I don't know, good evening girls, good morning girls....I got up to go to the bathroom and put the dog up on the bed (we bought him doggy stairs for our new bed but he is afraid to use them...$50 down the drain)then couldn't go back to sleep so decided to just get up for a little while, order Jack a new splint for his foot and order a gift card for my dil for her birthday, which is a week from tomorrow.

My niece was given a platelets tranfusion and put on steriods to build her up. They said the bleeding in the brain could be from anything including riding in the car to the hospital. Personally, considering she has had a violent headache from the second day she got sick, which was over 3 weeks ago, I would say maybe the bleeding started then, but who am I to say? Anyway, for now she is out of danger.

Jack had his first pt appt yesterday and barely made it in time. He said if he hadn't driven 70-75 the whole way he would never have made it so they are going to have to change his Thur appts to 4:00 instead of 3:30. It made dinner late for us last night as we usually eat around 4 pm. I had some fruit around 2 to stave off the hunger though there isn't anything horrible in the house to eat any longer. I sure hope they can get that muscle stretched out so he is no longer in pain. He was without pain for almost two weeks, but he was also in the hospital and on holiday for a big part of that and I am thinking it is his work shoes that make his foot hurt as it is back to hurting him again. Because of the electrical issue, he has to wear certain boots/shoes that are electrically safe and steel toes to protect them because of the mechanical issues.

Jean: I'm with you in that I hope the cat either eats the food and gets healthy or goes off to die somewhere other than your porch. We have to chase Butterscotch down when Jack needs to get into the attic so he won't go zooming up there. If he is downstairs, I stand at the bottom of the stairs and keep him from going up them when he hears the creak of the attic door. We have this human/cat conversation while we are waiting. I tell him he can't go up and he meows, why not? He is much more of a backtalker than Fortune is. Boy howdy, if you have displeased him or he wants something from you, he lets you know. It is pretty comical actually.

Well gals, I am going to go back to bed or maybe get in the recliner. I have been having hip pain for a few weeks now and think it is because I am losing weight and the daily exercise. That's all fine and dandy, but it sure doesn't help it feel any better. I put heat rub on it and that helps, but once it wears off it goes back to hurting. It usually subsides sometime in the night, but it isn't cooperating tonight so I may have to rub myself up and put on pjs instead of a gown to keep the stuff of the sheets.

Everybody have a good Thursday!

Faye

Good morning ladies. Hope you are well this morning. Looks like my niece will be in the hospital at least over the weekend and then she may get to come home. Her bone marrow came back clean and clear so it is something involving the original diagnosis. She is on steroids for several weeks to see if they can bring up her blood platelet count. If not, they may have to remove her spleen.

Jean: Jack says his first brace is stretched out so I ordered another one. He has pretty skinny feet and wears a 9 1/2 but I bought the smaller shoe size this time to see if it fits better for him. I don't know why they would go by shoe size when it has nothing to do with the length of his foot but fits around his ankle then a strap goes under his foot. He says he thinks the PT sessions are helping him though, so I am glad he went.

Well, I had my first icky meal. I fixed Coq AU Vin and it tasted awful. Too much thyme for one thing. I tossed the whole thing down the drain and Jack went and got us a burger. Not a great solution, but it was almost 6:30 by the time we were going to eat and we usually eat at 4. The fan on our AC quit so Jack came home and was checking fuses before we ate too. Guess we will have to take it in because he didn't see any blown ones. Not a good time for this to happen for sure.

I am up to date on gifts now. I sent my dil a beautiful silver trinket box that plays Unforgettable and had it engraved, sent my niece a teddy bear in a nurses uniform with cookies, and sent my dd a check for their anniversary. My next expense is my sil's birthday, which is AUG 16. Like I said, his birthday is the day Elvis died so not hard to remember with the mess around here that day. You'd think the president had died with the thousands of mourners that show up here every year. I think it is ridiculous, personally. Fan or no fan, GROW UP for heaven's sake.

I guess I better hit the bricks and get my morning chores done. Everybody have a super day!

