May 2016 Be Happy, Healthy and Prosperous For All Quackers Near and Far!

[Gail Norusis]

#23086

Happy new year to all our Quacker friends. Maybe this will be the year that we add new contributors to our little group. Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve and no one has a hangover today. lol Who knows maybe Barbara got into the eggnog and Adele got into the Wassail and Colleen got into the champagne and Sue got into the Rum Punch and I got into the Bloody Mary’s. lol It’s fun to think about anyway. So lets raise our glasses and drink a toast and bid goodbye to 2015 and salute and welcome in 2016.
Gail

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[Gail Norusis]

#23090

Don’t forget to check the box after your first post to the new discussion.

[CHRISTINE ANGELA BRAILSFORD]

#23118

I would like to wish all my quacker friends a very happy 2016, lets hope this year its filled with lots of happiness, love, joy and good health!, I hope you all had a very good xmas, we were sick, I had a bad chest infection, had to go to the drs 2 days before xmas to get antibiotics and steroids, we went to stewarts parents house xmas day, took patch with us, he was realy well behaved too, did not touch thier xmas tree, we did not put one up this year, in case he had it down!, but he did get hold of stewarts mothers downton abbey dvds!, i got 2 pairs of dream jeans, a new quacker factory santa top, another collectors teddy bear that came from the london store Harolds! an owl soft toy, i collect owls, colleen got me an owl quacker top, which came yesterday and a necklace, we had to pay import duty on colleens parcel, the royal mail here said something about it depends on the cost of the goods inside the package, but im going to look into that, stewarts mother got me a birthday cake too, stewarts going to book me an eye test , as i realy do need new glasses soon, patch did well too, he got lots of treats, we got him an interactive puzzle toy, he has to move things to get the treats, he got a tugger toy with a ball at the end of it, it was patches first birthday yesterday, we got him a pack of 2 whistling balls, which he loves, im doing my turkey dinner today being new years day, i got money from my dad for my birthday, got my eye on a top on quacker factory website that has been reduced in price, pale blue with flowers on it, embroidered with bees on it and ladybirds, i promise to mail more on here now, now things have slowed down here a bit, patch not being so demanding etc, ive got my physio therapy monday, not been since november, my foot is getting worse, im waiting for steroid injections now, anyway best go and see to the turkey dinner now as the buzzer on the oven has just gone! take care everyone happy new year to you all, and i do appriciate your friendship so much christine

[Anonymous]

#23092

LOL Gail if I got into the rum punch I would have more trouble staying upright than I do now. I was so dizzy I could hardly stand up on Tuesday. I don’t know if it was from my medicine or my ears. But I am glad it left again.
I would love to stop by later to sample your appetizers.
Happy New Year Everyone.

[Gail Norusis]

#23111

Hi Sue-hope the vertigo goes away and stays away. Happy New Year to you.

[Colleen]

#23097

Hi All,
Sue that is one thing about getting older we do not have to drink to feel dizzy. All we have to do it take our medicine and we have trouble walking.lol Have a happy New Year.
Gail,
I do have egg nog but Ron will not put anything in it. I do not understand. He thinks that I fall enough without adding liquor to the mix. He is no fun. At least if I had a few drinks I would have a reason to fall.lol
Barbara, enjoy the egg nog and have a ball.
Adele drink all you can. You never know what tomorrow will be like.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[Gail Norusis]

#23113

Hi Colleen,
That’s right I forgot that you fall so on this one I will have to go with Ron and not spike your eggnog. We had a nice evening. We watched Spy with Melissa McCarthy and had appetizers. I had a vodka and lemonade and one glass of champagne and that was it for me. Greg’s liver pate turned out really good and hardly gave me heartburn at all. lol Then I found it’s a Wonderful Life on TV and we watched that until Greg went to bed at 11:00 and left me alone to toast the New Year as usual. He’s just a party pooper! It would be kind of interesting to see like George Bailey did how things would have been different for the people in your life if you had never been born. It’s an interesting concept.
Hope everyone had a nice evening and I hope the coming year is the best ever. Just think we have two new little Quacker grandbabies to look forward to. That’s a pretty darn good start to the New Year.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23115

Hi Barbara,
What an exciting way to start the New Year looking forward to a new grandchild. I remember Jenny used to tell every month that the baby was the size of a grape and then a lemon, orange, grapefruit etc. I never even had an ultrasound did anyone else. I know other people did when I was pregnant but I never did-I think that was right on the cusp before it began to be a normal part of prenatal care.
I think you are right and it will happen for Lisa when the time is right. Perhaps also she and Joey should go to that counseling and get their relationship in order before bringing a new life into the world. Just reassure her all the babies are equally welcome and special whether they are the first or the fifth-it makes no difference to the grandparents. We embrace them all-especially because we don’t have to be responsible for raising them. lol We can just love them and spoil them and send them home to Mom and Dad. lol
I definitely think Piper will be an artist of some kind. Probably a thespian as she has a flair for the dramatic and wonderful facial expressions. She is so different from Kendall who is cautious and wants to always do the right thing and is kind of shy. And then there is Lachlan who is just all boy amidst his four sisters.
I don’t think it’s funny that Jerry talks to his trees. They are living things. Now if they start answering back-that’s perhaps another story. My Mom always used to go out and talk to her flower garden as she insisted that talking to them made them grow better. So I come from a line a plant whisperers and don’t think it’s “that” odd. lol
I have just come to a point where I ignore all the New Year-New You stuff. People are going to get the old me whether they like it or not. lol It would be nice to lose weight and get fit but one has to just go ahead and live their life and enjoy it no matter what their shape or size. That should be the real message. Accept who and what you are and make the best of it. Don’t let a future goal stop you from living fully in the “now.”Jeanne was good at pointing that all out.
I’m glad that Jerry is overseeing things for his Mom. How sad that he seems to be the only one that has her best interests at heart. Jerry is a good man.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23129

Hi Christine,
Happy New Year to you and Stewart too. It sounds like you had a nice Christmas in spite of being sick. I hope that you will feel better soon and also get that heel spur fixed up. I’m glad that Patch is doing so well. Colleen is so sweet to send you a gift for Christmas and your birthday. Isn’t it wonderful how the two of you became such good friends through Quacker clothes. It sounds like you and Stewart will have a nice New Years turkey dinner. You are such a good cook-you are always cooking something up that sounds good. Here’s to a great new year for all Quackers.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23131

