the kids gag thing for the adults to give to charity. I will have to do that when I finish here.

Susan: Hope you are having a good time with your friends.

Maggie: My dad always like fried green tomatoes. I don't care for them and Jack wouldn't even try them. I am not much for eggplant either which sort of reminds me of it.

I guess I should go gals. Jack will be up in a few since he went to bed at 8 last night saying he was really tired. Have a wonderful Sunday. Faye

Good morning everybody. Fortune wanted out and since something happened yesterday we are taking him out and standing with him for the time being. Since I stood out there in my gown and sweater, I am wide awake now! Anyway, yesterday I let him out and was sitting here at the computer waiting for him. He barked and by the time I got up and got to the door, I saw he had a huge piece of meat in his mouth and it was raw!!!! I got out there as fast as I could and was chasing him and wrestling it away from him yelling at him and such to let me have it and I heard a bunch of older kids on the other side of the gate laughing and carrying on. The meat was not spoiled smelling and not cooked so I think the brats tossed it over to intentionally make him sick and it wasn't garbage from a neighbor's trash. I was furious and slammed the door coming in and Jack came running and went out to look for the little snots but they had run off. You know, Fortune has been getting sick on and off a lot lately and I thought it was from the squirrel, but now I am not so sure. I know it isn't either of the neighbors doing it now like it was when those awful kids lived next door a few days ago. So, we are going to keep a sharp eye out and go outside with him I guess.

Jack did all the upstairs rugs yesterday and I put the bed back together. I want to get the upstairs bathrooms cleaned today then the upstairs will be spick and span again. Jack is going to do the downstairs carpets on Thursday as he has the day off for Veterans day.

Jean: Boy, I can only give you ingredients pretty much as I think the best way to make stuffing is by taste, but I will give it a shot.

1 cake sized aluminum pan (if you want to make outside the bird)
corn meal
milk
eggs
canned chicken stock my favorite is swansons but any kind will work
1 stick butter or margarine I like butter makes a richer flavor
oil
white bread
onions
salt
pepper
rubbed sage
I usually make one of those cake sized aluminum pans full for Thanksgiving so I take two round cake pans and make two batches of cornbread according to directions on the container, but I leave out the sugar. I take about 8 slices of white bread and leave them out to dry and get crunchy or buy 1 bag plain stuffing bread that comes in cellophane packages. I know Pepperidge Farm makes one brand. As soon as the corn bread is cool enough to handle, I crumble it and the dried bread togehter and mix it well. I chop two onions finely and add to it then I melt a stick of butter, add it and canned chicken stock one can at a time until the consistency is still firm, but kind of gummy. I mix with my hands as it seems to mix better this way. Here is the iffy part. I take rubbed sage and salt and pepper and just add it and mix until it tastes the way I want it to taste and bake it in the oven for an hour or so at 350 degrees, or stuff the turkey and around the turkey with it. I am sorry I can't be more specific, but it is one recipe I do by add and taste. It isn't something you muck up if you do it this way so give it a try. I usually add my sage a couple tablespoons at a time. Jack likes it with a lot of sage and one year we had green stuffing! lol It is for everyone not just us this year so I will temper it.

I don't get the waiting til it snows to put up lights. Seems to me it is a bit more dangerous that way, but what do I know I live in a condo? lol Thomas is fine about his gifts. His mom doesn't really care whether we give them to him early or not, but I will give him a couple of gifts and keep his big one for Christmas Eve. We are getting him the Rock Band 3 with piano for the Wii for Christmas and it costs about $130 so he won't get a whole lot more presents. He wants a pair of low top Converse black tennies, but I haven't found them on sale anywhere and Kelly doesn't want me to pay $40 for them and right now it is about as cheap as I can find them so we shall see. He also wants Itune cards so he can put aps on his Itouch. I found the coolest free ap for my Iphone. It is from allrecipes.com and it is called "spinner dinner." It has three "spinning" lines and each one is specific, like appetizers, main meals, etc first line, ingredients you want second line and time you want to spend on it third line. You choose each line then it gives you all the matches. For example, I was looking for an appetizer with cheese that takes less than half an hour to prepare and it gave me like 30 recipes. It is pretty neat. I found a neat one from Whole Foods too that has some nice recipes and an ap for knitting where it helps count your rows and such, which is great for socks so they are the same length and such. These are all free too.

Poor Jack, forgot to reset his alarm on his watch and it went off so he is up already. He said he got enough sleep though.

Well gals, I am going to go and sit and knit for awhile. You all have a great start to your week! Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! Low 60s today. I had to scrap ice off the windshield yesterday morning over in Wakefield. That was a surprise.

We had a wonderful time at retreat. I went to Bella's Belles applique bee this morning and by afternoon I was too tired to do any more today. I'm not going to bible study so I can go to bed early. I have work tomorrow, then the Y and Quilt Guild tomorrow night.

Maggie, I am from the north and we always had fried green tomatoes so I don't think it's just a southern thing. I love them. We have them with cream gravy.

Faye, i'd find out where those kids live and send the police to see them. What a mean thing to do!

Jean, between cooking for dogs and clothes for dogs and brushing their teeth, I think people have gone nuts. I love my cat. He'd die if I tried to put clothes on him, only eats cat food, and is fine if I want to go away for a few days.

I think I'm going to eat something and head for bed. I have a good book to read.

Afternoon ladies! I thought I had posted this morning. Boy, the mind is going I guess!

Jack is looking forward to having Thursday off even though he plans to shampoo the downstairs rugs. We just did this a couple months ago but Fortune got sick again and so there you go.

Man, I don't know who the new mail person is but whomever it is are terrible. They don't deliver the mail until after 4 pm when it has always been delivered before 1 pm. On top of that, the lazy person just tosses the packages when the other lady would bring them up to the door and knock. On top of that, he or she wouldn't deliver on Saturday and left a delivery slip even though our gate was unlocked all day. I put it back out yesterday to have them redeliver it (it is one of Jackson's Christmas presents) and they just left it in the mailbox instead of picking it up! Now I am going to have to drive across town and pick it up. GRRRR!

Maggie: Thanks for the dog food info. I am pretty particular about what I feed Fortune especially since he is older now. I noticed her recipe for a dog with a sick tummy is similar to what I give Fortune. She adds powdered mashed potatoes, I just give him cooked minute rice and scrambled eggs. I have several recipes for treats, but I haven't tried any of them yet.

Susan: Glad you had a nice time. Hope your first day back at work went smoothly. Believe me, if I knew who the people were I would have them arrested but like I said they were completely gone by the time Jack got out to the street. The lady next door has a little shihtzu I believe and I sure hope they don't do it to her either. It has to be someone that lives here because Fortune never barks so if it were someone cutting through our condos they wouldn't know we had a dog. There are several families with dogs in our building and across the way. You know, I wonder if it is that psycho that wanders around here and maybe the kids were making fun of him. I didn't think of that and he has a real grudge against Jack. He also knows we have a dog.

Jean: I sure wish I could find a Euchre group here in town. I would love to belong to a Euchre foursome. I have an Euchre ap on my Iphone and am always playing on it or online. I always have lousey partners though. I am a pretty good player and my computer counterparts stink! They will take the bid and not have any Jack's which are high trump in Euchre so we go set all the time if I don't happen to have any trump to take tricks. You have to take 3 tricks not to "set" if you are your partner order up the bid. The Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas allows pets and they go all out. The dogs get perrier water, gourmet food, a personal attendent to walk them and all kinds of stuff.

Well, I want to continue to work on the sock. I want to get it done today if possible so I can then go on to Jackson's socks, which I have already started. Have a good Tuesday all! Faye