TTFN
Faye

Happy day, flowers, we're having rain again - hope we don't get thunderstorms...too much going on at work to have to shut down the computers. New server goes in on Sunday and conversion to new database starts Monday so you may not hear much from me until the following week. I really am stretched a little thin already and this will finish me. I told DH to be prepared to go to bed at 8 pm all next week. He's doing a bit better now that he is home and gaining strength.

I knew it would rain - painters came and did some yesterday and were supposed to come back today. Oh well...

Faye, hope they figure out what's wrong with you niece and get her on the road to recovery. Prayers will continue for her.

Afternoon gals! I am kind of bored so instead of grabbing something to eat, thought I would post again.

Jean: The meal was in a crockpot and layered: bacon (I used a tbl of real bacon that comes in the can for salads because less fat) then onion, then chicken broth, then burgundy, then thyme then skinless boneless chicken breast, salt and pepper. You cook it for 5 hours then take out the breasts and stir in 1/4 c tomato paste and 3 tbls spoon flour and let it cook for 15 minutes on high then replace meat. It had too much thyme in it and I just thought it tasted awful. It is unappetizing to look at too. The wine turns the boneless breasts GRAY and they look gross! Jack has a real pet peeve about people parking in front of our garage even if we aren't going anywhere for the whole weekend. He goes out and makes them move. I try to calm him down so he doesn't get into trouble, but it never works. People know better, they just don't give a darn if they block you in.

Susan: Hope you can get some rest with what is ahead the next week for you. I know it will be quite a mess. At our law firm, anything having to do with the computers was done with people from the main office, which was in Indianapolis, 3 hours away. They would come up for a week and wreak havoc then go back home and start it all over again the next time they updated or whatever they did. Since I was the litigation file manager for the firm, my first desk was in the LIBRARY! They didn't have a spare one and shoved me in there. It was awful because one file room was down at the other end of the floor and the main one was upstairs. I don't know why they didn't make it so that I could just stay in the darn main file room upstairs, give me a computer and let me work. I did love working there though some of the lawyers drove me bonkers, especially the women. I had a great rapport with the men. In fact, one of the attorneys who was a real smart aleck, dressed down his staff in front of others, was a real pain to work, for loved me. I guess because I told him off right after I went to work there. He made me mad because he wanted to change something that had been set up by the head of litigation and I told him off. From that time on we got along splendidly and the last time I visited, which was almost two years ago, he came jogging up to me and gave me a big bear hug, told me I looked fabulous and he missed me! I almost fainted right there. I was also the favorite of the office administrator which was funny because I had no problem voicing disappoval over something that needed to be taken care of properly. I guess if I had to work more closely with her, we might not have gotten along because she was a real pill. She was sleeping with the managing partner and both of them were married. Everytime his secretary dared to bring it to light (ie, receipts for hotels etc that were to go to accounting) she would fire her. He went through at least 5 secretaries while I was there. The last I heard his wife still turns a blind eye and the OA is divorced. Her dh was a real doll and I felt sorry for him.

Ok, I have blabbed enough about absolutely nothing. I am waiting for Jack to get home in a couple hours so we can go swimming. It is upper 90's here and the heat index is in the 100's. The humidity is nearly 80% so he is pretty miserable at work so we go swimming when he gets home from work on those days.

Faye

Faye, even though my husband was a chef and used wine in some of the dishes he made, neither one of us care for it in our food. I made a receipe out of Julia Child's "Art of French Cooking" back when we were first married that required a whole chicken and a whole bottle of wine -- went into the trash. Then I made a pork stew that had beer in it -- talk about awful!

Ladies, I could use a little internet hand holding. The cardiologist called just now and said they were finally sent a copy of his chest xray and he has to go in and have a catscan on Tuesday because there is something on his lung. I have to tell you, I am scared to death. Normally, I wouldn't panic, but his father, mother's sister, mother's brother, and ALL 9 of his great aunts and his grandmother on his mom's side died of some type of cancer.

Thanks for holding my hand!