Hey Adele,
Today was Greg’s day for baking in the kitchen. He made bacon buns today and of course he also made a big mess! But they are delicious! He also manged to break my Kitchen Aide Mixer in the process so the poor dear had to mix that heavy dough by hand. I would have had to give up right then as I can no longer mix heavy batters by hand. So he looked up online what was probably wrong with it and ordered a part so we will see if he can fix it or if I will have to get a new one. I won’t go without as it’s now a staple of the kitchen. It’s funny-you always buy the warrentey for things and Greg never does as he says it’s a waste of money because nothing ever breaks until after it expires. But you are right it does protect you if you get a lemon. He says his ankle is feeling somewhat better today which I am very happy about.
So what are they operating on in Gary’s shoulder. Does he have RA or OA or both? I hope that you all will get to see Steph and the kids this weekend. I understand that Jhonny may not want to go anywhere on his day off as there are a thousand games on this weekend. All the college bowls and such. Does Steph not drive either? it seems like some of your grandaughters didn’t drive and then one just recently got her license. It’s funny-out in the country you couldn’t do anything if you didn’t have a license. All the kids around here get them as soon as they are 16. But if you live by a big city then there is public transportation. I had a license but never had a car when I lived in Chicago-I took buses or Els everywhere and if i was out late at night I caught a cab. I wouldn’t want to do that anymore waiting out in the freezing cold for a bus or a train but then I was young and could tolerate it.
I hope everyone had a good night yesterday.
Gail

[Colleen]

#23133

HI Gail,
How nice that Greg fixed the pate for you to eat. I have never had liver pate. I do not know if I would like it or not. We did not have anything special on News Year Eve. We just had crackers, cheese and summer sausage, I was surprised that Ron made it until midnight. You should have been giving Greg strong coffee so he could make it until midnight lol
I do not know if that even works for sure. You just hear people say that a lot.
It would be interesting to see if we would have changed anyone’s life if we had not been here. I really doubt that I would have. You would have changed one life for sure. Your adopted child. He may have had to stay in foster homes all his young life. You help so many people. Look at what you do for the onp. You and Greg are really good people and would have left a big hole in life if you would not have been here.
I agree with you on that new year new you. We all need to be happy with who we are and not try to change how we look all the time. It is nice to be thin or built just right but if you are not happy about it why keep it up. Then there are some of us that get sick and that is how you lose the weight. That is not worth it either. I worked with a girl that made herself sick to lose weight. She could not stop after she lost so much weight. She ended up having a lot of complications from doing that and she died at 37. She was way too young to die. it was really sad. Jeanne always had it right. Live and be happy with yourself. When you think about it if you are not happy with yourself you will never be happy with anyone else or anything else.
That is cool that Greg was making buns today. They sound really good. I have never heard of them before. Not that I can remember. How do you make them? Is it made with pieces of bacon or with the bacon grease? This sounds like a weird question but I am just wondering. As you can tell I am not good at baking any type of bread. How in the world did he break your mixer? It seems like that would be pretty hard to do. Especially a Kitchen aide. They are pretty sturdy. I can see why you would want to have it replaced right away. You would really miss it.
Well that is about all from here have a good night.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23140

Hi Colleen,
If you like liver sausage you would probably like liver pate. I don’t care for liver and onions but I do love the pate. Traditionally the fancy kind is made with goose livers but ours is a version using chicken livers-it’s from a very old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and we have been making it for years around the holidays.
People’s lives would be changed too if you had not been born. Ron’s for one and your daughters wouldn’t be here and your grandkids. All those nieces and nephews would have had no one to organize games and give them prizes at the Christmas parties for all these years. All those nursing home patients would not have had you to help them and Christine would not have you as a loving second mother. Even if none of us do things that the world knows about we all have a profound effect upon our families.
That woman that you worked with sounded bulimic if she made herself sick to lose weight. That is so dangerous and it is so sad that she died at 37. Someone that has that problem needs psychiatric help. It’s a sad and dangerous situation. Greg’s uncle was a priest and one of his jobs over time was counseling girls and women with anorexia and bulimia and back then he was considered an expert on the subject. He was quite a brilliant priest with many accomplishments and it was so sad when he got older and got alzheimers-that’s a terrible disease too. I hope they are getting closer to a cure or a way to prevent it.
Greg did not actually break my mixer. I just said that for dramatic effect (like Piper would) it just broke while he was using it so he’s going to try to fix it first before we go out and buy a new one. He had no idea how expensive they are which is kind of funny as I’m pretty sure that mine came as a Christmas gift from him many years back. You probably never heard of the bacon buns as they are a Lithuanian food. We don’t really have a standard recipe for the bread dough-we use several different ones as we don’t have a recipe directly from his Mom or Grandfather. Anyway, they are filled with a mixture of bacon and ground pork and ham. We usually can get the ground pork and ham mixture from a local butcher shop but this time we made our own as we bought ground pork at the store and used the last of our leftover Christmas ham and ground it up and added it to the ground pork. The dough has to be rolled out and cut in circles and then stuffed with the filling. When he had the dough and the filling all prepared I helped him stuff the buns as that would have taken him forever as he made a double recipe.
Last night we stayed home and made burgers and watched some shows that I had copied from PBS over the holidays. We watched a Josh Groban concert-I absolutely adore him-my ringtone is one of his songs. Except for some reason the sound kept going out on the recording so that was kind of a bummer. And Greg always sings along and I had to keep asking him to please keep quiet so that I could hear Josh. He always does that and much as I like his singing it’s annoying when you are trying to listen to someone else that you like and he is singing along and he just doesn’t get it and gets all insulted. Many a TV concert I have watched with my finger in my right ear so I can hear the person on TV and not him sitting to the right of me. But that’s not an ideal way to hear a concert-with only one ear. Then we watched a Christmas Carol-the concert. I copied it off of PBS last year and when we watched it it was so good and we liked it so much that I copied it to watch again this year. It is like the book or play but done in the form of a concert with an orchestra a chorus and a narrator and a few singers playing all the parts. It’s an excellent show and if you see it on PBS next year I highly recommend that you copy it and watch it as I know that you like that story too. I would imagine you could buy the DVD from PBS if you wanted to also.
I don’t know what is on the agenda for today. We didn’t go to Jenny’s last night since Adam was home and Kelly and Aaron wanted them to come over for dinner. Maybe we’ll go tonight unless we decide to do something else. We still have two days of the long weekend left but I know tomorrow will be the last Bears game of the season so we will watch that.
I wonder if Adele noticed that I started a new discussion as she has not been here yet. I try to announce it when I do but I guess sometimes people miss it amidst the other posts.
Gail

[Colleen]

