Saturday, 17 December

[Punkin]

Good morning everyone!!!!

It is hard to believe that next Saturday is Christmas Eve. I have done all my gift shopping, decorated all I am going to decorate and, except for a few cards I have to mail, I am ready - at least physically.

The weather is weird. It was 31 degrees this morning and reach the high of 42 degrees today. Tomorrow it is going to be almost 70 degrees after a very cold start tomorrow morning. Who knows how to dress in this weather?

I had a kitchen fire a little while ago. It was small and did no damage, but scared the heck out of me. I was frying chicken and some of the Crisco oil got onto the electric burner. I really lucked out. It could have been much worse.

I hope everybody has a fantastic Saturday and enjoys whatever they do.

[boffler]

Good Morning to all...we are in for some nasty weather today...

Val, glad no damage was done during your fire..it is hard to believe it will be Christmas Eve, I have so much yet to do...

Well yesterday and last night were very eventful....started the day worried about Rufus again, he seemed to be going downhill fast, but I had my husbands retirement party at his workplace to attend, so I took Rufus and left him at the vets so they could find out what was going on, got a call while at the party that Rufus had more stones and that they would need to do surgery again, this time at their expense it would be scheduled for Monday...I picked him up after I got back into town around 5:00p.m. well he seemed to be getting worse and worse by the hour and by 9:00 p.m. I called the emergency number, the vet called back and said she was on the road and would be about an hour she would call when she got to the office and the other vet that does the surgeries would be there also with a vet tech...Rufus had emergency surgery that started around 11:00p.m. at 2:30 a.m. got the call that he was out of surgery, they found 12 more stones that were all jagged hence the pain he was in, that they were staying until he started waking up and they will call me this morning to let me know by afternoon if we can pick him up, he will be on pain meds and antibiotic...last night was horrible, he was almost like having convulsions he was in so much pain, every 7 mins. could not pass urine, etc...I was FURIOUS!!! I guess yesterday the woman vet and the owner vet had a difference of opinion, she said he needed surgery NOW, he disagreed, guess what, he should have listened...she was very apologetic, him not so much!

So we will see what today brings, not much sleep, have a headache, and my stomach is doing flip flops...so much to get done around here...

Have a great day one and all...I am feeling a little sick to my stomach this morning...

[JoS]

Poor Rufus and you! Hope you both feel better quick!

[karlinann]

Good morning Rounders! We did not get the tree up last evening because DH bottomed out when he got home from not eating for over 6 hrs at his volunteer job and then eating too fast. They get a free meal ticket at the hospital and he usually eats very slowly, but yesterday he was so hungry that he gulped it down and therefore he was sick when he got home. From now on he will take a nutritious snack, (fruit) with him. He loves the volunteer job.

Today I will do my 'C' shopping. Not much to buy. I need to go grocery shopping also for a few items. I plan to make Lemon Tea Bread with all the Meyer Lemons I got free at our library and some pumpkin pies out of the pumpkin. I won't do my baking until next week. Plan to freeze most of the lemon juice and pumpkin. I found out you can freeze the lemon juice in ziplock baggies. I will toast the pumpkin seeds for snacking. Love those!

Have a great day!

[Paula A]

I love anything lemon! And I love those Meyer lemons. A friend gives me lemons from her big tree and they are almost as big as oranges!

[JoGee]

Good morning.
Glad the kitchen fire wasn't a bad one, Val.
Poor Rufus...I'm sorry what he's going through, Sharon.
HI Karlinann and all who follow.
I was listening to the 2 hour storm....winds & rain, in the darkest hours this morning. The leaves are surely washed off the trees by now.
Will be talking to E about getting some gifts to Phx this week. I'm so behind on everything. Saw 2 doctors the last couple of days. Well, or was just techs....I ended up going home that day wet (drainage) and with replacement items that didn't fit even close to right. But we managed.
The incision is *still* draining. No fun. Much I can't do around here, again. E is very patient, but there are moments ...
Can't blame him, when he's tired, exasperated, whatever.
We can use a Christmas miracle this year.

I think I'll go back to bed, just because I've been up a few hours. Had my comfort cuppa mocha. Maybe I can rest.
Have a good day everyone.

[karlinann]

JoGee I will be praying for both you and "E".

[boffler]

JoG, I pray the healing goes well for you....with very much drainage they could have put a wound vac on for you...that helped my daughter a lot after he ordeal. I am sure your hubby is worn out mentally and physically, my hubby sure got worn down when I was sick, God Bless the men they are.

[ladyebug]

Good Morning.

Sharon, my heart aches for poor Rufus and for you. Can't imagine what that poor baby has been going through. I am sending good thoughts your way.

Lovey, you asked about the orange bars. If you look in the membership list, there is a column for REPUTATION. It really just shows who posts the most.

JoG, hope today is a good day for you. You know all will be well when the healing is done.

maxie, hope you and Andrew got through yesterday with his shopping. LOL

Donna, what can I say? I love you. Glad Sue is back to help.

