It's November-Time To Count Our Blessings.2016-11-01T10:27:51-04:00

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    • Gail Norusis
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      Post count: 3596

      Well, we are approaching the waning of another year. Where does the time go? It’s time, once again, to count our blessings.

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    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Here’s more.

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    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hey Everyone,
      Another month has rolled around.
      I just got a call from my hairdresser. I missed my appointment. I feel terrible and apologized profusely. I wrote the date wrong on my calendar. Fortunately she can get me in tomorrow morning which is lucky as she is always booked way in advance. When I am in there I usually make my next two-if not three appointments.
      Sue, fortunately James did well with Jenna. I feel so sorry for Sharna as this is the first time she had a really good partner. James is kind of a surprise as I knew nothing about him and I really like him. Maybe Sharna can continue to choreograph and Jenna and James can dance her visions.
      Barbara, I am glad that you are well. It is so frustrating when you write a long note and then it doesn’t post.
      Adele, I wore my sweet treats shirt yesterday. It was from and autodelivery a couple of years ago.
      We don’t really have eye problems in our family-except for me and my brother being nearsighted and having astigmatism. The eye disease that my sister has is an autoimmune disease and we have a lot of that in our family-probably coming from my Dad who had RA and lupus. Susan has a couple of autoimmune things and I have RA. She went to Mass. for a consultation with the man who knows the most in the country about this particular disease and then her eye doctor back home treats her. It pays to consult with the best in a field when your eyesight could be at stake.
      Colleen, I wonder if they can’t fix the notifications thing. I think when they first changed this board we didn’t get notifications in our e-mail-but I could be remembering that wrong too.
      When Brent moved he only took what he could fit in his car. So there were lots of boxes left behind. If he ever gets back here for a visit maybe he will take more or go through some and get rid of things.
      I hope the new pills will work for you. At least it sounds like they may be getting to the root of the problem. Try to follow the doctors orders to eat three times a day-especially since she is concerned about the weight loss. Orders from doctor Gail. lol
      It’s funny that Karla was dressed as Erkle yesterday and so was Al Roker on the Today show. I do love watching all the people on the shows dressed in costume. DWTS was good too.
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      You would not think that you could forget an appointment like that but it is easy to do. I forget hairdresser appointments and doctors appointments. That really makes me feel bad. Then I have to call and reschedule and explain what happened. I have done that with the back doctor more then anyone else. The other doctors call and remind us.
      That was a shame about Sharna. She really felt bad that she could not dance last night. It was nice that she came to support him. He did really well with the new dancer. That had to be hard for him and her. They really did score high though. I do not know how I feel about Ryan going home last night. He is not as good as some but he is not doing badly. It is going to be hard to pick the one to leave because at this point they are all doing well. I have been rooting for Marylu because she has had some mis steps and she did fall last week wasn’t it last week or the week before. She has to be getting tired but hope that she makes it to the end. I loved all of their costumes and they did some different dances.
      I hope that they can fix the notifications. It is hard to not know if anyone has been on here or not. We will just have to check on here every day and see if anyone has posted on here.
      The Cubs were winning the last time I looked but Ron keeps changing the channel to the news. That is usually a sign that the Indians are losing. He is really being a pain about the whole thing. I just turn it back to see who won and then he gives me dirty looks. I think that he is for the Cubs also. He just is trying to be funny.
      I am trying to eat three meals a day but it is hard. Today I got two down but could not eat all of it. I am sure that it will get better once I make myself do it. I never was much of a breakfast eater though. So we will see what happens. I am kind of have a problem. I do not want to gain the weight back because I bought the new clothes that fit me now. I did keep the others though. I am going to pack them in a box and hang on to them until I am sure that the weight is gone.
      That is funny that Al Rocker was dressed like Erkle. Did he make a good one? I cannot picture him talking or looking like him. I bet that he had fun though.
      I hope that Brent comes home soon. It would be nice for him to come back and see you and Greg and Jenny. I am sure that she misses him also. It is hard when they move away like that and cannot come home as often.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Go Cubs! You’ve just got to do it tonight! Otherwise Ron gets potato soup. lol
      Great game last night. Hope they score lots of runs tonight.

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      Maybe if you can’t eat a lot at once you could have smaller meals just more often. Hopefully the medicine will help you to feel better.
      I can see why after buying new clothes you wouldn’t want to gain the weight back. You just better hold on to all the sizes for awhile until you see what happens.
      Actually Al Roker made a pretty good Erkle.
      I went and got my hair done this morning. I was so lucky that she had a spot for me. It really poured rain when I was there-but fortunately stopped by the time I was finished so I didn’t get drenched.
      I think I may have to nap this afternoon after getting up early and staying up late last night.
      Go Cubs Go!
      Gail

    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      I guess I will try again today to send you all a note. Jerry has been gone most of the day. The VA is working with his Mom about some kind of benefit she is eligible for and so Jerry has been busy going back and forth with papers and things. Nothing seems simple; does it? On top of that busy project; one of our neighbors called him and asked him to help order some gravel since he knew that Jerry had gotten some before for our drive. Jerry said yes of course; even though he was literally on his way out the door to take care of other things. I really feel for him because he just won’t say no to people, and he gets so many projects going on at one time. While he was gone with all of this; the bloodhound that belongs to Lisa actually chewed all around one of Jerrys most expensive trees; and I think he has killed it. This tree was so beautiful, and Jerry has babied it for over 20 years. Why he did this is beyond me. Jerry is so upset about it. I keep trying to help him to put this in perspective; but his trees to him are like say a golfers most prized club; and then the dog chews it up beyond repair. Joey came and they sprayed it with all kinds of things to keep bugs from eating the bare bark and wrapped it in some kind of wire to try to keep him from chewing on it. What a mess.
      I invited Sarah and Colin over for dinner. He was a little fussy. I honestly think he didn’t feel good. He did take a nap lying up on my shoulder. He is just so precious. Next week is to be her first night back at work. You know we were asked several weeks ago to watch Colin at night and we said of course. Well I asked her last night what time would she be dropping him by on Monday, and she said, well, actually my Mother is going to spend the night at our apartment and keep him, but I may need you to watch him between 6 and 8 since she has to go to school then *crossing guard) I didn’t answer. Honestly; I was so hurt. She then said she has some “friend” who will watch him so “she can get some sleep”. Jerry just looked at me, and didn’t say anything. When I could say something, I completely changed the subject to Buddy and Stacey being in Las Vegas. Any advice? In my heart I knew this was going to happen.
      Colleen, Gail did have a good idea of you eating six small mini-meals instead of trying to eat 3 regular sized meals. I know you are happy that you are in the smaller sized clothes but we just want you to feel good and if eating more will help; you know we think you are great no matter what size you are. It has been so long since I was small (I consider a size 14 small to me LOL) that if I ever got out of the X+ size I would think I had accomplished the impossible. You just take care of yourself, and eat as much of something that you like that you can; even if you eat it everyday.
      Gail, you have been doing a lot of reading. We difinitely need that cozy spot for us all. I have been so sleepy today. Just think I had too much on my mind to sleep good last night. I hope I can talk Mr. Jerry into a “date night” soon. We need to leave our “problems” at home and just relax.
      Take care to all and now we begin the Thanksgiving meal planning! Hugs everyone, Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      I will try eating the smaller meals. There just is not enough hours in the day to eat that many times.lol I will try it and see how that works out. I did get some cottage cheese tonight. It is really good with blue berries in it and I can eat that. She was telling me all these things that I should try and avoid and I thought that will take care of gaining any weight. The weight has helped to keep my diabetes under control. It is just hard to know what to do. I will probably gain the weight back but at least I will be able to wear some new tops that I bought from quacker right before I lost it.
      I love taking naps. I have missed my naps for a few days. We have had so much going on here. We had to babysit for Aliza today. She is getting to be a character. She is crawling all over the place and pulling up really well. She was trying to walk a little but still will not let go of things. We were laughing at her today. She tries to get into things. They have this decoration on the coffee table and she kept trying to pull it off the table. We would move it and she would walk around the table and try again. We would keep moving it and she would keep walking around the table to get it. She was giving me some dirty looks like she was saying leave it alone I want it. She finally gave up and got interested in something else. We chased her all day. She is so funny. Then before we left Ron hid Owen’s Halloween candy. He thought he was really funny So Owen called me to ask me if grandpa hid the candy. So I told him where ti was so he could get some. I asked if he wanted to talk to his grandpa and he told me know. I think that he is mad at him now.
      That was really nice that your hair dresser worked you in today. She sounds like a nice person but you have been a good customer for a long time. Things worked out pretty well for you. The rain stopped before you went to go home. Saved you hair do.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen
      p.s. The Cubs are driving me crazy. They were winning for a long time and now it is tied. Will this ever end?

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Barbara,
      Jerry has really been busy today. I hope that they get that all set up for his mom soon. Any time you have to work with a government office it takes forever. They always have so much paper work and forms it can drive you up the wall. Jerry is a nice person doing all those nice things for everyone. It makes it hard on you though seeing him working so hard to get things done.
      That is terrible that the dog ruined Jerry’s tree. I hope that the spray and the wire will help to keep it from happening again. Maybe the tree will survive. You never know what will happen Ron is like that with his trees. If anything bothers them he gets really upset. Something killed one of his apple trees this year and he had to chop it down. He was not happy. He thinks that the guineas were pecking at it.
      I would not let her know that it bothered me. (Sarah) That is not right that she did that. As far as watching him that would have to be a decision that you make. I wonder how long her mom will be able to spend the night at her house. I imagine that Sarah’s dad will be wanting her home with him.So that may not work out like she thinks. She may end up asking you to help out with the babysitting. She should have let you know sooner but some people do not think. Things may change when Neal gets home also. I do not have dil’s so it is hard for me to say. I can understand why you were hurt. She just does not think. I will be praying that this all works out for you.
      It will not be bad if I gain the weight again. What I am thinking about is my diabetes has been under control since I have lost weight. If I gain it back it will not be bad I have the clothes to wear. I do want to feel well again though so will eat the smaller meals until I can eat a regular meal again. I really do appreciate you ladies for helping me thru this. This has just been a hard time. I love all of you girls for always being there for me.
      The planning has started here already. The girls and Ron have told me what they want for Thanks giving. So I am getting the recipes together so I will have them. My youngest daughter surprised me today. She called to let me know that her mil will be joining us for Christmas dinner. So now I have to figure out some type of gift to get for her. If anyone has any ideas I sure would like to hear them. It has to be something that she can take home on the plane.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      The Cubs win the world series. Congratulations to all the Cub fans on here. That is so cool that they finally won the WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gail I bet there will be some celebrating at your house tomorrow.
      Congratulations again.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hooray! Finally! I am doing a happy dance. Congrats Cubs and all your fans. They do love to take it right down to the wire.
      My thanksgiving thought for the day. I am thankful that the Cubs won the world series and I got to witness it. Even my hubby the Sox fan is excited. Me and Brent were texting as soon as it was over.

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Here we go.

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    • Gail Norusis
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      Post count: 3596

      Hi Barbara,
      I hope you and Jerry get that date night soon. I think you both could use it.
      Hopefully they were able to save that tree. I have no idea why a dog would do that.
      I agree with Colleen-I would not say anything to Sarah. Believe me she will be asking you to babysit eventually. It takes a lot of child care with two working parents. In the meantime-I don’t know how far you live from them-but it might just be easier for her to have her Mom come and stay at their house rather than her bringing him to you. Plus his crib and all his equipment is there-so it is a bit less complicated and I think working Mom’s are so busy that they do what is easiest for them. But I know she will need your help-it really does take a village. Just think about how much you love snuggling that little guy.
      I don’t have to plan for Thanksgiving as Jenny has it at her house. I just make some sides and bring them over so I have it easy. I was more than glad to hand the reins for that holiday over to her.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      No the Cubs do not like to make it easy on their fans. I was asking Greg last night if we had a defibrillator in the house. lol
      Well, it is good that the weight loss has helped keep the diabetes under control. I know you just want your stomach to feel better. We will always be there for you because we love you too-and we know you would be the first one there for us when we need support also. That’s what friends are for.
      It’s a good thing I had a nap yesterday what with the game running so late. Poor Greg has been up past his bedtime for the last six nights watching sports.
      Aliza is so funny-she sure was persistent trying to get that decoration. You probably did tick her off when you kept moving it. Poor Owen-he probably is mad at Ron-doesn’t he know that you don’t mess with a kid’s Halloween candy-lol-it’s a good thing that you knew where he hid it.
      I would ask Melissa if she knows if her MIL collects anything or if she has any idea what to get her for a gift. I guess you were surprised when you found out she was coming for Christmas. Are you doing both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year?
      I’m tired again today. Perhaps I will need another nap.
      Gail

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      hello everyone!!
      I loved the Chew’s Halloween show too. Loved their costumes, and all the merriment. Today, they are doing a braising show. Bobby does braised ribs, and they are fabulous. I did my vegie soup again yesterday, even though it was almost 70 out. Today it is very chilly, and raining, so glad we have the soup for tonight.
      DWTS has a great bunch of dancers this year. Gary and I were surprised Ryan was the one who got voted off. The small woman tires so hard, but I felt so bad for her when they had the group dances. God bless her spirit. I hope she is not crying privately, as it must be awful to compete in a dancing contest, with her limitations. Her partner tries to compensate by spinning her around a lot. Every time I see her dance, my heart breaks.

      Gail- So glad you were bale to get in another hair appointment. How awful is that, to get your hair done in the pouring rain? I am trying to grow mine out a little, and really need a cut, But, I want to wait until just before Thanksgiving, so it will be a little longer. When I was growing out the grey, I had it cut real short, to get rid of the dye. Now, I want it a little longer- chin length.
      How is your sister doing now, with her sight? These auto immune disorders are so difficult. I wish we could all just inherit the good parts of our parents. One of my old uniteers has Lupus. She goes for infusions every once in a while and that has made her feel a lot better. Not easy.

      Congrats to the Cubs! We watched the end of the game last night, when we went to bed. I am so glad they won, for all you fans.

      Colleen- we do not eat breakfast early here. We actually eat between 10 and 11am. Then, when Gary comes home in the afternoon from his route, we have a snack, and then dinner at around 6ish. A lot of people cannot eat early in the am. Even when I went to work, I would grab a bagel on my way in to eat, so it was not that early. It is so difficult when you have digestive issues. I hope you can figure out the right solution. What med did they give you for your stomach? I hope it works.
      How has Ron been doing? Has the potato soup been served? Gary has been trying to behave. operative word here…trying.