#23154

Hi Gail,
I do like chicken livers. They are pretty good. So I may like it. I have had goose one time and did not like it. I wonder if it was the way I fixed it or what happened. It just was too salty an just did not have a good taste. My oldest two grands were here and they did not like it either. So have not tried it again.
She had let it go too far before she went to get help. By then she had done a lot of damage to her body. She did all that so she could lose weight for her daughters wedding. I can just imagine how guilty her daughter felt knowing that her mom had lost weight for that occasion. She still had another daughter that lived at home. The whole thing was so sad.
It is a lot more fun to let him take the blame for the mixer breaking. I would blame Ron and would stick by it.lol The rolls sound really good. You really use a lot of pork in them. They would be worth trying but do not know if I could make them. Sounds like you have enough to last you for awhile. Do you freeze them or is it just enough for you to eat over a few days? I am getting really nosy now.
Melissa fixed dinner for us last night. She brought all the groceries that she needed to make it. It was a chicken, tater tot casserole. It was really good and she used all kinds of different herbs in it. I did not see what all she put in it. We sent the rest of it home with her. It would have been way too much for us. We kept just enough for us to have left overs. I hope that you will be able to get over to Jenny’s to spend time with her and the kids. They will want to show you all of the things that they got from Santa and from other people. It is so funny when they are young they want to show you everything that they received. When they get older do not care as much and cannot remember what they got. The only way the oldest two remembered what they got as far as clothes is they wore them over to our house. I guess they just do not want to be bothered telling you everything.
I will have to watch for the Christmas Carol concert. That sounds really good. I have not been to a concert all year this year. That is not good. We need to go. Have to wait until after the baby is born and take my oldest to a concert or a play. She has not been to one either. I am not sure her boyfriend likes that stuff either. He gets along really well with Ron so they can stay together while we go out.
We are supposed to go to a friends house tonight. We will exchange presents and sit and talk and probably play dominoes. We really do live an exciting life. if someone stayed with us they would find us really boring. lol
Well that is about all from here. We will have to let Barbara and Adele know that we have moved. It is nice that you start a new page for us each month. The other page was getting really long. It takes so long to scroll down.
Enjoy the rest of the week-end.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#23159

OMG, everyone!
It looks like I missed a lot in the last couple of days…..LOL
Sue- I hope you had a chance to have one tiny drink. I and the eggnog with nothing in it, because I got real woozy with the spiked one I had, and I already walk crooked….LOL
Colleen-Hope you had fun at the Christmas concert, and that the grands have now gone, so you can rest. Also hope the water is all gone in your area, and your daughter’s and mom’s areas. What a sad story on that poor dear who died, just to be thin. how awful. I am right there with Jeanne- you have to be comfortable in your own skin, and just be happy you are alive and able to enjoy life.
Gail- Great that Greg baked and cooked, but, who breaks a Ktchen Aid? Mine is the original one I bought for my parents when they first came out in the 80’s. What happened to it? I have been toying with getting a slightly larger, one that will handle the dough for bread better. I have to sit next to it, and hold the bowl down when it kneads, or the bowls flies off form the weight of the dough…..LOL
We did not see Steph yesterday, as her SIL came, and babysat, so they could go out to dinner, on Jhonny’s one day off. We were all fine with that, because they need some couple time, desperately. he has been working a lot of hours. Steph is the only granddaughter who doe snot drive, and she is the oldest, and the one with kids- go figure!. Marissa just got her license, about a minute before she started college- literally. I think it was just a few days before she started. Thank God she did, as it would have made it very hard for her to get to classes. Her school is only aboit 15 minutes away. straight up the highway, 3 towns over.
Christine- glad you were able to post here, so we all know how you are doing! I hope your cold is getting better. This is a bad one. Today was my last day on the antibiotics, and mine is still not gone. I sincerely hope you get a good physio person, who will help your foot. This is way too long to be in pain.

Gary’s surgery is for a shoulder replacement. All due to arthritis. His rotor cuff was not damaged when they looked at him initially, but, he has a CAT scan to see for sure. This is going to be a hard one, as the doctor said it is very painful. I hope the rotor cuff is still good, or that will be worst.

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY QUACKER BUDDIES !!!
Hope I answered all the posts….LOL
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23167

Hi Colleen,
My mother always used to cook a goose for Christmas and I must have liked it as we all ate it. I just really don’t remember what it tasted like. I don’t even know where you could buy one to eat around here anymore.
We did freeze some of the bacon buns as Greg made a double order as long as he was making them and he had me here to help stuff them. We gave some to Jenny and he will take some to work and we will have the rest. They are such a treat that we eat them up pretty quickly. You can buy them at the Lithuanian bakery by Greg’s old house but that would be a 4 hour round trip. other wise there’s no where else to get them. Now that I’m talking about it I will check to see if there is anywhere that makes them and ships them.
Melissa’s dinner sounds good. Hopefully she left you enough so that you won’t have to cook tonight. You know I am thinking about it and I can’t remember the last time that I had a tater tot. Maybe I will have to get some.
How was your visit with your friends? Did you beat them at dominoes? We ended up going to the casino yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours and then coming back home and feeding Rocky and having a cocktail and then going over to Jenny’s for a little bit.
Adam has two weeks vacation so I am relieved of babysitting duties for a couple of weeks. Now if only I can work up the enthusiasm to work on some of my projects around here and then next week we will have to take the decorations down.
I heard from Brent and they are still pretty cold there so the snow is not melting off as quickly as it normally would. He’s supposed to be starting his new job soon. I hope that goes well. He called on Christmas Day and it was nice to hear his voice instead of just e-mailing. He sounds good. It’s funny when he was in NM last time after awhile you get kind of used to them being away and then they come back and you get used to them being around. Then they leave again and you have to adjust to missing them all over again. It must have been hard on my parents to have none of their adult children nearby-i just didn’t realize it back then.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23169

Hi Adele,
I’m sorry that you didn’t see Steph but you are right she and Jhonny need to get out together too. Date nights are important.
So now they replace shoulders too. I knew about knees and hips but have not known anyone with a shoulder replaced. We will all be thinking about Gary and praying for a speedy recovery when the time comes. Is it on his dominant side?
I don’t think Greg actually had anything to do with breaking the mixer. From his research he thinks it’s some kind of computer chip so he ordered the part and if it works again we’ll have a good mixer otherwise we will have to buy a new one.
I hope you remembered to check the box so that you will get the notifications.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23171