Janet, are you staying in today? That would be a change. HaHa
JoS, Judy, Barb, Val. So exciting to see posts from all of you.

Paula, I go through a LOT of paper towels, but I'm just cleaning up after 2 people.
karlinann, did you get your lemon juice taken care of? I love lemon anything.

Well, I am finished with this 14-page newsletter and today I proof it. Don't know why people think folks want to read 14 pages of anything. And we send it over 400 people! That is a LOT of unnecessary use of paper.

Better get today going. Already 8:16 but 50 degrees headed to 72. Wow!

[Paula A]

Paper towels and toilet paper are always on my shopping list
Good thing is it is a deduction!

[karlinann]

Ladyebug I did get my lemon juice squeezed and put in the freezer. I got 4 ziplock baggies of juice. Beautiful! I was going to make Lemon Tea Bread today, but I'm tired so that will be tomorrow. We both love it and I can pull the frozen lemon juice out of the freezer and make it anytime.

My next door neighbor has a Meyer Lemon tree just loaded with lemons and he does not care a hoot for them. I got mine free from our library. People bring stuff over there all the time. I got 6 Basil plants this summer.

[jgarcia]

Good morning, everyone

What an interesting trip I had to the grocery store yesterday! The nearest Walmart grocery store is 25 miles away to the north, 35 to the south. We do have a very nice grocery store here, but I live in a town of 3000 people and the difference in price on one or two items alone pays for my gas. (Example: Marie Callender's pies... $8.95 at our store, $5.56 at Walmart). Anyway, I start out south because it looks like better weather that way. It's 52°, sunny and just little breezy so how bad can it be? I get about half way to the store and hit the 80 mph freeway. It's so windy by then that it's helping my car change lanes when I'm not trying to. I even took off my cruise control for fear of losing control of the car with the wind gusts... Yikes!

So, I get to Walmart and it's now raining and the wind has picked up (I had to hold down my shirt while walking into the store because it was blowing up). I got my shopping done and head to my car. It's so windy now that I have to lean into the wind to keep from blowing over, but it's still 55° and no rain... so, I start out to go home, just putting up with minor rain and big winds up til I get about half way home. Then all Hell breaks loose... wind and rain so hard I have trouble keeping the windshield wiped off, and to top it off, I'm on a 65 mph two-way highway with 18-wheelers coming the opposite direction. At one point, a truck splashed up enough water that I was literally blind to where I was going. So, I limp on toward home. I got to the edge of our town and it's now snowing and 32°. Glad I went in the direction that had the BEST weather! It snowed all evening and this morning I woke up to about 5" of snow and it's darn cold out there... it's 18° and I heard sounds of someone scraping and scraping and scraping some more to get the ice off their windows. So glad I managed to get the grocery shopping in before it hit. I don't have to go out in the cold if I don't want to

Ralph made the decision to not go down to Las Vegas for Christmas. I'm heartbroken that I won't be able to see the babies. I miss them so much! We haven't even put up any Christmas decorations around here... it's just Ralph and me, he has always thought it stupid to put up decorations, and I'm truly not in the spirit. Maybe next year...

Hope you all have a warm, dry, safe day...

[bethina]

Good morning...vame to my parents last night..I got have dinner my best friend and her boyfriend. We went to a new pizza place it was very good!! She got me a beautiful necklace and a snowman. Mom will get me longer chain.

We are heading to my granny's for a Christmas gathering in a couple hours.

Then I will go back home with my sister and her fam. Hoping for safe driving conditions.

[Paula A]

good Saturday morning! I started to jump out of bed this morning and then remembered what day it is...nice surprise.
the next door neighbor was having her Christmas work place party and had let me know last weekend...it was a bit loud. They had a lot of people and many were outside around her fire pit and others out back on her covered patio, so my dogs were constantly doing some kind of little woof noise, or running to look out the windows. I had told her they could use my second driveway, so the dogs kept thinking someone was coming to our house. Anyway, it finally started to quiet down and we all got to sleep.
Today I have an appointment and then some shopping to do. The church Christmas kparty tonight is a Journey to Bethlehem theme and and I signed up for a dessert. I thought it would be easy to bring stuffed dates or baklava (I would buy it), however, someone decide all the desserts should be the same and they want éclair cake. So I am off to buy the ingredients. I really should have gone last night and let it sit all day, but I think kit will be ok doing it this morning to be ready for a 6:00pm dinner. My recipe is better than the one they handed out. Theirs uses canned (!) frosting and mine uses a glaze you make that sets up better...I use canned frosting sometimes; I am not meaning to be rude. Just not for this recipe or any recipe that should have a ganache.
I have let things get a little too cluttered in my bedroom so that is on the top of my To Do List after that dessert gets done. Becky is baking today for a party she is going to and for some friends.
Now that the semester is over she wants to relax a bit. She found out she qualifies for another scholarship and just needs to get a letter to the college next week. Driving to Chico three tiems a week and parking fees will really add to the budget so it is great that all her hard work is Paying off, in more ways than grades.
I got two calls about childcare yesterday but both of them needed to place two children...I haven't heard back from the parent who is still on maternity leave, so I am waiting to see what happens. The only down side to the calls yesterday is they are not private pay parents. When the state pays for the childcare there is a lag time of getting paid, and if the state budget has a problem around June you can end up Not getting paid! Which has happened a few times...I knew one daycare provider who went out of business when the budget got cut and she lost money and then parents...
Sorry, not at all conducive to Saturday morning talk.
I will be decorating the piano with lights and will light them in the morning and add a bow and a piano ornament plus arranging a piece of Christmas music on the piano to draw attention to it for Becky's birthday. This could be more exciting for me than it is for her, except this is the perfect time for her to have the piano to use and no school work.
Continuing prayers for Rufus, Sharon.
And Jo, you and E are in my prayers and sending a hug to you both!
Rounders, take care and make it a good day!