      Sue- How is the retirement planning going? Did you get a lot of trick or treater’s? I got 4 groups of kids, and then the boys. It got hotter up here again, which is interfering with my Fall dinner ideas. Who wants to put the oven on, when it is so warm? I am dying to make a nice loaf of bread on a chilly day. Today, nobody will be home for dinner accept me and Tillie, so we are having the left over soup from yesterday.
      Do you stay home for Thanksgiving, or go out? I am looking at the vegie recipes to see if there is something I can add tour menu that people will like. We always have mashed potato, cheesy potato, corn, and butternut squash. I like to add either a roasted vegie, or have Heather do the sweet potato casserole thing. What is your favorite?

      Barbara- what kind of a tree is it that got ruined? I am reading that funny book I told you about- “Outwitting Squirrels”, and I just read that squirrels do a lot of damage to trees trunks. I never knew that.
      I do not know what to tell you about your DIL. Honestly, I think she was trying to get the baby cared for in her own bed, to be less disruptive to her schedule. New mothers go way over the edge on concerns, and then make the decision they feel is best for the baby- little or no thought to how anyone else will feel. So, I guess my message is, not to take to to heart. (easier said than done, of course) She probably has no idea how hurt you both are. I know you were so looking forward to that special time with your Itty Bitty. Even though you are hurt, please consider going over for the 2 hours she needs, as she will realize you will be there for her, no matter what. It is hard, and I know that only all too well. I hope this will somehow work out for you and Jerry.
      Also hope Jerry gets all the paperwork done for his Mom. Nothing is easy anymore- layers and layers of stuff to do. How has his Mom been doing?
      We all seem to be getting ready for winter in our own ways. Tomorrow is the final cleaning out of the attic, and than a disposal man will be coming with his truck to haul it all away at 3, sow e have to be done by then!
      You know, after I put away the limited Halloween decorations I did take out, I realized doing it up big, is just too hard, I may have to purge all the remaining decorations, and give in to the inevitable. I just cannot put out so much, nor put it all away- takes a toll on my back and neck.

      Hope everyone is good, and that I did not miss anything!! I really hate not getting all the emails. I wish they could fix this.
      Adele

    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      Congratulations to all the Cubs fans girls! I know you all are besides yourself with joy. My FIL was such a baseball fan. He and Joey used to watch the games together. Joey mentioned that the other day. I know he misses him so much; they were so close. I really miss Jerrys Dad too. I remember how he would just “listen” to someone talk; and then always say “how do you think/feel about that?” instead of offering some kind of solution. He was a very wise man.
      Thank you all for the good advise on my “hurt feelings” about the baby. I just love him so much, and I had my hopes all ready for spending real time with him, and as awful as it sounds, just by myself with Jerry and not sharing the time with Sarah and Neal. I really do know how Sarah is spreading her Mommy wings and certainly has the right to chose what she feels is best for her baby, but honestly girls, she just outright tells Jerry where he is wrong and tells me that things have changed since I had a baby. I wish with all my heart that it didn’t bother or hurt me; but it does, and I have to make myself seem like it doesn’t. I know there will come a day or time when she needs us; but gosh, Jerry and I can’t be 20 miles from where we live at 5 am so her Mom can do what she needs to do. Her Dad won’t be alone with the baby, so that is an issue. Okay; gotta quit. I really do know this will smooth itself out; and I know in my heart that we will do whatever is humanly possible to help little Colin; but girls, this is heart breaking for me.
      I have told Jerry not to make any plans for Sunday that he and I are going to go somewhere for the day. I want us to start early and stay out as long as we feel like it. We SO need a little alone time. I miss Jerry, and we are beginning to pick at one another; and that is usually a sure. sign that we are being stretched too thin.
      It sounds like you all are beginning to plan your Thanksgiving dinners. We are still waiting to hear if we are going to spend the day in Oklahoma or not. I have a feeling we are not. Joey has to work on the holiday. He loves Thanksgiving; so even if we do go to OK. we will still do a dinner for Joey the next week. It is his absolute favorite meal of the year. I just can’t leave him out.
      Sure hope you are finding some food that will help your appetite. I remember when I wasn’t feeling well it was like everything I would try to eat just seemed to taste like a cardboard box to me. Our son Buddy would fix me oatmeal with fruit in it and some nuts because they told him at the hospital that this would be really good for me. It was so hard for me to get it down, but I knew I had to do it. So whatever you find that you can eat you do. We are all pulling for you.
      Cloudy here today, but still warm. The leaves are really falling. I love this time of year. Take care all. Sue, hope you are enjoying your retirement. Barbara

    • Dianne Danielson
      Participant
      Post count: 1034

      HI Ladies,
      Did y’all hear me last night when the Cubs got the last out & beat Cleveland. When they had the lead a friend asked me if I felt comfortable with that. I said no, not until they put the last Cleveland batter out. I knew it was too soon to breathe easy cuz anything can happen & it did! Anyway CONGRATS TO
      THE CUBS & all their fans. Loooooooooong overdue!!!!!

      The calendar says Nov. but you’d never know it out here. It was in the 60s today, almost shirt sleeve weather. Tomorrow’s supposed to be the same, but the rain returns over the weekend.
      I signed up for the trick or treaters here, but I only had 2.
      Critt’s all moved in now, & he’s so much happier to have 2-3 times more room than he had before. He also gets his new scooter tomorrow. The VA told him he wouldn’t get it till Dec., but he put in a call to our Sen. & word came down he gets it tomorrow. You don’t mess with Critt. He spent decades in
      the Air Force so he knows how to get things done.
      it’s gonna be nice to have a neighbor who isn’t a drug dealer, & has traffic in & out all hrs of the day & night.

      We had the 2nd wettest Oct. on record. We were one tenth of an inch from breaking the record. We had 8.3 inches for the month. But that’s nothing compared to some areas of the state. In the higher elevations got even more, as you can see by the graphics I’m including. It’s nice to be getting a
      reprieve from the rain for abit.
      Still no word on what caused that explosion a few weeks ago. It may take awhile, I guess.

      I guess that’s all for this time around.
      take care
      dd

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    • Gail Norusis
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      Post count: 3596

      Hi DD,
      Big victory parade in Chicago today. I will try to catch some on TV. We could hear fireworks going off around here right after the win on Weds. Very exciting time. A lot of people talking about how that was the best World Series game ever in terms of excitement and match up. It would be interesting if they could find the guy who predicted the win back in his 1993 yearbook.
      We are in the low 60’s here too which is unusual for this time of year. Nice Indian summer.
      I’m so happy that you now have a decent neighbor. That will be so much better for you and he gets a larger place-so it’s win/win.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Adele,
      I wrote Tiago another letter telling him about the notifications. So far I haven’t heard back yet. I figure since they seem to have stopped for all of you it must be something with the site now. I’m not sure if Barbara is getting them or not and Sue doesn’t sign up for them.
      My sister’s eye is doing better now-but because it’s autoimmune it’s a chronic condition.
      I’m glad to hear that Gary is trying to behave. Just keep cracking that whip! lol
      I think we all have had to cut back on the decorating. This year I did no Halloween decorations at all. However, I am keeping my stuff for the time being as I may use it next year. Although I need to go through all the decorations and get rid of what i know i will never use again.
      Looks like we will be having a lovely weekend weather wise. Hope you are too.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Barbara,
      I hope that you and Jerry have nice weather for your “day out” on Sunday. I’m sure you will have a wonderful time.
      It make take some trial and error but eventually the whole babysitting situation will work itself out. I understand that you don’t want to have to get up at five in the morning to go there when Sarah’s Mom goes to work but I also understand that it is nice to keep the baby in his own home if possible just because that’s where his crib and all his supplies are. She will have to figure a way to work this all out. In the meantime offer to help where you can.
      Do you have relatives in Oklahoma-since you mentioned going there for Thanksgiving. Is that a long drive for you?
      What are you and Jerry reading now?
      Just think now you have a little one to read to also. I love reading to the kids.
      Gail

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hey Barbara
      This is your first grandchild. That says a lot for how you both feel. Of course you want to spend the most amount of time you can with him.
      I know that when you have sons, and they have children, it is much harder than with a daughter. the girls go to their mother’s, no matter what. My friend Joyce has a terrible time with spending time with her grands, and it comes from both her DIL’s. With one of them, she is given strict times, all around their naps, of course, to visit, and only when they want a visit. Then, they are given times they can stay. Then, add they live almost 2 hours away.
      I wish I had something else I could say to make you feel better. All I can say, is that is not easy. Feelings get hurt, and all you want is to hug your Itty Bitty. I wish I could make it go away for you.
      Please feel free to come on here, any time, and we will all be there for you!
      Love,
      Adele

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      hey again Barbara
      I forgot to say……you need to do a date night, just for your sanity alone. I totally agree with that, for sure. I hope you pick a great place, and that the two of you have a very good time.
      Adele

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      DD
      Hey girlfriend!
      I wish you could give us some of your rain. We are still in a drought, even though we did have some this week, and last.
      I am so glad you have your friend Critt next door. How nice for you, and your other girlfriend in your building.
      I bet if you all need some help, he will be right there. What is wrong with Critt, that he needs a wheelchair? Was it a war injury, or aging issue? I will say a prayer for him in my nightly routine of requests to the “Sky Boss”. He sounds like a real nice guy. So glad you have good company next door. You got yourself an early Thanksgiving present.
      Hope your weather is sunny. It I sunny here, but chilly. Not too cold, so that is good for today. I am grateful.
      Adele

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hi Gailster!
      I saw some lovely pics of the kids on Jenny’s Facebook page. She has this one group pic that is fabulous. Are they are her neighbors, or relatives? I hope you saw it too.
      So glad your sister’s eye is doing better. It is awful to have an issue with your eyes.
      Heather’s eye is better. the infection is gone, now we wait to hear what her doctor says , as far as contacts go.
      I think we all have to re-think our decorating, and that stinks. But, we have to realize, even our houses, half decorated, look spectacular to everyone else, who does none, to very little. One of my neighbors started putting out his Christmas decorations.
      I had Frankie bring down the 2 Q trees, and they are ready to be assembled. I was hoping we would get them done today, but it is getting late, and Frankie needs to get home soon. The guy who picked up the attic debris just left. I am happy we have purged the attic.
      Hope you and hubby do something fun this weekend. Are all the kids feeing better? Steph and the kids have been sick, and are on antibiotics. JJ has been out of school, almost all week. It is tough when they go back to school, and catch everything the first month they are back.
      I hate that we do not get the emails, as we have to go in, and then scroll to see what we missed. It was so much easier the other way. I guess if they cannot fix it, we will all get used to it.
      I hope Colleen is feeling ok- I see no post from her.
      Congrats to the Cubs!! So exciting to see them win, after all this time.
      Adele

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Adele,
      Here’s a tip. Go to Be Social at the top pf the page go to the drop down menu there and click on discussions. Go to General Quacker chatter and click on the time above the name of the last person that posted and that at least takes you to the last post so you don’t have to scroll all the way down. That’s another thing-on the old sight they had the discussions go to page 1, 2, 3 etc. so it did not get so long by the end of the month. Wish they did that now.
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail, Barbara, Adele and DD,
      I am going to whine again tonight.I tried to eat three meals for two days and have not done bad but I still lost a pound. What is up with that. I do not know what to eat to make my weight go up or to stabilize. Maybe that is my body saying you still need to lose some. This is so dumb. I have never had this problem before. Will just have to keep trying. That is enough whining for tonight. Sorry to be such a downer.
      Did you watch the Cubs parade today? I watched some of it and the pep rally. They had a lot of people there in the stadium. I can understand why. That had to be exciting for them to have won after not winning a world series for that long. Maybe this will start a trend. they will start winning a lot. I hope that Greg will be able to catch up on some sleep this week-end that game ran pretty late.
      All Melissa can think of to give her is a gift card. That is kind of touchy though. I do not want to spend that much money on her because I do not hardly know her. If Stephen was here he could probably think of something to give her. This is something else. All I really know about her is that she is a drinker and the couple of times that I have seen her she had a little too much. So do not want to go that route.
      How are your grands doing? Have not heard any good Piper stories lately.
      Adele, No potato soup for Ron yet but he is not far from getting a bowl. If Owen was here he would want me to make him some. He would want him to have it for a month for hiding his Halloween candy. Owen is still mad at him.
      The medicine I take for my stomach is Ondansetron it is generic for another med but will have to look it up. I can hardly pronounce that word and it is a pain in the neck. The brand name is not as long and as hard to pronounce.
      You will have to feed Gary potato soup for a few days until he behaves everyday. Not just trying. lol It is probably really hard for him. He is use to eating the way he wants and does not like having to eat and drink right. Just keep after him and he will start to do it on his own.
      DD. I thought that I heard a loud noise outside the other night. I did not know that it was you cheering for the Cubs.lol That was nice that they won. They did deserve. The curse is broken.
      That is nice that Crit is living next door to you. Now you have a good neighbor and you two can have some meals together. You can have three people for the meals that you cook with your friend down the hall. That will be nice for both of you ladies.
      You really have had a lot of rain. We all can use a little rain in our areas. We are not in a drought but it is getting a little dry here. We are supposed to have rain in a few days.
      Barbara, It must be hard when it is your dil that you have to deal with. Maybe as she realizes that you really want to help with the baby she will ask you more. I think that maybe she thinks it is nice that her mom will spend the night at her house. It will make it easier on her.
      It will be so nice if you and Jerry go out for the day. You can get away from everything and just be together. You both have to be tired with all that you have had to handle lately. Just go and enjoy yourself and do not think about anything else but each other. You two need this time and deserve it.
      That is so cute that your son would make you breakfast. It is hard not to eat it when they do that. You are right about how food tastes. How cute that it made it with fruit and nuts. Your sons are so thoughtful. You and Jerry brought them up right.
      We are doing Thanks giving and Christmas at our house this year. Which is fine with me. Ron likes having all the kids at our house. We do not have to leave the house and I have to do all the cooking.
      Well that is about all from here. I hope that all of you have a great night.
      Colleen
      p.s. I think that we may have to try writing to James about the notifications. It does not seem like Tiago is going to do anything about it. Has anyone heard from him