Hi Gail
No, it is Garry’s left side, thank God!! But, I am already freaking out, because they told him NO SHOWER for 5 days. His surgery is at 6:30, so I told him he will have to get up early to take another shower that morning…..LOL I know I am bad, but I HATE the smell of dirty head. I may have to get those no water shampoo things. He knows I am freaking out, an he thinks it is funny.
My Kitchen Aid has no computer anything on it. Is yours a food processor? Or, do the new ones come with some kind of newfangled stuff?
I did miss Aizen, but, he is so small, he does not know the actual date of his little birthday. We will just have it when he gets here.
OMG….I am so exhausted, I am falling asleep answering this. I got up early, and made cinnamon bread for breakfast. Then I did this Zuppa Angleis thing- it is Italian, and my friend Max doe sit for every New Year’s. Basically, it is a custard, that you put in a bowl, with lady Fingers on the outside, and a row in between layers. The old-timers soaked the Lady Fingers in rum, which she does not do, and I did not do. Bobby, Tillie and Gary all liked it, so it is a hit. Not sure if I spelled it right, though.
Then, after that, I washed the kitchen floor. This kitchen is 12 feet wide, by about 25 feet long. What a pain. Thank God for my spin mop!
We are getting a little snow tomorrow late afternoon, or evening- ocean affect snow, they are saying- up to 3 inches, so not too bad.
How has your foot been doing this winter? How about Greg’s foot? You two will have to be very careful outside this winter.
Hope you are having a good night. I am off to watch Tv. Bet I am asleep in 2 minutes.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23173

Hi Colleen and Gail, and everyone!
What are bacon buns? You are going to be bored without the antics of cute little Piper!
Glad you heard from Brent. It is nice to hear he is doing well, and is happy.
Colleen- did you win dominos with your friends? Glad you had a chance to have some fun with your old friends. that was nice that Melissa cooked dinner when she picked up the kids.
How is our Little Mama doing? Not much longer, and the baby will be here. Such an exciting time. I am praying all be smooth for her.
Hope everyone has a good night- Barbara, and Sue too!!!
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23181

Hi Adele,
I’m sure we’ll get our Piper “fix” when we go over on the weekend. I guess it’s back to school for the kids this week. I think Christmas vacation is a good time for all the germs that the kids are passing around in the schools to die off so that everyone can come back to a fresh healthy school. Kendall’s birthday is in a couple of weeks. I can’t believe that she will be 8 years old! It seems like just yesterday that she was a tiny newborn. I seems like the grandkids grow up even faster than the kids. I guess the older we get the more time accelerates which is very scary.
I’m glad that the surgery will not be on Gary’s dominant arm. That will make a big difference. There are some pretty good dry shampoos that you can get and you can get those towlettes like they use in hospitals for general cleansing. Not the same as a good hot shower but manageable for a few days. I guess there are some advantages to being bald like Greg. lol
Hey Al Roker is talking about your ocean affect snow right now. What a coincidence.
No it’s not a food processor-it’s a regular kitchen aide but this thing is inside so you probably don’t even know it’s there. You forget I have a husband who opens everything up to see what makes it run-fortunately he can usually put it back together again too. Usually…
You have a big kitchen. Greg usually mops for me as he doesn’t like the way I leave too much water on the wood floor. Could it be that I do it purposely?!! lol Right now it doesn’t even matter as our floors need to be refinished so badly.
Do you ever make cinnamon raisin bread-I love that for breakfast. The Zuppa Englaise sounds really good too. I am a fan of custard-eclairs are good!
My ankle is doing well as long as I put on the brace when I do a lot of walking. I think the cold affects it a little but not too much. And of course the dryness of the winter is better for the RA than the humidity of summer. Greg’s not hobbling quite as bad. You know how sprains are-they take a long time to totally heal.
Bacon buns are a Lithuanian food. They are made with a bread dough-it seems like we change it up a little everytime as we don’t have the actual recipe from Greg’s Mom or Grandfather. The dough is rolled out and cut in a circle and stuffed with a mixture(we use bacon and ground pork and ham mixed together) The filling is all cooked before you stuff the buns. It’s a pretty time consuming all day process-especially since Greg made a double recipe of bread and filling. He made the dough and the filling and I helped stuff and shape the buns and then we got both ovens going so we had an assembly line. Oh you also brush them with a little egg wash before you bake them. You would never be able to find them anywhere unless you had a Lithuanian bakery somewhere around you.
I hope that you won’t get too much snow and that you will get a chance to celebrate Aizen’s birthday soon. Is this his first birthday? It must be. Does he still have his curls? He’s so cute! I thought that was so sweet that he took his school bus to bed.
I hope there’s something good cooking at your house today.
Gail

[Colleen]

#23200

Hi Adele,
I did not go to a Christmas concert. We just had Christmas here and the kids stayed with us until New Years eve. Then my daughter came back and they went to my other daughters for New Years eve. They came back the next day and they fixed dinner. We did have a nice time with the kids though.
The water has gone down in almost all of the areas that flooded. There are still a few places that are still flooded but not as many as before. Thank God that it has gone back down for most areas. The kids did go back to school here but some of the bus routes were changed. I hope that this all goes away soon and everyone can get back to normal.
I hope that Gary’s surgery goes smoothly. I agree with Gail there are a lot of things that you can buy that will work until he can take a bath. I had to use those towlettes to wash with. I could not take a bath so they have a way of taking a sponge bath and other things that you can use. I am sure the doctor will tell you what they are and where you can get them. I hope that Gary has a quick recovery.
I hope that you will get to see Steph soon. So you can see the kids. You are right they did need to spend alone time together. It is hard when your spouse is working a lot of hours and they do not see that much of each other. So I hope that you will see them soon.
We ended up not playing dominoes. We left early my back was sore. Ruth had surgery on her leg and it was swelling so we left so she could lay down for awhile. She just had the surgery not too long ago so she still has some swelling. We did have a nice time talking and laughing together. We are planning to all go out to dinner one night soon.
Little mama is doing really good. She is just waiting for the baby to be born. She will not tell any of us what she is going to name the baby. She said that she has three names picked out but she does not want to know what anyone thinks. So we will have to wait. She is being very unfair. lol I told her that tonight. She was just laughing. At least she still has a sense of humor. She may lose it the closer it gets to time. She only has 8 more days to go. If the baby comes on time.
Well that is about all from here. I will be praying for Gary that he does not go thru much pain after the surgery.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23202