Faye **Susan: I laughed at your comments about the food with wine. Most chefs LOVE it. I love chicken marsala and beef burgundy, but that stuff I made was just plain gross! **

Good morning gals! Hope you are well I am trying to not think about this thing with Jack. He just asked me if I was ok as I got up at 3 AM. I am just worried, of course.

I went to HSN to look around and pass time this morning and they had handbags on clearance and ladies I succumbed, not once but twice! I did save like $60 though! Jack is gonna shoot me!

We sat and watched Glory Road last night on a dvd and it was pretty darn good for another sports movie. It is about the basketball team TX Western that eventually became UTEP and this man was the first to recruit a squad of black players. They won the NCAA championship something like 14 times but boy did they go through it with the bigots etc. Poor kids.

Not much to talk about. I will talk to you later.

Faye

Good Sunday morning gals! It is going to be ferociously hot today. We have to go to Walmart and finish up our shopping for stuff the commissary didn't have and I want to get that done this morning after swimming. We went out yesterday afternoon to Krogers and I couldn't believe how horrible it was outside. I sure feel for the people who have to work outside for a living. At least Jack isn't outside continually.

I have put my mind to not worrying about Jack's lung issue until there is something to worry about. He said he thinks it is from a bad case of pneumonia he had years ago and that whenever they take a chest xray, this comes into question. I sure do hope so.

Jean: The jig is up! I got caught! I told Jack in the car on the way home from the grocery store yesterday that we would be getting some packages in another week or so again. I have ordered 3 more books, his splint will be coming in, my birthday present is on its way and of course the handbags, which he didn't know about. We stopped at a stop light and he looked over at me and said, "How many purses did you buy?" DARN! I was at a complete loss for words! ME, at a loss for words!!!! He started laughing and said, "See I know you pretty well! Wait until I tell Carl!" This is a friend of his from work that he discusses my love of handbags with I guess. His friend's mil is living with them because she is ill and he said when they cleaned her house out there were a ton of old handbags and that Carl told him they were going to have a yard sale and get rid of them. Mr. Smarty Pants told Carl not to give me the address or I would clean them out! HA-HA.... I'll teach him! When we get rich, I am going to have a room built just to house my handbags then FILL IT UP! I like to fix "sticky" chicken. It is basically the rotisserie chicken you get in the grocery stores only you make it in a dutch oven/large pot in the stove. Let me know if you ever want to make it and I will give you the combination of spices they use and how to cook it. It is REALLY easy. It takes a long time so you could put it in when you go off to school I bet.

Looks like my niece may get to go home on Monday. The steroids seem to be doing the trick, but causing real stomach upset I guess. I told Neita to ask them about Eryn taking like Maalox or something like that to coat the stomach before she takes the meds to help. They have her on Zantac, but it doesn't help. Poor thing isn't eating and is losing weight. What a way to diet that would be!
The stupid hospital sent my get well gift to shipping and receiving instead of delivering it to her so she may not get it until sometime next week when they ship it to her house and I PAID for overnight service! I can't complain to UPS because it was delivered to the address overnight! BUMMER!

Well, I am going to get up and get my chores done. Have a great day gals and watch out for the heat!

Faye

Good Moring Magnolias

Faye: Our prayers are with you for Jack and your niece. I hope that it is only the old pneumonia scar that showed up on the exray. Your niece is sure going through a tough time and I only hope the doctors are doing everything they can for her. She will be a lot happier when she gets home.
As for your purses....I have a few but I usually only use one a season. It is such a pain to change purses and then I can never find what I want in the new purse.

Jean: I hope you will be getting some rain soon but I did hear that the midwest is having a heat wave....sorry. We have a small heat wave predicted but I think yesterday's 80's broke the spell. Monday and Tuesday are to be in the 90's and Wednesday back in the 80's.

Kerri, 12, called the other night and asked if I would come over on Monday to help her bake a birthday cake for her Mom. She loves to cook, just like her mom. I have never been good at baking but I will give it a try. She is also planning on cooking her Mon's favorite dinner on Tuesday....she asked for my recipe for Lamb as that is what is Mom's favorite...Lamb, roast potato, broccoli. We will be joining them for the big meal. Should be good! I think DD is working both on Monday and Tuesday and the sitter will be there as Kerri is doing her cooking.