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      Don’t get discouraged. Just keep trying to eat a little more. Things will get better. Do you have any more doctor’s appointments?
      I know it’s hard to be the cook when you are the one who doesn’t feel like eating too. Maybe you need to add more potatoes, breads and pasta and do some carbo loading. I know those usually put on weight.
      I watched all the parade and rally. We fans need to soak this all in as we have waited so long. A couple of Jenny’s friends went into the city to watch the parade. That was something only young people could tolerate doing.
      I just happened to still be awake last night for SNL and saw that Ross, Fowler and Rizzo were on there. Who know Rizzo could twerk like that!!!My jaw just dropped to the floor-and then I had to record it so I could show it to Greg in the morning-lol-although I imagine I enjoyed it more than he did. lol
      He is out golfing at the local 9 hole course this morning as it is still so nice out. Their regular course is closed for the season now. I hope everyone got there at the right time as I can remember one year they did this and some guys came at the old time and some at the new what with the time change overnight. Now it will be dark at 4 o’clock. Don’t like that part.
      Maybe next time Melissa skypes with Stephen she can ask him what to get his Mom.
      Piper was back to her old self on Friday. She was monopolizing Grandpa. She always has to sit next to him when we eat dinner and of course Grandpa just laps it all up. lol
      You know I messaged Tiago and didn’t get an answer either. Do you think James is even still on here? it seems like we haven’t heard anything from him in months. I wonder if Tiago took over for him. If he did he could at least answer us back when we have concerns.
      It’s another beautiful sunny day here-hope it is the same where everyone else is.
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      It seems like at first on here Tiago and James were on here a lot checking everything. They would answer if we wrote to them and fix the problems right away. Now we never hear from either of them. Maybe they are getting tired of doing this and are not reading their messages anymore. Maybe they cannot figure this out either. I do not know what to think.
      We went to my sils today for dinner. They fried a bunch of deer meat. They made a salad and baked beans. I ate a couple pieces of the deer meat and some salad. That was about all I could eat. My nephew told me that I was eating a lot. Was I sure I could eat all of that. I could have slapped him. I should have put it back and not eaten anything. He probably did not mean it the way I took it but that was about all I could eat of the fried meat. The salad was interesting it had lettuce very little lettuce, cucumbers, onion and green beans. They were out of a can. It was pretty good but the salad dressing that they put on there was oil, vinegar and sugar. Oh well they do not know and they cannot make a meal according to what I can eat. I should have brought a lunch with me. They all would have laughed if I did that.
      There was a lot of people at that parade. They had to be shoulder to shoulder there and hardly could move. They were showing the field where the rally was and it was so muddy. Do not think that it would have been much fun walking thru that. I can see where Cubs fans were enjoying the win. They deserve to have this celebration. The curse is over finally.
      That is nice that Greg got some golf in today. There will not be to many more days that the golf courses will be open. It was nice that one stayed open since the weather has been so nice. Hope that he played a good game.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Dianne Danielson
      Participant
      Post count: 1034

      Hi Ladies,
      Just a quick note to let ya know I’m fine. We had a soggy Sat., but today was nice. Overcast, but no rain. Yeah that was me you heard when the
      Cubs got the last out. I always root for the underdogs. & I can’t think of anyone that’s been a bigger underdog. They didn’t show the parade here until
      the news. They showed all the people out there. All I can say is WOW!!

      Colleen, don’t they sell a powder that you mix in water or milk that helps put on weight. I think it’s in pharmacy area of your local store. I want to say
      whey, but I could be wrong. Ask your pharmacist about it. They should know what it is.
      I hope all of you remembered to turn your clocks back. I know some people who didn’t. Jewell was right on top of it this morning. she got in my face & I felt her whiskers tickle me. lol
      Well, that’s all for tonight.
      Have a great week
      dd

      Attachments:
    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi DD,
      Pretty nostalgic looking Christmas pictures.
      There were a lot a people out for the Cubs parade. They said a figure but of course i forgot what it was. lol
      Did you see some of the players on SNL Saturday night?
      I’m so happy tomorrow is election day and all the advertisements and commercials will go away.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      You are right about James and Tiago. It seems like neither are around much anymore. I do see that Tiago does come on so that’s why I thought maybe he had taken over for James. I’m like you-I don’t know what else to do.
      Sounds like you should have packed your own meal. lol The canned green beans in the salad is different.
      I’m not that crazy about venison but some people eat a lot of game and we just never did growing up. No one went deer hunting. Now when we moved here that’s when I first had it as a lot more people in this area deer hunt. I hated any time we traveled in Wisconsin or Minnesota around Thanksgiving and every third car seemed to have a deer on the hood. I found it especially distracting when one of those cars is right in front of you. Ick!
      Maybe your nephew did not know about your recent struggles with eating when he made that remark. Was he being serious or sarcastic-do you think?
      Did you ever think of drinking some ensure? I remember the doctor had me drink that when I couldn’t eat when I had mono.
      Greg did have a good time golfing. He even said it felt better since the back shot.
      After tomorrow no more election commercials. Hooray!
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Don’t forget to vote tomorrow.

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      They all hunt around here and they have deer meat and squirrel and rabbit. I am not good at cooking things like that because we did not eat that when we were kids. Ron’s family all hunt all but Ron. He did when we first got married but then later on he stopped. Thank Heaven for that. I have fried deer meat before and it is not hard to do but I am not really good at it. There is a trick to get it tender. They usually cut the meat into small pieces kind of like nuggets and then you fry it.
      Everyone hunts around here so it is not unusual to see someone hauling a deer on their car or in their pick up. The ones that get me are the ones that are standing around talking about how big their deer is and lifting the head to show the antlers. That I can do without. Another thing that they do is hang the deer from a tree for a night and let it set. I have no idea why, It is already dead why hang it from a tree. I would ask but I am not sure that I want to know.
      He probably was kidding but I guess that it bothers me right now. He has always been a little smart alec. He probably did not really mean anything by it. They cooked a lot of deer meat. They had it all over the kitchen. They were expecting family to come in all day and get some to eat. They have a lot of grand kids and great grands and nieces and nephews. They all live close to them.
      I have drank some boost before. That is supposed to be for diabetics. May have to get some again. I have never drank Ensure. They do not have really good flavors like boost.
      I am ready for the elections to be over. We get the ads for people running in our state and in Illinois. We live so close to the state line that we get both. Do you get the candidates from Wisconsin on your stations there? I guess in some parts of Illinois they get our stations. So they have to show both. I do not want to see another politician for a long time. Or hear another speech. They are all just putting each other down and it is getting on my nerves. I would love to hear what they stand for but they do not take the time to tell you that.
      I am glad that the back shot helped Gregs back like it did. It would be hard not to be able to play a game and have your back hurting so bad that you cannot stand it.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi DD,
      I love those pictures that you posted. A couple of them remind me of going downtown St. Louis and looking in the windows at all the department stores. They always had such cool displays in them at Christmas time. It is a shame that they do not do that anymore. Kids do not know what they are missing.
      I think that they want you to drink Ensure and Boost and things like that now. I have not seen any of the powders that you mix to help with weight gain. They use to have Geritol a long time ago. I have not seen that in years though. Thanks for the suggestion though. I can use all the help I can get. I will look again and see what they have.
      Jewel wanted to make sure that you got up in time. She must have been wanting her breakfast. lol We have not had a cat in such a long time. They are so cute. We just have dogs now. It is better where we live. If you have a cat and it gets outside all the dogs chase it. So we have to be really careful.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hey girls!
      I am attaching a couple of pics of what I have been up to. I put up the little tree in the living room, but did not decorate it yet- will do that after Thanksgiving. The 2 white outside trees are also on the lawn.
      I made a pound cake on Sunday, and the recipe is enough for 2 of them- one in the pumpkin pan, and did one in the new Temptations loaf pan. Both came out great. The Temptations pan gave it a nice crust, all the way around.
      I hope everyone voted….we do the mail away, as we cold never do the lines.
      Did anyone see Stephen Colbert last night? I almost peed myself, I laughed so hard. you have to google it, you will love it. I cannot imagine what he will do tonight. I also saw SNL, and they were great too. I have no idea what the comedians will do after tomorrow- what will they talk about??
      I will be so happy when all the political adds will be done. We have seen more adds for Kelly Ayott, all day and all night, and she is in NH!
      I have been doing the needlepoint to get the stocking done, and making progress. Had to cancel my appointment with the doctor today for my neck, as I really feel lousy- very queasy. So, I will be doing quiet needlepoint, while they talk about the election all day long. I was meeting Nancy for lunch, so I had to cancel that too. Well, the news on Nancy’s son is good and bad. the surgeon said the tumors are cancer, but, a very slow growing cancer. They met with the surgeon Friday, and he wants to review the notes from Childrens Hospital, the last time he had cancer in his throat, before they proceed. The surgeon did say he wants to take his thyroid out, so this will not happen again. her son doe snot want to do that, as he doe snot want to be on meds all his life for the thyroid. It is making Nancy nuts. the only good part is the surgeon said it is slow growing, and that he is confident he will be bale to get them out, without impacting his vocal cords.
      So happy the Cubs won, and I loved their celebrations. Reminded me of our Red Sox after the Marathon bombing, when they won that year. Speaking of them, I will miss Big Papi- he is such a great athlete, and a very nice, and generous person. I hope he stays in the Boston area.

      Colleen-So sorry your nephew was so insensitive. I would have felt hurt too. I agree with Gail- try the carbs. For years when I had the diverticulitis, I had to eat “white foods” as that was all my stomach could tolerate, and very small amounts. I have never heard of that med, so I have no familiarity with it at all. Is it working? I hope so.
      Have you been watching the Chew? They have been making me laugh a lot lately. I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. But, the guests keep changing. Now, Enzo’s father wants to stay home, as he feels more comfy there, and wants to relax after dinner. I get that. I just wish I knew before I bought the extra 3 place setting of my china….LOL Actually, 4 less people will be easier on me, so I am not upset at all. Now, I am down to 13. Did you see the mashed potato casserole Michael Simon did yesterday? That looked real yummy.

      DD- your kitty reminds me of my cats. They loved to snuggle up when it got cold out. It is so nice to hear your kitty purr, when they snuggle up to you, and your kitty is so beautiful.
      How is your neighbor doing? Are you all having a good time together? Will he join you, and your friend for Thanksgiving?
      I always love your pictures. they are so up-lifting. Thank you for making us smile.

      Gailster- I cannot believe Greg is still golfing! this has been very weird weather, all across the US. We are still in a drought, and DD is getting soaked.
      I saw a couple of pics yesterday that Jenny posted. Absolutely adorable. How has your foot been doing, now that it is cooler?
      So glad Piper is back to normal. The kids here were sick too- now Heather has it too. I hope we do not get it.
      Are you cooking for Thanksgiving, or going to Jenny’s? Will Brett come home for any part of the holidays? I hope so, for all of your sakes- that would be a great present for your family.

      I am rooting for Hillary- hoping all will go well today, and there will be no incidents of concern. We need this country to heal. It has been a long 2 years of all of this mess.
      Love my fellow Quackers…..they are on today at 1pm!
      Adele