Hi Gail,
Those bacon buns sound really good. I hope that everyone enjoys them. Glad that your mixer is fixed again so you can start baking. Well Greg can start baking again. He sounds like he is good at it.
That is the first family that we have heard that had goose for dinner on Christmas day. She must have done a good job fixing it or none of you would have eaten it. Do you remember if she stuffed it or not? I wonder what they stuffed the goose with or what they did to make it taste good. I may have done something wrong when I cooked mine. I do not know.
Melissa did leave us enough to eat the next night. She just made a lot of it and we knew that we would not eat it all. So we had enough for one more meal. She is really getting to be a good cook. She really tries hard and likes to try a lot of new recipes.
We had a nice time. We ended up not playing dominoes. My back was sore and she had surgery and her leg was swelling. We left so she could lay down for a little while and get the swelling down. We did have a nice time visiting for awhile. We exchange Christmas gifts and talk. It was funny because Ron wrapped some straps that Joe brought with him when they went to go pick up the food.Everyone got a good laugh at that.
That is nice that you will have a break from babysitting. It is fun to watch them but it is also nice to take a break and do things at home. Like reading a good book or watching a good movie. Wednesday is the last day that the tree is up. I will have to take all that stuff down on Thursday. The time sure went fast. Ron does not want me to leave things up as long as I did last year. I do not know why. I had it down by valentines day.lol
I guess when we were away from our parents we had a family to worry about. So we did not think about it as much. Now we are going thru it we realize how hard it was. I am glad that you heard from Brent. Sounds like he is happy now. I hope that the snow melts soon for them and they can get back to normal. It is strange we are getting all the rain and they are getting all the snow. Things sure got turned around this year.
Good job Gail. I would keep getting more water on the floor then he wants. Then he will always keep mopping. It would be nice if we could all find things that we do not want to do and the guys would do them for us. That is hard to do though.
It is nice that the brace is helping your foot. Hope that Greg’s leg or foot gets better soon.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23207

Hi Colleen,
My mixer is not fixed yet. Greg ordered a part that may or may not work to fix it.
You know I can’t remember what Mom did with the goose. I imagine if she stuffed it she probably just used her regular stuffing recipe. I wish that I could remember how it tasted. I think she only made it for a few years and then switched to something else.
What kind of straps did Ron wrap up? That reminds me of our friends that we exchange gifts with-they wrapped up a tshirt, some socks and a pair of underwear that Greg had left in the bedroom at their house up north when they stopped over on their way home from Canada. When Greg opened it he didn’t recognize the stuff as his and he was acting like he got this nice gift until he got to the underwear and realized it was his own stuff to begin with. Everyone got a good laugh from that.
All our decorations won’t come down Thursday. We will take it down bit by bit as I have the time and energy. I just won’t light the trees after Wednesday. The outdoor lights that are on timers will go on until we take them all down. I figure it didn’t all get put up in a day so it will take longer than a day to take it down. I’m not in any big rush. I’m like you in that some years it wasn’t all down until the end of January and I really don’t mind. I don’t have the Christmas police knocking at my door or anything.
I can get Greg to do a lot of stuff that I don’t want to do. Like I don’t like assembling things-I just don’t like doing it so if I act like I’m really struggling with something he will come over to help and then just take over the job that I really didn’t want to do anyway. Don’t tell anyone though. I guess I’m a little bit like Tom Sawyer just with a different technique.
I haven’t talked to Jenny but i heard that Kendall had a hard time going back to school yesterday which doesn’t surprise me. I said something about going back on Friday and she gave me a funny look-so I was thinking that it would be a struggle for her. Did you see the story about the little girl who wrote her own note to her parents that was supposed to be from the school “business” that said it was staying closed for another week. It was obviously written and signed in a little kids handwriting. I give her points for being creative.
Well you all will be surprised at the new baby’s name. Is she letting the father have a vote in this? lol I was lucky in that Jenny usually asked me about the different names that she had picked out and she payed attention to my suggestions too. I really liked the name Rhys for Lachlan but Adam didn’t want to use that as he had a cousin with that name so they did use it for his middle name. When she chose the name Kendall it was quite unique but now it’s being used more often and I loved the name Piper right away-reminded me of Piper Laurie the movie actress who I am sure Jenny had never heard of. Now I can’t wait to hear what name Danyielle choses! Will you go over to help out after she brings the baby home?
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23209

Hi Gail
Seems like the genuine Lithuanian food has meat fillings for a lot of the holiday items. Each nationality has such a different take on things. Very interesting. I got the Oblaten you get, but the prayer was in Polish, so I could not say it at the table….LOL
Aizen is 2. Can you imagine! Oh yes, he still has the curls. Now, we have a “man bun”. Bobby, and Gary are freaked that they have not cut his hair yet. Jhonny wants to get it cut, but, Steph is not budging. We are all wondering if it is because she wanted a girl….LOL His hair is gorgeous. I guess those man buns are in.
Kendall is close to JJ’s age- he turned 9 in Sept. They are so cute at that age.
We got practically nothing for snow. Cape Cod, and the south part of Mass. got it all. They were all over the news with accidents due to the little bit of snow that was freezing on the highways in the south of Mass. we just saw some big flakes, every once in a while. However, we are supposed to go out with Ron and Joyce on Saturday, and a storm is predicted. Joyce called last night, and we said we can switch to Friday night, so we miss it.
Greg is hysterical. I have no idea what is inside the mixer. Gary used to be good at repairing things, but, I have to admit, if he did, it would be a “good enough Gary job”, and THAT was rarely a good thing. So, things never looked the same. after he got his hands on them. God bless him- he does try his best. he is good at the simple repairs, but, he is nowhere need a perfectionist, which is what you need for a lot of repairs. It is a constant source of amusement around here. That is why I call in a professional, before he gets a chance to get his mitts on it…..LOL
I got so busy yesterday afternoon, that we ended up having cereal for dinner. I put away a lot of Christmas things, and do not have too much more to do. I hope to get to some more today, and maybe finish.
today’s meal is a chuck roast in the crockpot. This is what I do- very simple, and delicious. You layer in this order: potato’s, whole if they are very small, or in half,onions (2), about 5 carrots, cut in 4 pieces or so, then the roast on top. Sometimes I brown the roast, and put in the juices, and sometimes I do not. Slat and pepper the roast, and get a Knorr beef bouillon cube- smash it up, and put it on the top layer. Then, pour a can of Kitchen Ready Tomato’s on top- cook on low for 8 to 9 hours. Smells great, and the tomato soaks into he potato and carrots, and is really yummy.
It is Marissa’s 19th birthday on Sunday. She just called, and requested a corned beef and cabbage dinner for Sunday. So, I will be sending her to BJ’s to get one, as the supermarket does not have them all the time. She does not want a cake- she wants the Lebkuchen bar cookie I make at Christmas. She is too funny for words.
Hope you are having a good day- it is freezing here. Wind chill this morning was below zero. Perfect day for the crock pot. Tomorrow, I am doing a sourdough bread, and lentil soup. I LOVE soup.
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23211

Here is that note from the little girl that didn’t want to go back to school.

Attachments:

1. 