Susan: I have done some cooking with wine, mostly Chicken Marsala and using wine in tomato sause when I want it to be special.
I have never tried Coq Au Vin but I think using a slow cooker and wine can be trouble. I would think long cooking would intensify the flavors....maybe too much. Hope your DH is still enjoying being home and feeling better each day.

Gloria

Faye, Jack and you and your neice are in my prayers and on my prayer chains. I have, after all this time, finally been able to just worry about what has to be done today and let tomorrow take care of itself. I was driving myself crazy over things that didn't materialize. Easier said than done.

I have one handbag a season, and count it a blessing if it lasts more than one so I don't have to shop for another.

I'm really miffed - here at work before 10 because they were supposed to be here to install the server - 10:30 and no one is here!

Faye, could the rotisserie chicken be made in the crockpot? Either way, I'd love to have the recipe. Always looking for new chicken recipes.

Actually got to work on a quilt yesterday! Boy howdy, it felt good to be sewing again. Making some quick lap quilts as thank yous.

Good morning flowers! I think it most likely that all the flowers here in our garden are wilting pretty much! Seems like most of the country is cooking like a Christmas goose and not much rain. We desperately need rain now.

I got so tickled at the handbag thing and everyone having one a season. I buy handbags to match clothing so I change them out to match what I will be wearing out of the house. I have maroon ones, black, all colors of brown and tan, lime green, bright pink, olive, a sort of mint color, baby blue, yellow, fuzzy ones, suede, leather, anything you can imagine, I probably have. I don't have white as I don't like white at all. I don't like small handbags because I carry everything imaginable in them from eye drops to bandaids, to hand washing liquid and those little wet ones for Thomas, manicure kit, calorie counting book, address book, eye glass cases, makeup etc. I have a few that I rarely use because I bought them and didn't like them and one I bought on sale that is brand new and I may give to either my dd or dil for Christmas.

Susan: Here is the sticky chicken recipe. I don't see why it wouldn't work in the crockpot on low. Try it and let me know how it works out.

STICKY ROTISSERIE CHICKEN:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (yes 250 is correct)
3-4 lb whole chicken or equivalent in game hens
4 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne/red pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
I shake this up in a ziploc bag
Wash, remove giblets and pat dry chicken
rub spices all over chicken breast side and under side being sure you cover all the chicken
Place in a large pot/dutch oven breast side up
Place chicken uncovered in oven and roast 5-6 hours, basting with juice from chicken if desired
This is fall off the bone delicious, I guarantee

Hope you were able to get the install done and they showed up right after you posted. I know it is irritating to take your time off and then someone doesn't show up.

Jean: My irritating thing is opening a can of something, ie tomato paste, only needing a TBL let's say then I have to store the rest in a container and hope I use it for something else before it goes bad. I have tomato sauce, tomato paste and tomato juice all in my fridge right now! Hope the kitty belongs to your friend and can go back home. I have this great leather handbag I bought 3 or 4 years ago at the leather outlet down in Tunica for $20! It is a large handbag, soft, soft leather and has a zipper pocket on the outside on both sides as well as a long pocket on the outside on both sides and small end pockets that have velcro flaps. The inside is big and roomy and has a long zipper pocket on the one side. It is a deep maroonish purple and I just love it because it can carry everything and I can still shove stuff into it if I need to.

Gloria: Hope the birthday cake baking goes well. That is so sweet of you dgd to do that for her mom. It is nice to hear of a girl that likes to cook instead of thinking it is a chore or beneath her like so many girls are taught to believe these days. Don't you wonder what they will feed their husbands? Takeout pizza I imagine. My dd's solution is to go across the street and they eat with her mil all the time! Kelly can cook when she wants to though.

We are having a flank steak with a dijon sauce tonight so don't know how that will go. Jack picked it out.

I better get hopping I want to get vacuuming done this morning if I can.

Faye