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    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      Hello Ladies. Been cloudy and overcast all day here today. We did our voting early today with Joey as he was getting off work this morning. Crowds were already forming here. Jerry has been literally upset over some things (and I won’t go into it; because I know that each of us have our reasons for voting the way we do) but I told him that I have said a prayer that we will all come together as a nation and heal our hurts that we have all done to one another. He just got quiet and I asked him what was he doing and he said praying. So we rode in silence for a while; and then I said, “lets get some doughnuts!” and he and Joey and I really enjoyed them. Adele, they were fresh and warm from the oven and the aroma was wonderful. Our kitchen has been missing that smell lately, and it needs to get it back LOL
      Colleen, I am so sorry that you got your feelings hurt. It is so very hard for some people to relate to someone who is not feeling good. Are you by any chance able to drink milk? If you do; I was thinking of how when my Dad was having a hard time I would add malted milk powder to his milk or his milkshake for added protein and to add weight. You can buy it here in the same aisle that they sell cocoa powder or dried milk powder. It tastes so good. I used to just eat me some right out of a spoon when MaMa wasn’t looking when I was a child. And I think they sell some protein powder that you can put in food at Walmart in the health food store inside there. Just do the best you can and hang in there. I really believe that you will turn this around soon and be like me fussing about how you can just look at food and add ten pounds LOL I remember one of my SIL’s coming to our house one day with two paper bags filled up with clothes and she said she was giving them to me since I was the only person she knew who was big enough to wear them.. She had weight loss surgery and had lost a whole lot of weight. It hurt my feelings so badly. I knew I was big; but it just hurt to have someone just blurt it out in front of everyone.
      Jerry and I did go out for the evening. We had a nice dinner and went to a movie. He started to talk about some family things about us and the baby; and I just said no, I wasn’t going to even think let alone talk about anything that evening except him and me. So that is how we spent our evening, and to tell the truth; it was fun. We laughed about times of long ago and only mentioned the boys when telling something funny they had done or said as children. It turned out to be a very enjoyable evening.
      Lisa came over to Joeys this past weekend. It has been a while since she has been over. She of course won’t even look at us since Jerry told her she has to do something about that bloodhound eating his trees up. He now says he regrets ever saying anything to her that he should have just spoken to Joey and let him be the one who talked to her. Joey handled it so well. He told Jerry that he loves him but the whole incident caught him off guard and he just needs a “heads up” if anything like that happens again.
      Well, speaking of Jerry, he is calling me from the den so I better go check on him. I hope everyone is doing well. Take care. Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      Your pound cake looks so good. I could take a bite of it right now. I like the way it has the pumpkins on top that looks really cool. I should start getting the Temptations pans so I can bake some things that will look like that. The little ones would get a kick out of that.
      We voted today and it was really nice. There were a lot of young people voting today. It was so crowded at our voting place that they had to sit at tables to fill out their ballot. I waited and got into a booth. We have never seen that many people out voting in our district before. It was really nice to see it. I hope that this will get the young people interested in our country and to know that we need their votes.
      We have a lot of ads here also. We get the ones for Illinois also. Who cares about Illinois they have nothing to do with us. It was bad enough listening to the ads from the people that were running in our state. Just think tomorrow we will not have to listen to any at all. They will be able to advertise all the other useless stuff that they advertise.
      I watch the chew every day. They have had some fun things going on that show. I did see those potatoes that Micheal made. I may try that on Thanks giving and make some mashed potatoes also. Everyone can make a choice of what they want. It is nice that they have all been there again. For awhile if Daphne was there Mario wasn’t and vice a versa. There is probably a lot going on in Daphne’s life with the two kids. I wonder if she will have more. She always talked like she wanted a lot of kids. It will be interesting if the two turn out to be enough. I cannot believe they live in an apartment with the two kids. I guess in New York they are use to living in apartments and not houses. I would want a house of my own and not have to share a building with a bunch of other people. I am really cranky tonight.
      I am trying to eat more carbs and see if that will help. Even if I could maintain my weight that would be good. I do not think that they want me to gain a lot of weight just stop losing. I appreciate all the ideas that you girls have been giving me. I will try as many of them as I can.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Barbara,
      It was good to see so many people going out to vote. It was nice to see young people out voting also. It would be nice if they were like that every time we have an election. We all need to vote. That was funny that Jerry got so quite and was praying. That is about all that we can do. We just have to trust the Lord to guide us and we do the right thing.
      That would have been the best thing of the day getting the doughnuts. Ron got cherry turnovers. It is funny that sweets help us thru a lot of things. That would be so nice to get a doughnut when it is warm. That is when they are best.
      I do not like milk. I have drank milk in a long time. If I put something in it, it may not be so bad. I did not even drink milk when I was a kid. I would eat dry cereal and did not put milk in my oatmeal. I was a weird kid. I may try to add the powder in the milk and see if I can drink it that way. Thank you for the tip I appreciate it. You are probably right. I will gain the weight and wonder why I could not keep it off. I am going to pack some of my clothes in boxes until I see what happens with the weight thing. I have a lot of different sizes in there right now. So will take them out and put them back if the weight comes back.
      Your sil should have know better then to do that. She had an operation to lose the weight so she knew how you felt. She must be like my nephew she just was being rude. You should have told her that the clothes would be too big for you that you never did get as big as her.lol It is easy to come up with things to say after the fact. At least we all sparkle and shine with our quacker clothes. So we look good no matter what size we are.
      I am glad that you and Jerry had a nice evening. You both needed that and it was good that you told Jerry that you did not want to talk about any family matters. It is fun to just talk about the kids when they were younger and all the crazy things that they did. They all had funny things that they said. Some things they would be so serious about and you had to keep from smiling because it was funny. I would do it all over again if we could.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Barbara,
      I’m glad that you and Jerry had a nice evening out. It’s good to get a break from our routines. What movie did you see? Was it good?
      Your SIL really needed some lessons in tact. Sometimes you wonder if people think before they speak.
      I hope you find some solution for Lisa’s bloodhound-didn’t she have a pit bull too? What happened to that dog?
      I hope Jerry’s trees will be safe in the future.
      We have a blue heron that visits our pond looking to catch koi and he finally got one last weekend. Poor Greg was having a fit. Now he has a big scarecrow out there and it hasn’t come back-it could be that or the shots that Greg fired at it with the BB gun.
      Well now the election is over so no more political ads-now it will be Christmas ads which at least are more pleasant but just as repetitious.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      Speaking of deer. We passed a big buck coming home from Jenny’s the other night. He was just standing there on the side of the road. Thank goodness he didn’t want to cross it as we were driving by. This is the bad time of year for deer hits as it is rutting season and they are running all over the place. I guess the bucks are chasing the does all around. lol
      You know we live so close to the Wisconsin border but we don’t get their political advertisements because our stations come out of either Rockford or Chicago.
      You can ask Adele-but I don’t think that those pumpkins pans came from Temptations. I think they might have come from those (I think) It’s Nordic Ware pans. They have all sorts of cute designs that you can make with those pans. I’ll bet it came from the King Arthur site. I missed The Chew mashed potatoes-I will have to look on their website.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Adele,
      Your cake looks so cute in that pan.
      I’m glad that you will be getting that stocking done finally. That has been hanging over your head for quite awhile now. Aizen needs stuff in that stocking! lol
      How tall is that new tree?
      Greg golfs until the weather is so bad that they can’t anymore as long as they can find a course that’s still open.
      The ankle is okay-some days worse than others-depending on how much I walk.
      Jenny will have Thanksgiving. I will just bring whatever dishes she tells me to-or if I have something new that I want to try.
      Brent might come for a visit this summer. He doesn’t have that much vacation time yet.I’m sure he misses us at the Holidays but at least he can go to Wendy’s parents and have a family celebration.
      Gail

    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      I am sitting here watching In the Kitchen with David and he has those towel pot holders in Christmas designs, and Yes, I called and got me the one with the cute reindeer with presents that says kitchen buddy on it and has Christmas trees. I really think I am going to get a lot of use from them. I can only find one pot holder when I need it and having them both together will help me. Gosh, all that food on there is making me hungry LOL We are having cold cuts, crackers and cheese and just lots of condiments to go along with it for our luxurious dining tonight. Oh, gosh, now he is showing tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. I am going to have to turn the channel Ha Ha. Gail, I love the photos of our friends Temptation dishes too; but honestly, I just do not have a place to put anything else. I should just take a day and throw out all of these dented scorched pots and pans and save only the good ones. I remember having to scrub for HOURS when I was so tired and just wanted to lay down after I used the pots and roaster that we had for years. I join you wholeheartedly Colleen in saying that whomever thought of the throw away pans is nothing short of pure genius LOL I just love how festive the Temptations are. I bet you girls set a beautiful table. We have a bar with stools around it between the den and kitchen so I can visit and cook at the same time; and even though we have a nice dining table; no one uses it; they just sit at the bar or in the den with trays. We are not very formal around here. I remember once when the boys were small that I said to Jerry that I would love to have just ONE meal without having to jump up because someone had spilled something; and now that I have it; I would give so much to have those little fellows spilling something around my table. My how the years have flown. Okay; I will stop or find myself getting all nostalgic again. But I will say that I truly admire all of you for how you face your life changes with such dignity and I am nothing short of being a glob of mush about change.
      Neal called to check on us and tell us about his school. I know it is hard; but so far he is keeping up and he wouldn’t complain even if it was just awful. I know that he can feel that I am really missing Colin; but I am very upbeat when we talk and tell him we are here for them for whatever they may need. He said Sarah had tried to call us one day but didn’t get any answer. I didn’t know since there was no message from her. He said it was okay that she just was going to exercise and “thought we might like to keep Colin for an hour” unquote. I want that baby all night like her MaMa has him; but I kept my mouth shut except to say that I love little Colin so much and I am so proud of how hard he is working to make a good life for his little family. I would not dare say anything that would cause him any more stress than he is already under; no matter how hurt my feelings are. And girls, they are hurt. Did I tell you all that Sarah and Lisa are doing pizza nights and things together? It seems to me that Jerry and I are the grinches and what do I say or do at this point? Sarah posts a photo every week of little Colin sitting in the corner of a chair in her parents house with the block number of his week of life next to him. They are so sweet. Okay, I’m stopping. Sorry girls. I just need to cuddle with him so badly.
      Does the cooler air hurt you alls knees, foot, shoulders Etc? We are creaking around here ha ha Oh, I love the 20 piece Temptation set that is on now. I have always meant to ask, is it easy to clean? This is just beautiful. I am SO tempted. Even has measuring cups and spoons with it. It has acorns and stripes on it.
      Better close and go fix our dinner. Those scalloped potatoes look so good. Colleen, you just keep doing the best you can with your weight. Your little body is just adjusting to getting better; and you didn’t lose the weight overnight, and you will not gain a few pounds overnight either. They just want you to level out on your weight, and you will get there, I know. Gail, how is your foot? Are the grandchildren staying well? I surely hope so. I hope Tillie is doing well, and your Mom too Colleen. What a blessing for them to have such good daughters. Take care everyone. Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      I am glad that the deer did not run out in front of your car. They can really do some damage. You would not think that they were that heavy to do that much. They always seem to be running out in the road at this time of year. You would think that they would know that it is hunting season and they should be hiding. lol
      I will have to ask Adele about that. I do not know why I thought that it was Temptations. It must have been from the King Arthur site. I will have to look and see. I do not buy much from them but do look on their site to see what they have. One day I may order from them.
      The election is finally over and all the ads are gone. That was so nice today to watch tv and not ads telling us how terrible someone is. This was the meanest campaign that I have seen in a long time. Everyone was accusing the person they were running against of taking funds from somewhere. It was crazy. I would love to have heard more of what they were going to do for our state or our country and not all that other stuff. I am just glad that it is all over with and we can move on.
      I have to start planning my Thanks giving meal for this year. I have to figure out what I will fix for that meal and try to come up with different sides for Christmas. Maybe I should freeze the left over sides from Thanks giving and have them for Christmas. lol How well do you think that mashed potatoes freeze.
      Oh well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Barbara,
      You cannot let Sarah get to you. If you want to hold Colin just go over there and hold him. Just drop by to see how they are doing or call and ask her what is a good time to come by to see Colin. I am sure that she would tell you and she would be glad to have you come over. Do not let her keep Colin from you if you want to see him. He is your grandson and you need to hold and hug him as much as her mom does. Just hang in there it will all work out.
      I do not watch In the Kitchen with David. There are too many things that I would love to have. I have to finish doing my Christmas shopping before I get more things for myself. Quacker factory always has such cute things around this time of year also. So it is hard not to buy things.
      I do not set a beautiful table at all. We use paper plates and everyone goes in the kitchen and fills their plate and then sits at the table in the dining room or the one in the kitchen. This year we are going to put a card table at the end of the main table so we can all eat together. Then if the older grands want to eat in the kitchen they can. It will be up to them. I guess we will use the good china for Christmas. The adults will use the good dishes and the grands can eat off the santa dishes. Those will go in the dish washer and they are not any trouble to wash and put away. The good ones have to be hand washed.
      The rain and the cooler air bother my knees and my back. This type of weather is not good for people our age. lol When did we got old enough to have all of these aches and pains. It is fun to go back and just talk about when the kids were little and all the messes they made. It all goes by in an instant. When we were going thru it it seemed like it would never end.
      I am just not going to worry about my weight anymore. It is driving me crazy and so if I do not think about it then It will all be okay. It does not help to worry about it and I am going to quit weighing myself as often. So that will take care of that.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hey everyone!

      Has anyone heard from Sue? I have not seen a pots on here from her in a bit.
      Well. he number of people for dinner keeps changing. I was horrified when I realized it is 2 weeks away. I gave them until tomorrow to get it straight, as I have to order the turkey. If I have 17, instead of 14, that is a big difference for things like sides, cranberry sauce, and drinks. We get those Welch’s sparkling juice drinks, and they do not have much in them.
      Colleen- the pan with the pumpkin bottom is a Nordic Ware- came form the King Arthur site. I did not take a pic of the one in the Temptations loaf pan- I got the pumpkin one, of course.
      I hope the carbs will work out well for you, as they do have a lot less stress on the belly.
      The Chew has been having a lot of funny actors on, and ding some good stuff. I try to make sure I am staying still when they are on….LOL
      Gail-You were lucky that deer stayed still. I am glad there was no collision. that would have been awful.
      The tree is 4 feet tall. So, the one on the dining room will look like it is at least 6 feet tall.
      that is a lot easier to go to Jenny’s. I hope Brent will be bale to go too, or it is along wait until he comes for summer.
      You have been pretty lucky with your foot so far, as it has not been getting worst. that is wonderful. I hope the pain does not get worst, as the weather gets colder. I am like you- the more I stay off my feet, the better the back and neck are. I dusted half the house today, so I am a little sore- not too bad.
      Barbara- that was great that you had your date night with Jerry, and that you set limits on the topics for discussion.
      I feel so bad about your visits with Colin. I wish I had some magic thing that would solve the problem. Have you ever thought of calling her, and asking if she needed some quiet time- that you were willing to come get the baby for a while, so she could go shopping or take a nice long bath??? I do not know if it would work- just a suggestion.
      I get it with Jerry and the voting. All my friends are very upset up here, and it looks like I may lose one on Facebook. She posted a statement saying she wishes him well, and congratulated him. I could not help myself, and added this…..would you feel comfortable leaving your daughter or granddaughter alone with him? her daughter added a snarky response, saying she could take care of herself, and that her mother wished the country well. What they forget, is that I know how prejudiced they all are. I am fighting my urge to delete both of them on Facebook. I wanted to add that I devoted my entire life to families and children, so they would not be abused, and his open admission of groping women was particularly offensive to me, and all social workers. I decided not to respond. I may still delete them. Not yet decided. I am trying to take the high road, and give it a day before I decide.
      Yes, we do the formal table thing on Thanksgiving and less Christmas. I have to get all the crystal washed….help!! I always give a little speech on what I am thankful for, and then we go around the table. there has not been a lot of times when I could speak without crying. this year will be no different. They all roll their eyes, and Marissa yells…”don’t cry again Nana.”
      Hope you are all good, and that I did not miss anything. Happy Thanksgiving prep!
      Love you, my Quacker buddies!
      Adele

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      I do not think that Sue gets on here that much. She has not come on regularly in a long time. She must be busy doing other things or maybe they have her working again for awhile. I am sure that she will come on here again soon.
      That would be hard if the numbers of guests just keeps changing. I am like you it is nice to know how many people will be there so you have enough food. We are going to have the same number of people here as we did last year. I do not think that there will be any extras. I always have enough food to feed an army though. I always tell Melissa if there are any people from the base that have no where to go they can come here with her. We will feed them even if we have to have lunch meat. lol I guess the ones that have no where to go get together with others that have no where to go and eat there.
      This is all I will say about the whole election thing. I hope that he does a good job for the country. We all need to unite now because there is not anything else that we can do. He has won and it is over with. We have already had a groper in the White House and that was Bill Clinton and we did nothing about it. So it is time to move on and try to just not get mad at each other over who won and who they voted for. I hope that I did not offend anyone because I do not want to do that. I just want all the division and fighting to stop and lets get the country back to where it needs to be.
      I am trying to eat light and the carb thing. I am hoping that it will work out for me.
      How is your neck and back right now? I hope that it is better and you are able to sleep better now. Did you ever get the shot in your neck? You were going to do that weren’t you? My memory is getting so bad that it is hard to remember what I read and what someone told me in person. I have such a busy life.lol!!!!!!!! How is Gary doing? Hope that he is fine and that he is not having any more infections.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Anonymous
      Inactive
      Post count: 643

      I am fine. I hope this will work. I have been having trouble with my internet. It keeps going out I have been dealing with it for over a month. I decided it has to be the modem. I had called before but they did nothing so I called again today and said I wanted someone to check my modem. He checked on mine and said it has been discontinued and that is probably why its been going out. I just can’t figure out why the other guys did not know this. So he is sending me a new model free but I need to hook it up myself. Wish me luck on that. I think I can connect the cords but he said I will no longer need my wireless router as one is built in to this one and I am worried my printer and tablet won’t recognize the new one. So I may not be around until the new one comes next week. I could not get on all day until a little while ago. So I hope you get this before it goes out again.