[adele shanbar]

#23214

Hi Colleen
Read the post to Gail for more info….LOL
I have no idea where I got the concert thing- maybe it was Barbara who went- our old brains are showing.
We all are waiting to hear labor has begin. the last weeks are the worst.
I talked to Steph yesterday. Jhonny was coming home a little early, and then he got called back to help someone who fell and hurt their back, so he was going to be real late again yesterday. So, no entire family visit yet. I think she wants to wait until Jhonny comes to, so everyone can enjoy Aizen opening his gifts. She is funny like that- if Jhonny cannot come, she waits for him to be available. AT least I get to her his little voice. She was trying to cook, and he was yelling at her. So, I thought she had to get off the phone, Steph said he wanted her to pick him up, and she just could not just then. So, she asked him if he wanted a pop, and I heard his little voice say, “oh, oh, yum yum.” He is the funniest little kid. You know how you just love to hear them with their tiny words.
The kids here are back at school, all accept Marissa. College goes back in a few weeks.
It was nice you got to see your friends, even though you did not play the game. I hope the weather cooperates for you to see them again soon. We have to change the day to go out with Ron and Joyce, as it will be stormy on Sat- so we are going out Friday night, instead. Here goes all the plan changes, due to the weather!
Hope all is well, and that baby-no-name arrives quickly, so we will all know who Itty Bitty is!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23221

Gail- that not is funny. Kids are hysterical!
Adele

[CHRISTINE ANGELA BRAILSFORD]

#23238

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all not too bad there, I know Adele has her cold still, like me, wont shift! got the last bit to get rid off!, I was supposed to go to physio therapy yesterday,the 4th jan, well we went shopping first then went to the appointment, only to be told by the receptionist that Alice the girl who was doing the physio therapy on my foot is not there today, gone to a funeral i was told, well no one phoned me and said dont come today, i was told i would have to book up another appointment with this Alice, so made an appointment for next wednesday at 4pm, but boy was i annoyed over that, not one call to say dont come, we put money in the parking meter too, rushed around with shopping, my foot was hurting so much too, I managed to phone the hospital this morning to cancel my appointment today with the heamatologist, not going anymore, ive been going for years, every time i go he just says come back in 4-6 months time, so not worth going when you know what hes going to say before you even see him! the receptionist offered me another appointment to see him, told her I dont want another appointment thank you, she goes why not? so i told her why, told her no point in going to see him just to be told to come back in 4-6 months time! useless they all are here!, I made 2 lots of muffins today, sultana and banana ones, turned out ok, we had turkey soup for lunch today, we had our turkey new year, it did us a few meals plus i made 7 bags of soup out of it also.

Im sorry to hear so many of you are having problems with flooding there, like here, well in the north of England they have bad floods, some people have been forced out of their homes since before xmas time, its so bad here with flooding, they will build homes near water, rivers etc here, patch is now one years old, he was one on new years eve, we got him a pack of 2 whistling balls for hes birthday, he just loves balls, no point in giving him soft toys, he just destroys them, hes a rascle though, he tore the front cover off my magazine your dog the other day, he brought in mud from the garden and put it on the doormat just inside our front door, i shredded up some paper yesterday and wrapped it in newspaper, he jumped up and got the shreddings everywhere!, he bit off the handle this morning on the tv unit, so ive got to see if i can find one in the shed to put on there!, hes better now at walking outside, he was jumping up at me a lot coming home from our walks, i got a halti collar for him, stops the pulling!, stewart worked the day after xmas day, so we could not stay too late at hes parents xmas day, he also worked new years eve and new years day too, anyway just thought i would mail on here, promise to mail more often now, my new years resolution! take care everyone quack, quack, christine

Attachments:

1. 

[Colleen]

#23264

Hi Gail,
The straps that Ron gave Joe were the kind that you put on the back of the truck to keep things in the truck. He forgot what he had done with them until he opened his gift. They do stuff like that to each other every year. You never know what they will wrap up. Ruth and I do not get involved with their antics. That is really funny about Greg. It is good that he did recognize his own underwear. That is really funny.
We will take the tree down first on Thursday. That is probably the only thing that we will do then. Ron will have to help me this year. I am not doing it myself. If he will not help I can leave it up for another couple of days. Then he will help. He is the one that gets in a hurry for everything to come down. So he needs to help get it down. He will definitely have the star down since he tied it on the top of the tree. He is such a pain some days. We will leave the battery lights out until they battery go out. It is easier to do it that way and then we can just get rid of the batteries and not have to worry about storing them. We just have them on the railing though. So there is not that many.
I do not do a lot of things around here that have anything to do with assembly. Ron always does that because he thinks that I will break things if I try to assemble it. I already have two gifts bought for next year. That is strange. I am really starting early this year. Sorry I misunderstood and thought it was already fixed. Sounds like he knows what he is doing. Ron can fix somethings and then others he is not good at. It just depends.
That is so sad that Kendall has such a hard time going to school. I hope that she grows out of that soon. You cannot help but feel bad for her. I hope that she gets back into things again once she starts again. This week sounds like it is going to be hard for her. It has to be hard on Jenny also. To watch what she goes thru when she goes back to school.
Ethan got into a fight at the park yesterday. Some little boy said that he was going to hit Kaylee and when he went to do it Ethan punched him. He was afraid that he would be in trouble when he told his parents. They told him he did the right thing not to let him hit her,. Now he is afraid that all the kids will be mad at him. I think that he will be surprised when they are still talking to him. He worries so much about stuff like that. Kids you never know what they are thinking.
She is letting the father have a vote they just are not telling anyone else. She does not want to hear other peoples opinion. She should know that people will tell her what they think no matter when she tells them. It is just funny. We liked the names that she had picked out for Owen. Oh well we will have to wait.
That note that little girl wrote was pretty good. I bet her parents got a good laugh out of it when they saw it.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23266

Hi Adele,
It is fun to hear the kids talk in the back ground. They always want their mom’s when they are on the phone. My kids were like that and so are my grands. They have a lot to say when you are on the phone but do not say much when you get of. Maybe they think that they will get the answer they want if they ask while you are busy.
We have oatmeal for dinner a lot. It is simple and easy to fix and on days when I do not feel like eating that tastes good. Ron like eggs and bacon for dinner sometimes. I do not like eggs so he get voted down a lot. lol
That is nice that Steph wants to come with the whole family. It will be nice when they come over so you can see the kids. She needs to get her license so she can drive where she wants to go. That is nice that they call Johnny to come fill in. Sounds like they are happy with his work. it is a shame that they do not give him his own route and then he would not be late so much.
It will be nice if you do not get as much snow as you had last year. It did not seem like it was ever going to quit. Now it is the rain. It does not sound like it is ever going to go away. We are supposed to have more rain here Thursday thru Saturday. We sure do not need that. It will be nice to just see the sun for awhile. Snow would not be too bad either. We do not need a lot but some would be nice. It is so pretty when it snows.
It seems like the colleges always go back later then the other schools. It is hard to believe that Marrissa will be nineteen. She looks so young in the pictures that you have posted on here. Both of the girls are so pretty. That is unusual to want a cookie instead of a cake. They must be really good. it will be hard to find corn beef this time of the year. I think that some stores carry it all the time just not as much of it. It sounds really good though. She is going to have a nice birthday,.
I hope that it all works out with your friends. It will be nice to go out for dinner. Do not forget your pillow to put behind your back. You want to be comfortable sitting there. I am getting bossy. Hope that it does not snow when you decide to go.
Your roast sounds really good. We are eating left overs all week this week. We have so much food in the fridge. The ham is all gone but we have a lot of other things that we cooked that we have left overs. It is nice not having to cook this week.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#23282

