Hi ladies,
Sorry I didn't get in here yesterday. Tried a couple of times, DH kept coming on my computer as he was trying to get some books downloaded to my Kindle and he was using my Amazon account to do it. Eventually I walked away and forgot to post.
DH is making meatballs in red sauce for supper. Smells good. Tomorrow is Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano. I like it when I don't have to do all the cooking. I made a beef vegetable soup but it's more like a stew taste instead of soup. Didn't care for it but there's a ton of it to eat. I put leeks in it. Remind me next time that I DON'T LIKE LEEKS.
Talked to Mom yesterday and Sis. Watched some TV. Lazy day for the most part. We did go to a fish fry for dinner last night. It was good. Lightly snowing out there. This morning DH was wondering whose footprints were out on the driveway. He went outside and discovered they were mine from last night. What we can't figure out is why I left footprints and he didn't
Annie - I can totally understand how you feel about the snow. Times like that I seriously wondered how I could come up with a way to burn it with a flame-thrower or something similar
Only thing I can say is that living in a place that gets little to no snow (ask Ceejay and Shad) has it's own drawbacks. Namely tornadoes, bad storms and those dad burned
bugs that don't die and only grow bigger and more prolific when there's no freeze to kill them off. Which is why there's a termite issue there that we don't have to deal with. Still I'm sure you're thinking nice beach, warm sun and good tan lines are a welcome trade off
As for shovelling, I always tried to at least make a path so people could walk. When we lived in the northern Chicago suburbs I lived on the north facing corner lot. Talk about snow and drifts. But I always made sure people had a place to walk - unlike most of my neighbors. I guess I felt this way because I had to walk down the main road home sometimes from the train and I'd cuss out the fancy big houses that could not be bothered to shovel and made my walk home an especially trecherous one. I think there is a rule in Chicago too that if people don't shovel the stairs to their mailbox (which is located on the house instead of streetside) - the mailman does not have to deliver their mail. I am totally with you though on the hard packed crap that the snow plows leave at your driveway. That's what you need the flamethrower for. When we lived on the corner we'd have to clean out the street all the time because they'd block the sewer grate and the water and ice would build up and make a complete mess. Life is MUCH better with a snow plow on an ATV and here you can mostly clean the cement with a broom - it's so dry, light and fluffy. So snow will not be the same problem at the commune
Sounds like you really need a warm spot vacation right now. Save your money all year and take you and C away for week next January. Sorry that your New Year's plans have gone bust.
I would think poor C would at least have the day off. Guess it will be you and Lil Man singing Auld Lang Syne. And he probably doesn't even have any acquantances to "be forgot" at this point in his young life
Ceejay - sorry to hear the girls are back to pestering you again. Good for you for not answering the door. Maybe they will get the message. Geez didn't you have to work Christmas and now you have to work New Year's too? That stinks. Also not really fair that the mayor gives the power people time off only to shift the responsibility for the phones to your team.
If you were good at piano, maybe you should consider gifting yourself with one of those electronic keyboards. I don't think they are too expensive and playing music is very good for exercising the brain (and fingers). Then you can play the dinner music at the commune when we are all dining
See - I'm finding everyone jobs
Mel - sorry you didn't get any snow. The skies seem to be stingy with the wet stuff this year. Although we are white, we don't have anywhere near what we should either. Ouch on the sprained finger. Did you wear it out making gestures at the firemen? Come hither, Mellie could use some help
Hope you can give it some rest from dialing all the on call people.
Shad - I agree - doesn't 2013 sound way in the future??? Hopefully your next pass in Darwin will be better than the quarter you just finished. I know you've worked hard but what a nice feeling it must be to have everything all nice and tidy at the house. I still have boxes and papers and things to pick up. Sounds like you are ready to get started on the New Year. I thought you were going to visit Sophia and DS before you had to return to work. Not much time left between now and Tuesday.
We used to pay big bucks for termite treatment too down south. Then when we were getting ready to put the house up for sale, the inspector found some minor damage in the garage where they had done a sloppy job of spraying. So the termite company had to pay to have it repaired. We also removed the railroad ties the previous owners had used for garden decorations. One chap recommended that we not use wood mulch in the yard either because of the termites. Little buggers! But as you say, annoying as the cost is, better than have your house crumble around you as I guess they are pretty good at reproducing when they have a good food supply.
Laura - sounds like you have a great deal of partying and socializing to wrap up the holidays. I'm in the market for a different kind of bread to make besides my go to egg bread recipe. I'm thinking something Italian with herbs and cheeses sounds good. Feel free to share if you have any good recipes. Thanks for posting about Michelle - good to hear she is having a good time with her family - she could use some fun times after the stress of the last couple of months. I just looked up the book Room on Amazon. Looks interesting, will be curious to know what you think of it. Thanks for the tip on the sour cream. I just bought a cheap squeeze bottle to put shrimp sauce in. They have the most wonderful crab dip over the holidays at the grocery store and it's divine on a Ritz Cracker with just a dot of shrimp sauce.
Ellen - hope you got something for those sinus headaches. They can be brutal and regular pain relievers do nothing for them. I was sad that my go-to over the counter sinus meds got taken off the market because the hop head meth makers were using them as a key ingredient in their nasty stuff.
We don't have anything planned for New Year's Eve. Haven't gone out in probably 20 years. Just don't want to contend with the drunks on the roads so if we did go somewhere we'd more than likely get a room too. Just costs so much to go out NYE. We usually have a plate of nibbles on the Eve. Told DH I'm thinking of steak bites - nicely season pan fried steak cut into bite size chunks with a mustard dipping sauce, some cold shrimp and cocktail sauce - maybe some cheese cubes and fruit depending on what the store has. Guess tomorrow being Sunday I should be thinking about what I need to pick up. Maybe I shouldn't have told DH we don't need to go out when he suggested running to the store today.
He came over and let me taste a meat ball. Yum they are good. Will be even better sitting in sauce in the crockpot for a couple of hours. Meat ball sandwiches for supper tonight. Got enough submarine type buns and meatballs for all to share.
And with that, I need to get off the computer and get something useful done.