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Sue,
      Hope that you get this fixed soon. We miss hearing from you.
      Colleen

    • Anonymous
      Inactive
      Post count: 643

      Adele are you still looking for gifts? Check M52469 10 Mrs Prindables apples with gift boxes for 49.98. So $5 a gift. I think Cheryl’s cookies have what you got before on their website. I just got an e-mail about the apples so thought I would let you know. I have had her apples before and they were good. Some give them bad reviews but mine were fine. Keep in frig.

    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      Hi friends. It is cold here tonight and it is only about 7 pm and I am fighting sleep. LOL I hear Jerry in the kitchen; so that means he took the hint from me leaving a store bought pizza in the fridge. Guess he is heating up the oven. I told him when he got back from his Moms that I was just beaten down; since I had to go to that dad blasted grocery store and walk the whole thing; go to the post office, and go pick up our medicines. I surely remember when that would have only taken me mabey an hour or so; and now you would think it is a major accomplishment. ha ha. His Mom is getting really confused here lately. She is doing so well physically; but she has introduced Jerry as her brother a couple of times in the last two weeks; and of course; that upset him so badly. I tried to explain that this happens, but it is so hard for him to see her change like this. She hugs on us and laughs and talks. We fixed up a wreath on her door this weekend, and have added some Christmas lights around her door. She really liked that. I need to get a little tree for her room next. I did take her a Quacker Christmas sweater in red with paw prints on it. She loved it. One of the aides has polished her fingernails a bright red; so she really looked like the holidays. I am in a pickle when it comes to the Smith Thanksgiving. Neal has asked us if we might could come to Oklahoma the day before Thanksgiving, do dinner the next day, and then he has to be in school on Friday; but then he wants us to let him and Sarah has some time on Saturday, and us all leave for home on Sunday. Now mind you; he can’t tell us until next week if he will be able to do this or not. He has so many tests that it will depend on this. So I really can’t make any plans. And then of course; there is Joey to think of. Could it get more complicated? Jerry said he is going to tell him no, that it is just too hard for me; but I have asked him to just wait a few days more, and let us see how things go. By the way; Neal did come home last Thursday night after school since he had Friday off and no test until Tuesday. Colleen, I am trying so hard to do the right thing with Sarah and Colin. I do call and check on them, but she is usually feeding him or “busy”. I feel like a doofus (don’t even think that is a word) but I am trying. I just feel that someone should cut me a little slack sometimes, and worry about pleasing me for a change. There; I said it so now I will go to my happy place. ha ha
      I am not hardly ordering anything right now. I don’t have a clue what to do for Christmas. With some of my moods here lately I may just decide to take Mr. Smith on a week long adventure somewhere. ha ha You all are such good grandmothers. What happened to me?
      Take care everyone. Hope everyone is bearing up to the change in weather. Even Jerry complained about his bones hurting more. Take care. Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Barbara,
      You are a good grandma. It is just that Sarah does not realize it yet. Neal knows it though and will do something more about it when he gets home. I would not do well with a dil. I just do okay with their husbands side of the family. They are trying to cut in on my holiday time with my family and that is not right. lol I really do take offense that they want my grands to be at their house on Christmas day. I know that Aliza is their grand daughter too but they need to let her come here for the holidays. I have told my daughter this and she just laughs at me. She is so mean. I am glad that you said that about them doing something for you. It is about time that they did. It does feel good to say things like that once in awhile. Glad that you got that off your chest.
      I do not like going to the grocery store anymore. Ron wants to go to this store that I do not like and they never have all that I need. So then we have to go to another store to get the rest of the things. It drives me crazy. We just have to go to the drive up window to pick our prescriptions. So that is not as bad. I always wonder why when they are a pharmacy they are all the way in the back of the store instead of the front. It would just make a lot more sense. I guess though if they were in the front you would not buy as much.
      It is hard to take when your mom does not recognize you. At least she thinks that he is her brother. That was nice that you fixed her room up like that for Christmas. I bet it looks really nice. The place where she is staying is really a nice place. I am glad that you and Jerry found that for her.
      That would be a hard decision to make. Is there anyway that Joey could go with you? Well if he cannot figure this all out then it won’t be a problem. It would be nice if he could come home but when they are in school like that it is hard. It will all work out so do not worry about it that much. What ever happens will happen and you just have to roll with it.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hello everyone!
      I have not read all the posts yet. I am so sorry I have not made it on here. With all the commotion of the election, and all my friends calling all day long, I keep forgetting to get on here. Hate, hate, hate, that we do not get the email reminders!!!
      Well…….when I realized I had a week to clean the crystal, and get everything cleaned before the bake-a-thon starts next week, I freaked. then, add the stocking. I had last weekend, and then finished cleaning the crystal in the china cabinet in the entrance way on Monday. I have not done that cabinet in a few years, and it was embarrassing. All due to the back. I am so glad everything is sparkling for the holidays.
      I finished Aizen’s stocking late last night- at 8:30, and got it on the stretcher. Now, all I have to do is sew the lining, and the stocking together- will not take long. I can get that done in a couple of hours, at the most. Probably do it tomorrow.
      Colleen- I think we all feel the same way. We are trying to deal with the results. The daily reports on who he chooses to be around him, is so terribly upsetting. All we can do is pray, that he gets a clue every person in this country deserves the best, and that they are all important, no matter where they came from, what color they are, or what religion they practice. God help us all. I do get some laughs about it, by watching Stephen Colbert every night.
      Sue- thank you for the idea- I will check it out as soon as I am done here. Hope you get the inter net fixed.
      Barbara- there are many holidays I get disgusted with everyone’s crazy behaviors. Do not worry. you are a fabulous mother, MIL, and Nana. Just do what Colleen and I do, when we are out of ideas, and spirit- gift cards! You can even get gift cards to their favorite restaurants, so they can go for a romantic evening with their spouses…..Then you can add a note, saying you will be happy to babysit, when they go. Win, win situation, I say…..LOL
      I hope Jerry’s mother does not continue to get more confused. It is awful when you lose them, before you lose them.
      I hope you can get Thanksgiving dinner set, and that the most amount of your family can be together. If not, you are welcome to come here!! I have 17 coming, so far, if Stephanie gets over the disagreement she had with Bobby over the pool in July. If not, we will have 13. Do you believe this is carrying on to Thanksgiving? I hope that dam pool goes down in a storm, as I am getting to hate it myself. So far, she has repaired the rift over the pool with Gary, but not Bobby. She said Bobby was not very friendly when she came here for Halloween. Well…..she walked right by everyone in the entrance way, and went into Tillie’s kitchen, and stayed there. So, I told her, that was her fault feeling uncomfortable, as she made herself feel that way by walking by everyone. god help us all! Our families make us crazy a lot of times, and I, like you, try to smooth things over to keep the peace.
      Hope everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving!! I just have to get all the floors spiffy, before I start to bake. the dusting is all done- yahoo!
      Love you guys!! Quack Quack!!
      Adele

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    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Everyone,
      We’re back from the vast emptiness of New Mexico. We had a good visit with Brent and met his girlfriend who we liked very much. He seems happy which is good. It’s approaching three years since Kim’s death come November 28th. I hope her girls are doing well. They are such nice kids. I hope her parents are healing as well-just can’t imagine the burden of that sorrow.
      We took two days to drive there and took three days to drive back. Greg did all the driving and I am grateful as those high speeds and all the trucks make me pretty nervous. Here’s the bad thing-he had gotten a new SUV in July and on this trip he scratched it backing into a place to get gas. (that’s why I never back in at the gas station) and then the windshield picked up a stone and it cracked. He had been babying the new car and mostly driving his old one to work so he is not a happy camper. But at least we are safe and the car can be repaired. It’s much better than the poor people who we saw had an overturned RV.
      We saw a couple of movies with the kids and had some nice dinners out. Greg, Brent and I drove to a casino where they had horse racing also and spent the afternoon there one day. I had a couple of winners at the races. A couple of nights we played board games as teams and Greg and i beat those young whippersnappers butts!
      The first night at our hotel we had barking dogs in the room next to us. Greg finally called the desk and someone had already complained and the owners were on their way back. They were in town for a sweet sixteen party which was the following night so would be gone again so we moved our room to the other side of the hotel. Then the following night the fire alarm went off about one in the morning and scared the poop out of us! Greg called the desk and they reassured us that it was a false alarm on the second floor. The next night i expected a marching band coming down the hall but all was peaceful for the rest of our stay.
      Colleen, I’ll bet we passed not far from where you live as we took the route through Saint Louis. I hope that when you go to you daughter’s you don’t have to go through the city-I hope she lives in a suburb because St. Louis has lots of traffic. Our last leg of the journey we stayed in Collinsville right outside the city on the Illinois side.
      I hope that you can get it worked out to see Aliza for Christmas. It’s hard because both sides of the family wants to see their kids. My MIL always insisted that if she didn’t see you at Christmas it just wasn’t the same as seeing you the day before or after so i never saw my family at Christmas when i was an adult. Therefore i am a bit more liberal-I’m just glad to see them whenever I can. Luckily so far Jenny and Adam chose to come here for Christmas and their house for Thanksgiving so it works well.
      Adele, that stocking is gorgeous! What a lot of work! Aizen will have that forever.
      Sue had a good suggestion with the Mrs. Prindables. I gave them to the aides where my MIL went for daycare. Plus I have had them and they are really good.
      I hope you get the family squabbles worked out too. Somehow I think Steph needs to lighten up and not hold grudges. There really is no upside to that. In many ways you are just hurting yourself. Maybe when she gets a little older she will realize that. As we age we learn to pick our battles.
      Barbara, you are a wonderful grandmother-you just haven’t been given enough chances to be with Colin yet.
      I agree-I am dragging when i come home from the grocery store now and I used to be able to do that and many other things in one day without feeling tired. I’m glad that it’s not just me.
      I feel for Jerry as it’s hard when the child has to sort of become the parent. it’s a tough situation but at least his Mom is happy and well cared for.
      Also, I know how you feel about wondering when we arrive at the stage in life when the kids are asking what they can do for us. i don’t think it will be until we are in our 80’s. But at least they don’t think of us as doddering old people yet. lol Plus i think they don’t like to think of us as people who need help-it makes them afraid about losing us. so in many ways it’s a good thing because they still think of us as vital and don’t realize that we are slowing down. Boy do we have them fooled. lol!
      Hope everyone found something cute on the Christmas Quacker show.
      I think just the grands are getting gifts this year. I think the kids are getting money and Greg is getting car mats and some kind of newfangled bicycle that he wants. I am having a lazy year.
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      I have quit listening to the news. It just gets everyone upset and that does no one any good. I want to be happy for the holidays and am doing everything that I can to stay happy. I listen to Christmas carols on the radio now so that really puts me in a good mood. We have a radio station here that plays Christmas carols from now until the day after Christmas. So that makes it really nice. They started it a few years ago and have continued.
      I bet you were really tired after doing all of that cleaning. I do not like having to clean out the china cabinet but it has to be done once in awhile. My one daughter has my crystal. I gave it to her when my mom gave her her good china. I thought that it would go with it. So it is nice because she uses it. We eat off of paper plates on Thanks giving because everyone wants to go to bed early so they can go shopping on Friday. So we do not have a lot of dishes to do. Christmas we eat off the good china. I also have some Christmas dishes that the kids eat on. That way my china will still be around for a lot longer. lol It has worked out really well. I still have a baby dish for Aliza to eat out of. It has all the animals on it and she will like that. That has gone thru all of my grands and my youngest daughter. It has been a good set. I think that my brother and his wife gave it to me for Melissa. So it has been around for a long time.
      I give the apples to my doctors office. They all really like them. They are nice because you can cut them up and more then one person can eat them. That way everyone can enjoy them. I am hoping that I ordered enough. If they would move out of the building into the new one before Christmas it would be nice. Then I would have more then enough. I have to give them to all of the girls at the front desk. Then all the people in the back where my doctor is. It is the back doctor and I have seen all of the doctors that work back there. So I feel obligated.
      I hope that everything works out for Thanks giving and everyone comes. It would be so nice if they did.
      Have a good evening
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      Welcome back!!!!!!!! It sounds like you had a really good time. It is fun to play board games with the kids and to beat them. They always think that they are going to show us. lol The way my nephew talks about New Mexico it must be a really pretty place. Does Brent still live near Farmington New Mexico? That is where my nephew is right now. He loves it there. So do his boys. They like that there is snow there. They use to live in California and they did not like it there. The boys are funny. They are really young so they have funny ideas right now. One of them is 6 and the other is 4. They are at the right age to enjoy things.
      You were lucky that you did not do much damage to your van. I do not back in at the gas station pump either. The way I back up I would probably hit the gas pump and blow the whole place up. I hope that the couple in the RV was okay. That would be scary. Danyielle does not live right in St. Louis she lives in the county. So she does not have all that much traffic not like they have. They have enough though. I do not driving up there either. There are a lot of trucks and they do not always watch what they are doing. Ron is better at it then I am.
      I bet you were glad to finally get a good nights sleep. Barking dogs and fire alarms. That would be enough noise to drive anyone crazy. That must have been an interesting hotel.Bet you were glad to get home and sleep in your own bed. That is one thing that I miss when we go on a trip. I miss my bed. One of these days we are going to make it to some of the places that we want to go to. We just have to find someone to stay here and watch after our animals. Maybe Kylie will do that for a summer job. She could just stay here and have the place to herself.
      I am at a loss for what I am going to get for the kids. I really hope that we figure it out soon. I thought about giving Danyielle and Kevin a nice gift certificate to a nice restaurant. Mandy and Andy I will just give gift cards to and Melissa wants pots and pans and that is what she will get. I think that she wants the Rachel Ray pans. I am not sure though. I may just get them and if she does not like them she is just out of luck.lol No she can exchange them for what she wants.
      Well that is about all from here. I need to go and start dinner. Have a good evening.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      It’s good to be back but it was fun to take a trip too. I like to travel but then am happy to come home also. But it was so good to see Brent and see that he is doing well and seems happy. He’s been through a lot.
      Clovis is right on the Texas- New Mexico border about Midway down the state-so it’s on the east side-Farmington is up on the northwest corner of the state so they are far apart. We have been several places in the state over the years-Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas (yes there’s a Las Vegas in NM too) and Clayton and some parts of the state where there are mountains are pretty but other parts where there are just vast plains of nothingness are pretty boring. I think the lack of trees on the plains part is what makes it so odd looking to our eyes. Clovis has an Air Force base in the town. We had a nephew who was stationed there once back when Brent was in college out there.
      The people in the RV were okay. We saw them standing on the side of the road with their dog talking to the police.
      We plan on taking more road trips as Greg works less. He figures in another year he should be able to take lots of time off and just call in and see how things are running. That’s a good idea to have Kylie stay at the house so you and Ron can take some trips. I figure we should do it while we still can. And I do love seeing new places-particularly historical sights. And of course I love museums so hope to get to the Smithsonian some day.
      My sister’s getting back from France today and my SIL is coming back from Puerto Vallerta so will have to check in with both of them to see how their trips were.
      I have not started to listen to Christmas music yet but I am thinking about pulling my CD’s out this weekend. Plus we have Sirrius Radio on our DishNet and they always have a couple of Christmas channels too so there is a lot of listening variety. I have not started watching the Hallmark movies yet this year either-except for a couple. right now I’m trying to catch up on the shows that DVR’d while we were gone.
      Adele is putting me to shame. I have not cleaned out my china cabinets in quite awhile. I used to be so good about it and now I barely use the stuff anymore. Sometimes I wish I no longer had so much “stuff” to take care of. It feels overwhelming sometimes.
      I should really swap out my snowman dishes and use them for the next month or so. Also I have some temptations bakers with holly decorations-I should dig them out of the basement too. We’ll see how energetic I get. I can’t believe it’s almost time to decorate. As I said before-the kids are getting money this year. I hate not having presents for them to unwrap but they probably would rather have the money anyway. This is my lazy Christmas year-I guess. I think part of it is the Q’s lack of creativity in programming. I used to get lots of ideas for cute things from them and this year the programming has been uninspiring-they didn’t even have nearly as much decorating ideas either. What’s up with that? Oh well-I can always do different things next year.
      Today I’m trying to get caught up on all the laundry and tomorrow and Monday will clean house. Tuesday I will shop to get my ingredients for my dishes to take to Jenny’s. She wants green bean casserole, mashed potato casserole (per Piper’s request) and some jello or fruit salad. Easy enough. I’ll probably make the Make Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole. Me and Lachlan are looking forward to the stuffing. lol
      Right now Lachlan is obsessed with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movies so we watched the newer one with Johnny Depp last night. I had actually never seen that one before. Of course Piper kept up a running commentary during the whole thing. That child would be in trouble if she got laryngitis. lol Jenny said the other morning she was getting ready for work and she could hear Lachlan in his bedroom singing the Oompa Loompa song. lol How cute is that?
      Gail