Hi Christine
Love the pic of Patch. He is such an active little guy, and always has you running around to clean up his messes. I hope as he gets older, he will be a little calmer.
So sorry for all the troubles with your medical issues. It seems in England everything is such a task to get done. It is just not nice that you have to wait so long, and be in pain.
You always make such good things to eat! Yum, yum!
My cold is finally almost gone. I am still talking with that nasal thing, but, for the most part, the headaches, and runny nose issue has subsided. I hope yours is getting better too.
the holidays this year have found most of us dealing with something or the other, which makes all the extra work not as fun. I hope we are all on the way to recovery.
Hope you have a good day, Christine! I bet it smells nice at your place with all the goodies you made. I am doing sourdough bread today, and lentil soup.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23287

Hi Colleen
I do like breakfast for dinner, especially when we are busy. Tonight, we are having lentil soup, and sourdough bread. My back is a little sore from all the putting away stuff, so today I took a break, and did not do the last closet of stuff.
I have my little pillow right next to my purse….LOL I think we will change it to Friday. Sat is suppose to be either rain, or snow,. When you hear that, all it needs is a tiny change, and it is slippery. I am too scared for that!
life would be a lot easier, if she did drive. like today. JJ was sick, and Gary went to get him, befog he did his route. I called later, to see how he was, and Aizen is in the background going,”alright, alright, alright”. I asked Steph is he was imitating Matthew McCoinghey….LOL Jj has a tummy ache, and is coughing. I hope to God that he did not get my cold, when I went over there last week.
Imagine, Marissa will be 19. She is working today, and called Hetaher while she was still here, asking to bring some leftovers form my dinner last night. So, Heather tells her she can bring her some money, if she needs it, and she says no- I want Nana’s food. She is a funny kid. her all time favorite thing I bake is the German Lebkuchen cookie, and she always asks for that on her birthday.
We found corned beef at BJ’s. Marissa is going to get it tomorrow. Do you have a BJ’s? Or do you just have Costco? I like BJ’s. They have some things Costco does not have- like all greeting cards are always 50% off.
I am glad we have been pretty much snow free for now. Gary has a lot of appointments for the surgery, so I hope it stays that way. He has 2 CAT scans- one for the shoulder, and one for his kidneys, plus the regular pre-ops, at the hospital, and pre visit with the surgeon once all results are in. he has 2 of them on my birthday….LOL
Hope your rain is going away- you have certainly had enough.
How is little Mama doing, with the Itty Bitty???
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23289

Gail and Colleen
How did Kendall end up doing? Having that school phobia/separation anxiety thing is not pleasant. I feel for all of them. it is so hard to see the poor baby upset, when school can be such a nice thing. A lot depends on the teachers too. If they have an older teacher who is burned out, that doe snot help either. I hope al is well!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23296

Hi Adele,
Your soup sounds really good. I bet that you made the bread yourself. I need to make some bread making classes. I use to make my own bread when my bread machine worked. Have not made any since it quit working. It was doing something wrong. When we would mix the bread in it the bread would not rise. When we first bought it the bread would rise really nice. So we will have to look for a new one.
There is going to be snow around us but not here. I cannot believe that it is all going north. We are going to have rain again this week-end. Ron and his bil are going to a coin shop in Cape. It will be interesting to see what he finds. They both like the same things so they do a lot together. He is the one that Ron sells the lawn mowers with. It will be nice for him to get out for awhile without me. He will not have to keep checking the freezer either. He can worry about something else.
I hope that JJ is better by tomorrow. That stuff is going around so you cannot blame yourself. You have not been around him enough to have passed that on to him. They can get it from anywhere. It seems like when the kids go to school they seem to catch all kinds of things.
That is nice that she likes your food over any other food. That is funny that she wanted your food instead of some money to buy some at the restaurant where she works. That says a lot for your cooking. Does she still like working at that restaurant? She seems to be making really good tips there. She must be well liked or they would not tip her. Does she have a steady boyfriend or is she just concentrating on school and work.?
We have a Costco. We do not have a bjs. We also have a Sams club but do not like it as much as Costco. We have to go up there again soon. Now that all the flood water is down in that area we can get there again. We will probably wait until we get our checks at the end of the month. I am so glad that we do not have to buy anymore Christmas stuff. I have two things bought for next year. So I am ahead of the game for next year. Sometimes I get things early and then I am late with everything else. lol
Well that is about all from here. I am going to go and put my pjs on and relax for awhile. I hope you have a good night.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#23300

Wow Colleen!
Even I do not have anything for next year yet….LOL
Amanda is them one who works at the restaurant. Marissa is the one at Yankee Candle, part time, and in college. Marissa is the baby, and Steph is the oldest. Do not worry- I get confused with everyone’s names too, and which one is which. Marissa is very funny about her food. She gets grossed out by a lot of stuff, and will only eat in certain places. She loves home made food, over restaurant. She is a funny kid!
Oh yes- I made the bread- sourdough today. the lentil soup was hit- even Bobby, who says soup is not a meal, had no complaints tonight. Gary, who was insisting he did not like lentil soup, said it was good. Go figure! I never know what will happen around here, with meals. I guess this was a winner.
I think when Ron goes out, you will be doing a jig! Semites it is good when we have the house all to ourselves for a bit.
Tomorrow, it is back to getting out boxes from the last closet, so I can be done with all the decorations. I hope my back cooperates. LOL
Have a good night- all the comedies are back on tonight…yahoo!!
Adele
PS- I missed Quacker today! I have no idea how that happened.