[maxie]

Well, our shopping was interrupted by an unpredicted ice storm! We come out from eating and the kid starts to run to the car and slides down the parking lot. It was a hair raising trip home!! If the intersection was traffic free I just did not bother with the brakes...how could it get so bad so fast? But we made it home and he is half finished, have to exchange one thing but I can do that alone. Andrew talked the entire trip home and I think that kept me calm. Sierra was working last night and this was her first driving experience with ice. Mommy dearest called to say her boyfriend had been 4 hours coming home from work and was stopping at McD's and would eat and wait to follow her home. I was much relieved! As much as we do not like each other, the conditions were so horrible that we were able to communicate. Jon worked last night and he had a to take the long route since the ramp to the highway was closed here. It was a freak storm but today one is actually predicted starting with ice then snow. I am staying in! Today the temps are going to drop all day to single digits tonight. I hope Mother Nature is enjoying messing with us here! If she tires of us she can move on to another part of the country and give me a nice 80* rest of the winter! So today I am finally being forced to stay home and do what I must do in this house today. Christmas is a comin' weather I am ready or not. Poor Rufus! No one should suffer like that. Hope everyone enjoys their last weekend before Christmas. I think some spirit is beginning to move me. I will wrap what gifts Drew has and work on finishing him up when the weather clears. You did notice that no matter the weather conditions we still managed to eat? Looks like a jammie day for me...

[cookielady]

Good Morning! It's an icy one out there today.

Yesterday was good. I got the mini carrot cakes made & iced then, I got all 4 boxes of cookies that needed mailed ready. Called Becca and we met for lunch after I went to the post office. Came home and packaged all the sugar cookies. Would you believe out of that 27 1/2 doz, I only had 15 cookies left after all orders were filled. Guess what we are going to be remaking next week? Before dinner I decided to package up the chex mix, muddy buddies, and made a dbl batch of the seasoned oyster crackers and got them packaged once they cooled. I've been snacking on the chex mix and I just had to package it so I wouldn't nibble any more. The trio will be gifts for the bus drivers and Sunday school teacher, and whoever else I decide I need to give a small gift to.

This morning I slept in until 8:45....WAY TOO LATE!!! My feet hit the floor running because I had 3 XL trays to create. One had to have cookies with no nuts or coconut. Do you know how few cookies meet that criteria? Now I'm working on putting the finishing touches on cookies I baked the other day. Slow but sure. Cork is going to take Blaise tree shopping later if the roads aren't too bad.

(((Sharon & Rufus))) I'm so sorry you all had to go through this. How in the world did they miss 12 stones?
Paula...I'm the same way with icing. Now I sometimes you bought choc icing and add to my butter cream. I get the dark choc & when added, it's a nice mild choc.
(((Jo G)))

Have a good one all!!!!!!

[JoS]

Whoops! I almost forgot to get her. I am working on genealogy and I get so involved that time flies and I mess up all kinds of schedulers. Got a new computer and keyboard and I'm having a devil of a time adjusting to the key board. Makes me slow. Hope youve all had a good and everyone under the weather is feeling better!

[Paula A]

When we lived in Rockville, MD, my mom would go to the National Archives and look up family names. She found a Discharge paper from the Confederate Army that had not been given to my great-great grandfather! And they gave it to her!
Do you use free sites or ones you have to pay for?
One other note: my mother sent away for the DNA swab to see her physical roots. I want to do that.

[Mayebarnes]

Good late evening .

was sure I had posted this morning ... but mornings are not my best time... Mark was here early and by the time he left. I was thinking laundry.. and getting the spaghetti sauce on .. I like to let it simmer for hours... a big big pot of sauce.... .. and after that the day flew by.. yes Elaine ,I did get to stay home all day.

Karen came over yesterday and set up the beginning on the new Kindle FIRE... and I spend the rest of afternoon. hunting how to get books borrowed... I did get 2 downloaded to read. but don't know if I can find my way back... .... so finally shut down and started to watch C. tv show.. .

loved reading all the above.

tomorrow. possibly get to church to hear the choir sing... depending on weather .. and I must do some wrapping.!...