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hey girls!
      I sewed the stocking together today, and tried to get pics as good as I could. you do not see much of the lining- it is gold satin- the back is blue velvet, as well as the hanger.
      Hope everyone is just about ready for Thanksgiving. I did the final shopping list today, and re-checked the recipes to make sure I have everything. I hate when you need just one more thing, and who wants to go to the supermarket close to Thursday?
      Gail- glad the trip was a success, and that joy are back all safe and sound. It is wonderful that you like Brent’s girlfriend, and that she is such a nice person. I love good news! I saw a couple of pics of Piper on facebook- loved her pretty pink boots.
      I hope getting the SUV fixed will not be too much of a hassle. Up here, hey come right to your house to put in a new windshield. you are so right, as long as you are both safe, the car is repairable.
      Colleen- the news is getting to all of us. You are so right. It is all they talk about. It gets depressing.
      Giving your crystal to your daughter was a great idea. I am trying to give stuff away, but nobody wants any formal house goods. I bet when Marissa gets married, she will want them. it is so nice when our kids enjoy our things, and we can watch them.
      I got smaller cutesy stuff for the kids, and will be giving them gift certificates this year. It is a lot easier. I di get a few gadgets I saw on in the kitchen with Dave for Steph and Heather.
      I think Steph will be coming for dinner. I am still praying for it, just in case. I hate these stupid little squabbles. So much wasted time goes by. Honestly, I would like to give her one of the “Denoso” head smacks like he got in NCIS.
      Hey- a 2 hour DWTS is this week- I wonder who will be the winner. I think the young girl is the best one.
      Hope everyone is good!! Quack! Quack!
      Adele

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    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      Just 5 days until Turkey day for almost everyone! I just cannot believe it. By the way Gail, welcome home! So glad you had a wonderful safe trip. Glad your son is doing well too. I hope his new relationship turns out to be just the right thing for helping to heal the hurts he has experienced in his young life. It sounds like you all had a fabulous time together. I am like you; just scared silly in all that fast heavy traffic. Jerry asks me to just close my eyes or to read because it makes me so nervous. (I think this is one of the results of caring for those horrible accident victims all my work time). It sounds like you ladies have some good plans for T day. I am thinking we will do ours on Saturday this year. I want Joey to be good and awake and I believe that is the day Sarah and Mr. C are available ha ha. They are going to her grandparents on Thursday. They live about 75 miles away. I called and invited her and the baby the other night but she said she was a little tired and thought they would just rest at home. I offered to come over and watch Colin but she said they were fine. Our son Joey has made me promise not to say a word; but she told Neal, who told Joey (which is why I can’t say anything) that she doesn’t think Jerry is safe with the baby. If Jerry knew this; he would be so hurt. The only thing I can possibly think of was the one time she said to him not to hold the baby up like he was that he had to be careful with his neck. That hurt Jerrys feelings then; but he just smiled at little Colin and said Poppy would rather hurt his neck than this precious baby. So with sorrow; I really think we will have to take this one day at a time, and hope for the best.
      Adele; I bet your house is sparkling. Sounds so nice and it makes you feel so good when everything is dusted and cleaned. I say this from memory; since it has been a while for me since I’ve had that experience LOL Did I tell you all that I had to see the doctor? Woke up the other morning desperate to “pass my water” as the old folks around here used to say; and shall we politely say I had nothing but lots of bright red and pain. I knew I had a urinary tract infection. I felt fine the night before but thank goodness was able to get in to the doctor that day and have been on an antibiotic for several days. I am feeling much better. The medicine is strong; so my tummy gets not too happy, but I can live with that over the other.
      Sorry you are having family “issues” with Stephanie. This is a long time to hold on to something, but my heart just tells me almost daily that I look at things so differently and love life so much, and I know you ladies do too. Our young ones sometimes just turn right instead of left and once they get on that path they just can’t say or do the right thing that would make it all better. So you may need to set a couple of plates for Jerry and me, because I don’t have a clue where we will be on Thursday LOL
      That little Piper reminds me so much of Joey. He never met a stranger, and talked all the time. In fact; I spent quite a bit of time when he was in the first couple of years of school listening to his teacher tell me how he talks too much, and is a day dreamer, and looks out the window too much, you know, all the bad stuff. I would always tell the teacher “Joey does talk a lot, but he says good things, like he tells me what a good teacher you are all the time’ and he really would. That usually shut them up, if not I just listened. We are all so fortunate to be here to see and hear their cute little things aren’t we?
      Better go for now and get that big pill down. Take care and enjoy the week with your families. Hugs, Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      I am really glad that Brent is doing well and he has a new girlfriend and is happy. It is hard to think of our children being so far away from home and being by them self. Sounds like he found a really nice girl and he is starting to move on. He really needed that.
      I am not that familiar with New Mexico. We should go and visit my nephew and his family they come here and stay whenever they come home. It is really nice to see them. We are missing the boys they are growing so fast. That is hard to go to places where it is so dense and boring. We are so use to hills and trees all over the place.
      I hope that you sister and your sil had good trips. That is nice that they got to go to those places. I hope that you sister got to go to Paris. I hear that is something to see. Can you imagine all of the museums that they have there. That would be fun to see. So much to see there.
      I have my Santa dishes to use during the Christmas season. They are nice because you can put them in the dish washer. I do not have many dishes that do not go into the dish washer anymore. It is so nice not to have to wash dishes by hand. Now if they just had pans that would do the cooking for you we would have it made. Maybe a robot that would put the food in the pans and do the cooking all we would have to do is tell it what needs to be done. I am dreaming again.
      I gave out all gift cards last year and it was not the same as having them open their gifts. So was glad to get gifts this year. It just did not seem like there were enough presents under the tree. Everything went so quickly and they did not have anything to play with when it was over. I am so glad that we have little ones again.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      That stocking is so cute. You are so good at doing things like that. I wish that I had your talent. There is not anything that you cannot do. You make your own curtains and cook and make things for your grands. They are lucky to have you as a grandmother.
      I still have to get the house ready for all the guests on Thursday. I have to baby proof the house so Aliza will not get into everything. She is a character. I have not seen her for awhile. It will be nice to see her on Thursday. I have a rag doll that I think that I will give her. That should keep her busy for a long time. Babies are so much fun and she is growing so fast. It will not be long and she will be a year old. That is just unbelievable.Time sure does fly by.
      The girls have asked for a few things of ours. My youngest daughter wants my grandmothers dishes and my oldest grand wants my good dishes. It is hard to believe that they are over 40 years old. I look at them and I think was it that long ago that I got those.
      I am so glad that Steph has decided to come to the house for dinner. Maybe her and Bobby will make it up when she is there. Girls can hold a grudge for a long time. I wonder if boys do that. We had three of them and they were a handful at times. We were lucky that not all three went thru their teen years together. That must have been interesting for you with a boy and a girl. They were not jealous of each other and did not get into each others things. I do not know why all this stuff is going thru my head. I just keep going back to when the kids were younger. Old age is creeping up.
      How is Tillie doing? I guess she is excited for the holidays. You are so lucky to have her there with you. Does she do any cooking for the holidays? Wondered if she has a favorite dish that all of you liked that she does every year. That would be fun to have a dinner with all the generations fixing their favorite dish. That would be fun for one holiday.
      Well that is about all from here have a good night.
      Colleen

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hello girlfriends!
      I attached the pics of the pies done today. Pumpkin and chocolate cream. the chocolate cream has Saran Wrap on it, so it does not form a crust, so it looks a little funny in the pic. My entire kitchen table is loaded with all the baking supplies, and vegies for Thursday. It either looks like a bakery in here, or that I forgot how to put away the groceries..
      Please tell me nobody has any children on that bus in Tennessee. Barbra, I hope nobody you know was on it. Did any of your boys care for those babies? I know one of them is away at school right now. I am absolutely sick over this. We need to get seat belts, and air bags for our precious babies on those buses.
      We are still not sure who is coming. Steph now says they may go to her in-laws, so they can be here all Christmas. Progress, I guess. She is stopping by to see us, which is good. My deadline for a seat at the table is Tuesday night, as I am not opening the table more than I have to. It opens to 120 inches.
      Barbara- you are so right. Jerry can never know she said that. I will pray he never finds out. I hope you will have most of your family together for Thanksgiving. if not, it is about a 10 hour drive up here, I think…..just let me know by Tuesday night….LOL
      Is it not amazing how a UTI can come on, all of a sudden? Scary. I hope you are feeling better.
      Colleen- Tillie has been pretty good, thank God. No health issues, and I ma grateful for that.
      Oh yes- girls are brutal. they never forget. Boys just yell and they are over it. At least Steph is softening, and that is good. this has gone on way too long.
      I finished the picture for Tillie, for Christmas. I am attaching the pic of it on the stretcher. I will have it framed, and get a larger mat, so the pic will be bigger when framed.
      Hope you have a ball with Aliza Thursday. I bet you have missed her cute little self.
      Adele

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    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Barbara,
      Try not to let Sarah get you down. That was a terrible thing for her to say about Jerry. Isn’t her dad afraid to hold the baby? You are right about not telling Jerry. That would break his heart. Just try to have a good holiday and not let her get you down. That must have hurt Neal and Joey that she said that.
      You are having Thanks giving on Saturday? What ever day you can get together with Joey is the best day to do it. You can celebrate Thanks giving on any day that your family can be there. That would be the best time. I hope that you and Jerry and Joey just enjoy the day and eat all the turkey you want. That is my motto for this year. I am not going to let any of the family upset me and I am going to do things like I always have and if they do not want to come that is fine with me. Life is too short to let things like that bother me. I also refuse to watch the news. I do not want to hear anymore of that stuff either. It is just a downer and so why listen. After the holidays will be time enough to listen to that junk.
      I hope that you feel better and the antibiotics are working. Take care of yourself. Get some extra rest when you can.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      Your pies look really good. You are such a good baker. I do not think that there is anything that you cannot bake. Is that the only pies that you are baking for Thanks giving?
      The picture that you made for Tillie is really pretty. She will really like that. My oldest sister loves light houses. She use to live in California and I do not know if that is where she saw them and fell in love with them. It is good to hear that Tillie is doing okay. I guess that she is ready to celebrate Thanks giving with all of you. I wonder if the two of you will be wearing the same top again this year. It is funny how you two end up wearing the same tops.
      I have heard that boys are a lot easier to deal with then girls. Right now my girls are getting along really well. That goes on for awhile and then they get mad at each other. Then they all start to call me to tell me their side of the story. I have to stay neutral and not say a word. Try to get them to get them to work it out. It is not any easier when they get older.
      My poor mom has broke with a rash. They do not know what caused it and they just keep telling her to put this lotion on it. It is not helping though. So she is trying to figure out if she is eating something that is causing it or if there is something in the house. That would be horrible to break out like that and not know why.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Barbara,
      I guess you have decided not to go to Oklahoma then. That did sound like a complicated scenario.
      I would say that Sarah is being a bit over protective. After all you and Jerry managed to raise three boys just fine and I’m sure Jerry held them and changed diapers etc.
      Anyway, get together for Thanksgiving whenever people can make it-the actual day does not matter to me-it’s the get together that counts. I hope Sarah will come by with Colin-you must be itching to see him and snuggle on him.
      I have it easy on Thanksgiving-I just show up at Jenny’s bearing the required side dishes.
      Hope the UTI is better-it’s funny how those can sneak up without any warning.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      I feel for your Mom. Having an itchy rash is awful. It can be hard to pinpoint the cause too. Did she try a new laundry detergent? Also-one time they changed one of my meds to a different generic and one of the inert ingredients was different and gave me hives-so those are two things I would check. I hope she finds an answer soon. The ointment will treat the symptoms but not the cause.
      You should take a trip to NM sometime to see your nephew. If you ever go spend some time in Santa Fe. The artist studios there are fantastic!
      My sister did get a couple of days in Paris at the end of her trip-plus she had been there before many years ago. I remember my mother saying you can hardly get close to the Mona Lisa as there are so many people trying to see it.
      If I use my snowman dishes they can go in the dishwasher too. While you’re talking about it we should just wish for a cook and a maid and someone to send out to do the errands. Then we could be ladies of leisure which we deserve.
      I know I don’t usually give gift cards because i like the presents piled under the tree but i just don’t know what to get my adults this year so I am defaulting to money. However, we get lots of things for the grands and i just ordered a bunch of little stocking stuffer types of things for them too so with their stuff there should be lots under the tree anyway. If I don’t like how it turns out this year I will do something different next year. Plus I bought some Christmas decorations that I will be giving to Jenny and Adam for their house before Christmas.
      Who will be coming to your house for Thanksgiving? I asked jenny who would be at her house but never got an answer. I know her FIL will be there as his wife is still in Washington. And maybe Adam’s brothers and their families sometime during the day. Not sure who will be there for the actual dinner.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Adele,
      You certainly have a fluent guest list at your house.
      I’m sure Tillie will love the picture. Is she a lighthouse fan? It makes me think of Jeanne and her stories of the Fondulac lighthouse being the place for teenagers to “park” when she was in high school. Do kids even do that anymore-I wonder.
      The pies look luscious!
      Those pictures of Piper in the pink cowboy boots were her preschool pictures. She sure knows how to pose. She would have fit in in NM as every third child was wearing cowboy boots.
      I know they come to the house to replace windshields. That’s how Greg had the one replaced in his Audi-but he said the windshield wiper sensors never worked exactly right after that so since the car was just bought new in July I think he will take it back to the Mercedes dealer and make sure that everything works right when it is finished. I think they will give him a loaner there which will be nice as it is a long drive to take him to drop it off and pick it up.
      Adele, i am worried that you are going to be so tired doing all this work for Thanksgiving that you won’t be able to enjoy the day yourself-and then you will turn around and do it all over for Christmas. Please be careful and pace yourself.
      I wonder what’s up with DD. Haven’t heard from her in awhile.
      Gail

    • Dianne Danielson
      Guest
      Post count: 58

      Hi Ladies,
      I’m here. Comcast raised their rates again & I’m one unhappy camper, so they cut me off. Well I forgot we have a computer room here & that’s where I am!
      I just hope this goes thru.
      I sent Colleen a card explaining the situation. I’ll be having Thanksgiving here with Kay & Critt at my place. Then it’s Full On decorating for Christmas. Yaaaaa!!

      We’re getting lots of snow in the higher elevations this week. The skiers & snowboarders are happy about that. It means we’ll be getting alot of rain down
      here. It’s Nov. it’s expected!!

      Well, I hope all of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
      I’ll write more later on.
      dd

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hey Colleen and Gail….and everyone else who has not had a second to post… Sue, Barbara, DD, and all Quacker buddies.
      Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!
      I attached the 2 pies of today- custard, and apple. The last one just came out a couple of minutes ago.
      Steph is stopping by tonight to say hi, and give Tillie some pretty barrettes for her hair that she got her.
      The list is firming up, tonight is the last chance to g et a seat at the table. Tomorrow, Marissa and Pena are coming in the morning to set the table, and then Heather will be here later to help with veggie prep. So, things are moving along.
      I hope DD is ok. We have not heard form her in a bit.
      I am getting pooped, but, the Minnions are on the way, so that is good.
      Gail, I would do the same thing, as it is a brand new vehicle, and you want things right.
      Tillie has always loved lighthouses. I had a lighthouse picture made by an artist I know a while back- it is a pastel. She loved it. She always says lighthouses are romantic. I just hope it is framed before Christmas, and any ice or snow….LOL
      If I do not have time tomorrow, I hope everyone has a wonderful day, with all your kids, and grands. I bet we will have some nice stories to tell!!! I have not decided which Turkey shirt I will wear yet….LOL
      Love all you guys!
      Prayers sent to the poor families, and those babies in Tennessee. Every time I see the us on the news, I start to cry. We need to protect our children in the school buses, no matter the cost.
      Adele

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    • Barbara Smith
      Participant
      Post count: 418

      I have a moment so thought I would drop by and check on how all of your Thanksgiving prep is going. I could just reach right through here and slice myself a big piece of any one of your pies, Adele. What a delicious meal you are preparing. Good you have some Minion help on its way. Just take time for you too and don’t get too tired. Everyone has such nice plans for the day. Hope it turns into one of everyone’s best days ever. Joey asked if I would mind making a banana pudding for him to take to work on Thursday night for the employees potluck meal. Someone else is making pies. I told him of course, and he said he was going to NOT eat the turkey; since he was saving his “turkey taste buds” for our meal on Saturday. ha ha Really miss Neal this year. I know we will talk to him, and I think the young ones will do the Skype thing talking to one another, but it will be so strange for him to be in Oklahoma and all of us here. Sarah and the baby will be here on Saturday. She called this past Saturday and said they were going to stop by; but I had to tell her that I was sickly and was still in my gown. It was around 3 when she called. I felt so bad from that infection that I was just resting in bed all day. She said she understood; so I asked her to come by tonight if she could. I made dinner and she brought the baby and Joey came up. We had a good time. I really could see her watching poor Jerry every time he held the baby. He would be so crushed if he knew this, and I know he is so careful with little Colin. He is such a precious little thing. He was just smiling and cooing.
      Jerry and I had Thanksgiving dinner with his Mom the other day. They do it early at assisted; so the staff can celebrate with their families except for a few who have to work the holiday. We are picking her up to come home with us on Saturday and eat with us here too. She will love that I think. We take her out for day trips; but have to be really careful. She is more “wobbly” now and I am so afraid she will fall; even using her walker. Her memory is still fuzzy. But I tell Jerry that a lot has to do with her fall; and the doctors tell him that too. Well, have a great day with your loved ones. Hugs, Barbara

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele, Gail, Barbara and DD and anyone else that I forgot.
      I am not writing much tonight. Have a few things that I need to get done still tonight. If I do not talk to you before Thursday have a great Thanks giving and enjoy being with whoever you are with. I will be thinking of all of you and hoping that you are not eating too much food lol
      Have a good one
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi All.
      First let me wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving.
      It’s not so much what is on the table as who is around it.
      Barbara, glad you got a visit with Colin before Saturday.
      DD hope that you get your situation with Comcast ironed out.
      Colleen, I plan on eating a lot and then going back on Friday for leftovers. lol
      Adele, I think I am going to wear my leaf shirt and vest set-but who knows-my wardrobe plans are fluid.
      I forgot that you have Minions. I’m glad that they are helping.
      I heard this morning that it would take 7 to 10 thousand dollars to equip each bus with seat belts. I’ll bet each community could start grassroots fundraising and get the money that way if they had to. I know it would take a long time but I think that they should start today so that in the next several years all buses have belts.
      Sue, hope all is well with you.
      I’m looking forward to watching the Macy’s parade while I am preparing my dishes in the morning.
      Also the National dog show after the parade.
      Glad that Laurie won the mirror ball last night-although I think James gave her a run for her money. He was a pleasant surprise-I guess those race car drivers have something going on in the dance department.
      Hugs and Love to all.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Good Morning Everyone,
      I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will be enjoying some good leftovers today.
      Mr. Cardinal is back again and banging at the window this morning.
      I really do enjoy just going to Jenny’s and bringing my dishes. Adam’s Dad and Gabby and Enya were there. Also his brother Aaron, his wife Kelly and three of their four kids were there-the other was at a friends house for the evening. The kids were busy playing with each other so there was not much interaction with them-although Greg was helping Finn play Plants. vs. Zombies. We will be back over tonight to eat some leftovers.
      Adele, I hope everyone showed up at your house.
      Colleen, I hope you got to see Aliza.
      Barbara, you still have your Thanksgiving to look forward to tomorrow.
      Now the decorating will begin. I am moving my upstairs landing slim tree down to the corner of the family room this year and am decorating my big tree a little differently. Sometimes I just feel the need to change things around.
      Greg is almost done redoing the first floor bathroom. We are still waiting for the new light fixtures to arrive so he can install them. Plus I have to chose a little wall shelving unit to replace the floral one that used to be in there.
      Colleen, did you and your girls go out shopping this year.
      We just stayed in and read the circulars to see what we will be ordering online.
      Hope everyone who cooked has a nice day of rest today.
      Gail

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hello everyone!
      So it looks like everyone was going to have a good Thanksgiving. I hope everything worked out, for everyone. Stephanie and the crew all came, which was great for everyone. Glad the drama is behind us. Just waiting for whose nose will get out of joint next.
      Gail:
      I cannot believe the crazy cardinal is back! I hope your bathroom will be done soon. Don’t forget to take a pic for all of us to see.
      I bet the kids had a ball, as it sure sounds like they did. Shopping by the store adds on the internet sounds great to me- you could all have your coffee, and dessert, and put up your feet to shop. Perfect, as far as I am concerned.
      Barbara:
      So sorry you had to be sick for the prep days. I am glad they brought over your Itty Bitty for you to enjoy. I feel the same way- if Jerry ever found out she is nervous about he holds him, all hell will break out. You have to take that one to your grave.
      DD:
      So sorry Comcast raised their rates on you. I hope it is not too far to get to the room to use the internet, and that we can hear from you once in a while. We were all worried. I bet you are ahead of me in decorating. I will attach a pic of the new smaller tree- naked….LOL
      I am glad you had your friends to eat with, and bet you made some real yummy things.
      Colleen:
      I bet you had a great time with all your family too. Did you buy some sides from the Q again this year? I hope you did not exhaust yourself shopping with your daughters.
      Sue- I know you are ok, as I saw your posts on Facebook!! hope you had a great day too.
      I have a funny for all of you. So, for the past 4 years, we have tried to eat sweet potato casserole, and Heather was making it. First year, she burned it before she got here. Second year, she burned it in the oven downstairs. Third year, she burned it when she put it in the broiler up here for a minute too much. So, this year, it came all prepared, and not burned, and just needed to heat up a little. We finally had some. It only took Heather 4 years to get it to the table. It has been the joke of Thanksgiving, and there was not one drop left over!
      I posted a couple of pics- Pina took them- Enzo’s Mom, accept for my naked tree. You can see Enzo, Marissa, Tillie and Gary in one, and then Enzo’s sisters in the other one, and Bobby and Heather in the background- barley visible….LOL At least you get a couple of views of some of us.
      Hope everyone is good, and decorating away.
      Adele

      Attachments:
    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi All,
      I do not know what happened to my post on here yesterday but it is gone. I posted a message to Christine and did the birthdays and all of that is gone today. I hope that this will be here tomorrow. I wonder if they are throwing me off this site. I hope not I do not think that I did anything wrong on here.
      Well girls we had a nice Thanks giving. Aliza is really getting around now. She took everything off of my shelves in the living room and threw it on the floor. We would get one thing picked up and off she would go to something else. It took all of us to keep up with her. She tried to eat some of my decorations but she gave up on that one. She got into too much trouble when she would do that. She is not even a year old yet. That girl is going to be a handful when she starts walking.
      Sounds like everyone had a great Thanks giving. I am glad that Steph came and things went well with her. It was nice that you had the whole family together. I like your tree it is really pretty. We may have to go to a small tree one of these days. They are really pretty though. That is a good picture. I like the one with the girls face covered. Typical teenager.lol
      Gail it is nice that there was a good group at Jenny’s. The kids all sound like they had a good time. I hope that you enjoyed the left overs at Jenny’s today. I think some of the food that is left over taste better then when we first cook it.
      Barbara I hope that everything went well for you yesterday. Hope that you had a good time cuddling Colin. He needed to see his grandma Barbara. It was nice to have Joey there also.
      Well that is about all from here. I did not write as much as I did yesterday but maybe this one will post. I forgot to tell you I got a letter from DD. She had a nice THanks giving with Kay and Critt. Kay ordered their dinner from a grocery do they did not have to cook. They had it at DD’s apartment. They had a great time. She also said that her bill went up over $100.00 and it was getting too high. She is trying to figure out another way to get a hold of us so will have to see. If anyone wants to tell her anything I am going to write to her tomorrow and will mail it on Tuesday. So I will gladly add it to my letter.
      Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi All,
      Colleen, the same thing happened to me. I had a post to you and one to Adele about Thanksgiving. What the heck is up with that? Sometimes they fiddle with the website,yet no one has bothered to answer about no one getting notifications anymore.
      I often wonder how much longer they will keep this part of the website going since so few people use the discussions.
      I did mention that I had gotten an e card from Debbie for Thanksgiving so at least she is thinking of us.
      Aliza is really a busy little thing. My house would be dangerous as it is no longer anywhere near childproof.
      I’m sorry that you didn’t get to see Owen. Adam is lucky as his girls live with his parents so he sees them most holidays unless their Mom takes them to their other grandparents in Wisconsin.
      That was bad that the china cabinet glass fell and broke. Ron was a doll to clean it all up. I’m glad no one got hurt. It did give me a heads up though to check and make sure all those little tabs on my china cabinet doors are where they are supposed to be.
      Glad that you went out shopping with your daughter. Hope that you had the rest of the weekend to recover.
      Adele, glad Steph and all showed up. I hope the rest of the year goes peacefully for all.
      Gary is looking good-hope he is feeling well. I’m wondering what things on the Thanksgiving menu he actually eats.
      When we were in NM Wendy mentioned how she can’t get Brent to eat any vegetables and I just laughed and said I was glad it was no longer my problem.
      That is a funny story about the sweet potato casserole. jenny doesn’t serve sweet potatoes as neither of my kids like them. Although Brent would eat a casserole that Kim used to make. I always just boiled them sliced them and fried them with a little brown sugar and butter. I love sweet potatoes and will eat them just baked or cut in half and grilled.
      Speaking of Kim-today is the three year anniversary of her death. I hope each year is getting a little easier for Brent.
      I mentioned in the post that disappeared that I loved the colored glassware on the table. Also I noticed the preponderance of Temptations dishes and I saw the poopouri on the table. That stuff may be funny but it actually works well. I keep it in all our bathrooms since I discovered it a few years back.
      Well, I tried to remember all I wrote yesterday. Not sure if i did. I hope these posts don’t disappear again. I looked afterwards and they did post so who knows what happened to them.
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      I wonder what is going on. I wonder if we ask Angel if she can tell us anything or would pass this on the someone who will be working on this. I hope that they are not going to try to get everyone to go on face book. We will have to make sure that we all have each others e-mail address so we can write to each other.
      I am glad that you heard from Debbie. I hope that she is doing well. She is really missed on here we always got a good laugh when she was on here. So many have left but some of them will come back once in awhile.
      I have to child proof my cabinets again and my plug ins. Most of them are pretty well hidden but not as good as they should be. I really hate having to do that again but better to do that then for Aliza to get hurt. Adam is lucky that he gets to see his kids all the time. Does his x live with his mom and dad? I thought you had said that but maybe I am getting this confused with someone else. It is hard to believe that Kim has been gone for three years now. Brent sounds like he is doing better this year and not as upset as he has been at first. I know that it must be really hard for him. He is so lucky to have you and Greg there for him when he needs you.
      It was really strange. We were all shocked when it happened. We were so glad that Aliza was not here yet. She would have been crawling all over the place and she may have gotten hurt. It is so strange that it happened. I am so glad that we did not have my Santa with the sleigh on there. If it would have gotten broken that would really have broke my heart.
      Sweet potatoes are good. We eat them baked or anyway that you want to fix them. I fix the candied sweet potatoes for Thanks giving. I boil them first and them put butter, brown sugar and marshmallows on them. They are good like that. All the kids eat them, This was Alizas first time having them and she really loved them. She ate a lot of food that day. She liked the cranberry salad also. That kind of surprised me because she does not usually anything that is not really sweet. She will eat veggies though.
      Well that is all from here. I hope that this will send. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      Yes Adams ex lives with her girls and another child from a different guy at his parents house. Very different. She bought a house and moved out for a little while but that didn’t work well so they are back. Adam’s Dad-Dick retired last year and after he retired his Mom-Gail-wanted to sell their house to his brother-Nathan and move out to the farmhouse so Dick wouldn’t have to drive out there to do chores everyday. It would be so much easier for him plus she wanted to move out of town back into the country. Right now her son Nathan and his wife Rachel live at the farm house so she wanted to do a switch. However then Jessica and the girls moved back in so they can’t do that because there is not room in the farmhouse for all of them. What I want to know is what is going happen when Gabby and Enya go off to college or get jobs and move out. Will she finally just have to kick Jessica out? They sure have themselves in a pickle of a situation. Glad it’s not me.
      I think each year that goes by-things get a little easier and less painful for Brent. I’m glad that he is finding happiness again. That is something that you never imagine that you will be helping your child get through.
      I’m glad that your Santa and sleigh didn’t break. I think we all have our favorite decorations that we would be sad to see break. I think one of my favorite things is the ceramic tree that my MIL made for me. I love that tree-it is usually the first decoration out and the last one put away. I also have a fiber optic gingerbread house that everyone just loves. I’m sure eventually it will stop working and i will be sad. Remember when fiber optic decorations were all the rage. I still love the things that i have. I wonder if you can still get fiber optic decorations? I never see them anymore.
      Isn’t it funny how things change in baby care. Now they just give table food all cut up teeny tiny or soft things at an early age and hardly use baby food at all. I guess i was ahead of my time as i had to do that for Jenny as she wouldn’t eat the baby food because she wanted to have what Brent was having. that’s what happens when the kids are so close together.
      Well, I did a lot of online shopping over the weekend and practically finished up. The adult kids are getting money and Greg is getting a new bicycle and car mats which he will buy himself-so I just have the little ones and my sister to shop for and I am about done. I don’t have all the stuff yet but i have it ordered and it will be coming to me. I love internet shopping! I don’t have to run around in the cold and snow.
      Speaking of decorating. I bought new decorations for my powder room as the old decorations in there were more country style and now that we have redone the room it needed a different style of decor so I bought some new stuff to put in there. And it all started with a broken faucet… lol
      Gail

    • adele shanbar
      Participant
      Post count: 5025

      Hello girls!!
      Well, I have been a decorating nightmare. The 2 trees are done. I can put the Nativity on the table under the tree in the dining room, and I am thrilled about that. I also put my big Annalees around the bottom of the table, and they look so nice there. I have enough to put some around the bottom of the tree in the living room too.
      I have to tell you all the nutcracker story from yesterday. Remember I got those beautiful 48 inch nutcrackers form the Q in July? I was putting them together, and there are 2 screws, that I could not I find. Not in a bag, not in the box, nowhere. I tore the boxes apart, and had those dam white balls of Styrofoam all over the place, and me- even in my hair. Called the Q- they have none, and said they would call the manufacturer. Called the manufacturer myself, and he tells me to check a couple more places- no screws. They would order them form the manufacturer in China- and it will take 3 weeks. Not. I had a tiny meltdown, and called Gary to find me some screws that would fit, and that he needed to get home quick. He reminded me I was an only child. I reminded him he needed to save his marriage. Back to the nutcrackers I went. turned them every which way, and low and behold, I find the dam screws, SCREWED INTO THE HOLES WHERE THEY GO. UNDER THE JACKET. Ok. So, why did the manufacturer not know where they are? No idea. Got them together, and then could not get the drums on. THE HUSAN came home, and saved the day- got them all together. They are now outside, on either side of the door, guarding the house. Even Gary said they look nice, and he never comments. So, as they say in our local newspaper police report section…….. and peace was restored…..
      I see we have not heard from Barbara- hope all is well there. So glad we know DD and Debbie are good. Please feel free to give DD my address too.
      Colleen:
      I am so glad the china glass broke before the baby got there. Those things are so weird when they happen. You were all lucky, and I am glad you are all ok.
      The girls in the picture are Enzo’s twin sisters, who do not look alike at all. I posted the wrong pic of them, as you cannot see Bobby or Heather in that pic.
      Tell DD we all miss her. I am thrilled she had a good Thanksgiving, and had fun with her neighbors.
      It is very funny what a baby will eat. Once they get older, it is harder. I remember when I gave Aizen some chili, and he did his “yum”. Wonder if he would now….LOL
      Have you decorated yet? I still have 2 more closets to get stuff out of. I am so hoping to get it done this week, so I can clean all the floors from the dust it makes getting everything out. Then I can relax.
      Gailster:
      So good that Brent is dealing with the loss of Kim better than the last few years. I cannot believe it has been 3 years already. Time is amazing, and does make a loss a little easier. It is also great that he has a new girlfriend, and is moving on with his life. Kim would be happy he is no longer so terribly sad. Also great that you like her. Will they come up to visit you soon, or for Christmas?
      So sorry it was Kim’s anniversary. It was heartbreaking to hear what happened, and I do not know her. I cannot imagine how you all feel.
      I did not notice any funny Piper stories. What is up with that??
      Gary east the stuffing mashed potatoes, and corn. No gravy, no sweet potato, and definitely no roasted veggies! Did you love the Temptations usage? The covered serving pieces kept the food warm, and everyone loved them. They looked so pretty, and kind of matched with the china. I do love colored anything- as you can see. I had to put away a couple of my Temptations on the counters, to make room for the Christmas cookie jars I out. I have about 3 or 4 from the Lenox line that I love.
      I never fried the sweet potatoes, and then added brown sugar. What a fabulous idea. I also love them baked, as is, with nothing on them. they are so yummy.
      I did the poo pourri as their favors this year, and they all loved them. Usually, they all get an ornament, that kind of means something to each of them. I was just too tired to be that creative this year….LOL
      Hope everyone is good, and decorating their Quackers off!!
      Quack Quack!!
      Adele

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      That must be rough on Adam’s mom and dad to have all the extra mouths to feed and have in the house. They should be at the age where they can do what they want and go on trips if they want to. It is nice that he son lives on the farm. Is there other house in town or is it on the farm also? That would be hard to deal with. That will be a strange thing when the girls go to college and their mom is still there with Adam’s parents and this other child that is not one of the grand kids.
      That is so great that Brent is doing better. That would be a hard thing to go thru at such a young age. He has done really well for himself though. Maybe moving away is what he needed. It makes it hard for you and Greg though. It is hard when the kids live far from home.
      We use to have fiber optic things in the house but they are gone now. I cannot remember if we gave them to the kids or what happened. I know that I had a small tree that was fiber optic and Mandy took that to put on her screened in porch. Those ceramic trees are so popular even now. They are pretty. They have the different colored ones now. You can get the green or the white. They are nice for people that have a family member in a nursing home.
      We would have never given the kids meat that was not cut up in really small pieces. Aliza has 4 teeth now and she chews on her food. I think that she is imitating her brother. She does a lot of things that he does. He teaches her things which is really nice. We use to feed our kids off the table also. We still gave them baby food also but did a lot of table food. You did start ahead of everyone else though.
      I am basically done. I just have to get something for Ron. I may just give him some money and let him pick out his own gift. Maybe I will get he something that has to do with working. Since he was so nice and gave me the vacuum cleaner for my birthday. I should really return the favor. Maybe I can give him some oil to do an oil change on the truck. lol
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Adele,
      That is funny about the nut crackers. They do put things in the strangest places. I can just picture you tearing those boxes apart looking for the screws. Those peanut things are hard to pick up. Those things are a pain. I always want to ask them if they have ever heard of bubble wrap.lol
      I have my tree up and my Santa’s are out. I do not have the ornaments on the tree yet or all the Santa’s in their right place. Still have the rest of the week to do that. Then I have to get into all the boxes that I have with all the decorations in them. I may put one of my villages up this year. The house looks empty without them. I still have to clean out the sun room so I can put the tree up in there. So much to do and not enough time.
      I will tell DD and give her your address. You may have to send it to me again I am not sure where I put it. I am such a scatter brain. It was good to hear from her. I will give her your message. It is just a shame that her bill went up so high. That is not right to do that to people. I do not understand why they do that. They should have a rate for older people that they can afford. They have to remember that we are not working anymore and need to be able to communicate with other quackers.
      That was surprising when the glass fell out of the door. We have no idea why it happened. So now we will have to get a new glass for it and that guy better do it right this time. I will blame it on him cause there is not else to blame it on.lol
      My 8 yr. old grand son wanted me to let him read my copy of Moby Dick. So I sent it home with my daughter and he was excited to get it. I thought that once he saw that book and how thick it was and all the small words he would not want it. it will be interesting to see if he reads it all. The boys are getting to be really good readers. The girls not so much.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Colleen,
      Jenny’s in laws house where they live now is in town and of course the farmhouse is out in the country. It’s a really big old house. The dining room is huge and has one wall with all built in cabinets and beveled glass mirrors. It is beautiful. I remember going to an auction at that house long before Adam’s parents owned it. On the other hand there is no AC which would be awful. I think they kind of think of the child who is not their grandchild as a grandchild. One time Kim asked Dick how many grandchildren he had and he said a number which included Quimby(weird name) so I guess he thinks of her as a grandkid too. Jenny and I feel kind of sorry for her as other kids talk about their Dads and she doesn’t have anything to do with her’s. It must make her feel different.
      I feel bad for Dick and Gail too as at this time of life it’s kind of nice to have your house to yourself. However, they could travel if they wanted as Jessica would be home with her girls so there is no reason that they would have to stay home. However, Dick doesn’t travel much because of the farm animals. That’s why Gail goes out and spends months with her daughter in Washington by herself.
      It is hard having Brent so far away. However, he did live in NM twice before so we have kind of gotten used to it. You really don’t have any other choice.
      You know somehow men don’t seem to mind if you give them working stuff. It seems they like to get tools for gifts-but we don’t like vacuums or washing machines. I think because it seems like there is not much thought behind that and it’s something we would need anyway. Most men are not the best gift givers which is why we woman usually just go out and get what we want for ourselves.
      Gosh Moby Dick is a pretty adult book for an eight year old. It will be interesting to see if he makes it through all of it. It’s interesting that the boys are readers and not the girls. So far Kendall is a reader-don’t know about the others yet. Jenny is a reader but not Brent. Kim liked to read. Adam is not much of a reader but I think that’s because he’s dyslexic-so when it’s a chore it loses it’s pleasure factor. Speaking of reading-did you ever get the new Patrick Taylor that came out in October-I think. this time of year I like to read Christmas books and stories-just some light reading to go with the season.
      Gail

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Hi Adele,
      I must have missed those nutcrackers when they sold them on CIJ. It seems like they had better decor then than they did in the fall.
      If you click on that picture of the two girls to make it larger you do see Bobby and Heather in the background with their backs to the camera.
      Brent won’t be home for Christmas. It’s a two day drive just one way so it’s too far to come unless you have a whole week off. But we just saw him right before Thanksgiving so that’s okay. He said he will try to get out here this summer if he gets the time off.
      Piper was tired last Friday and fell asleep on the couch so there were no Piper stories last week.
      I will probably start decorating this coming weekend. I was concentrating on getting shopping finished off first.
      Every year i do something a little different so I surprise even myself. lol
      Gail

    • Colleen
      Participant
      Post count: 3077

      Hi Gail,
      I do not know why I thought that house was in the country. I guess because they have to feed the animals and do all of that. That house they live in sounds beautiful. Do not know if I could stand it without air conditioning in it though. It must really get hot in the summer. That is really sad about the little girl. That is a strange name. I wonder where she saw it to pick it out for this poor little girl. It is nice that Adams parents have taken her in as a grandchild. It must make her feel like she has family. That is really nice.
      I did get the new Patrick Taylor book. I have already read it. I am going to post about it in the book post after I am done on here. It is really good and it will not be the last one this time either. He left a lot of things unanswered. I am glad because the books are so good and they hold your interest.
      It is nice to have the house to ourselves now. They may never have that pleasure with the grand kids living there and the x dil. That is just a weird set up to have her there. They must be really nice people.
      How are you doing with your decorating? It will be nice to finish and not have to worry about it anymore. I still have a lot to do. We still have not got the sun room cleaned out so we can put the tree in there. I wish Ron would quit bringing things home and putting them in the sun room. He has three sheds and still brings things in the house.
      I guess men do not have to do the things they do unless they want to. We have to clean and do laundry. So it makes it harder for us. We did need the vacuum so he cannot understand why I did not appreciate it as a gift.
      I thought that Owen would look at that book and think that it was too much to read. He has a fascination with that book for some reason. Do not know why. We will see if he really reads it or not. It does get dull in some parts of it.
      Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
      Colleen

    • Gail Norusis
      Participant
      Post count: 3596

      Starting new discussion. See you all there.

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