[Gail Norusis]

#23361

Hello All,
Christine-I’m sorry that you have so much trouble with the health system there. It must be quite frustrating. I hope that you feel better soon. Patch is growing up to be such a good dog. I’ll bet he is great company for you while Stewart is at work.
Adele, Brent says the same thing when I make soup for a meal-that it’s just not like a real meal. And we love a good hearty soup and some bread or sometimes i make little pizza muffins with English muffins some mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce.
You didn’t miss much on the Quacker shows-just sort of a recycle of things we’ve already seen.And clearance on some items that are still pretty new. I hate when they do that and I have already bought the items.
We don’t have BJ’s here either. Never even heard of it. I’ll have to ask our NY friends if they have it.
It would be nice if Steph would learn to drive-it would make things easier for all.
I thought Aizen was channeling Mathew McCoughnehey too. I know that’s not spelled right. lol
Well now Kendall has strep throat and scarlet fever so she will be off school more and it will be even harder to go back. Poor thing. I told Jenny she needs to do something special for her-however I will probably need to stay away from her now. I’m glad Adam is home this week and next week.
Colleen, i hadn’t used my bread machine for awhile and i got it out and used it the other day. it is a nice thing to have and I just bought some mixes from The Prepared pantry so you just have to add water and butter or oil or egg depending on the mix.
I can’t believe that you have two gifts already. The only bad thing about shopping this early is storing them for a whole year and remembering where you put them.
If we had oatmeal for dinner both of us would go hungry as neither of us like it. I’ve tried since it’s good for you but just don’t like the taste or the consistency. But we do like eggs. Actually I had a taste for crepes for dinner on Sunday and Greg made them. His mother used to make them and I don’t even know the recipe as he always does it.
We leave our stuff up with the batteries until they wear out too. No one wants to store half used batteries for a year.
It’s funny how brother and sister can fight like cats and dogs and then when push comes to shove they stand up for each other. That was nice of Ethan to protect Kaylee. Brent and Jenny both worked part time at Subway during high school and one time some young guy was in there and Jenny was behind the counter making sandwiches and he kept calling her a dumb blond and that she was stupid and stuff and Brent was in the back and heard it and came out and took care of the guy. he didn’t get in trouble as there was plenty of witnesses to this guy being obnoxious and the owner Debbie liked both Brent and Jenny a lot because they were good workers.
I hope everyone is feeling well and not getting rain or storms or snow. i just wish the sun would shine for more than a few minutes. It’s really getting to me. Now would be the time for a trip to somewhere sunny. it’s a good thing i already have a passport as now in Illinois and a few other states if you want to fly you need a passport because of some snafu with updating the driver’s license identification.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23367

Hi Gail
Poor Kendall. That is not easy to be so sick. You are so right- it will be even harder to get her back to school when she is well.
I like the idea of the Eng muffin pizza’s with the soup. I think I am going to try that one. MAybe I will not get the complaints form Bobby. I bet it is a young man thing- they (Brent and Bobby) need more meat and potato at their ages.
I leave the batteries sin my stuff too- way to much to do to take them all-out.
I finished all the decorations today- a good feeling! Now, I will put out my Annalee Valentine dolls. I only have one small box of them, so it is not bad. At least it will give the hosue a little happy feeling with the red and hearts.
We hope to get out with our friends tomorrow. the weather report keeps changing, but, it looks like Friday night will be just rain. Tomorrow am, will be icy, and then supposed to egt warmer.
BJ’s is like Costco. Only difference is they have cards for 50%off, and I love a sale!
Hope your weather is better.
I bet the new baby may have been born, because Colleen ahs not been on today!!!!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23373

Hi Adele,
Sorry about the mix up. Marissa is also liked at her job if I remember right. I hope that she enjoyed her food from your house. It is nice that Heather would come over and get some for her. When is her birthday? Has it come and gone already. I am glad that you found the corn beef for her and she will get her favorite meal. I know that you will make her favorite cookies so she will have a great day. Tell her happy birthday for me.
No baby yet. We are just waiting for her to text us and let us know that she is here. I cannot wait. She is going to be so cute. I will have a few gifts for her after she is born. We are going to have a get together at my house for the new baby. I will fix a big pot of Jambalaya and corn bread. I will have to make two big pots of it cause everyone eats a lot of it. I make mine with shrimp and sausage. It usually turns out pretty good. Some of it I make really hot and the other I make mild. So everyone can eat it.
We eat a lot of different soups for dinner. It really fills me up so do not need anything else but the soup. Men never know what they like until we fix it for them.lol Ron had eaten things that he says that he does not like. I just call it something different and he never knows the difference.
I agree with Gail and the quacker shows. They did not have anything on that was different. They just had a lot of clearance. Did you get to watch the Chics night in? It was good but not what I expected it to be. It probably be better as it goes a long. The first one is always a little different then what we expect. She did have her friend model last night. It was fun and I enjoyed it but from what they said I thought their would be more talking about style and matching colors. I just misunderstood.
Just take it easy and do not do too much at once. If your back hurts at all take that as a sign it is time to quit for awhile. It has taken me a long time to figure all of that out Spending a lot of time at the doctors and getting lectures has helped also.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night and will talk to you later, Enjoy your night out with friends.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23375

Hi Gail,
Poor Kendall. She really got sick. That is terrible that she has both scarlet fever and strep throat at the same time. She is going to be in bed for awhile with that. I hope that she has a quick recovery and her and Jenny can do something special after she is well. It would be nice if they could have a mom and daughter day out. I will be praying for her. The poor little girl.
I agree with you on the quacker shows. They sure did not have a lot. There is one top that I am thinking about. It is the one with the pine cones on it. That is really cute. I passed on it before but now I am really thinking about it. It looks like it would be really warm. I thought about the heart dream jeans but they would be pretty loud. I like the indigo the hearts were not as noticeable. I think that they have sold out though. So will pass on them.
It is funny the only BJ that I have heard of is a gas station that sells sandwiches. We do not have one that is a big ware house store like Costco. I really like going to Costco. They do have some good buys in there. I miss Debbie giving us a report on what is there. She always found out things that were there before I did. We have to go there at the end of the month. Need to stock up on a few things again.
It is hard to find the bread mixes here anymore. I think that the bread machines have gone out and the mixers are in. They do all the kneading of the dough so you do not need the bread maker. We are looking for one. May have to go to St. Louis and buy one. I would love to have a kitchen ade so it would make it easier to make the cream puffs.
We have not had crepes for a long time. We neither one of us can make them and have to get them out somewhere. They do not have them down here that is too fancy for them.lol No they are more into country cooking here then they are if we were in the city or a bigger town. Biscuits and gravy are the big thing down here. You can get them everywhere.
That is really nice that Brent took up for Jenny. That guy must have been really surprised when Brent came out of the kitchen and took care of things. He will think twice about harassing someone working behind the counter again. It is funny how they can fight and not get along but defend each other when they need it. I guess they get on each others nerves sometimes like our husbands do to us.
That is really weird that you have to have a passport to go to another state. They need to get that straightened out and soon. They are having a lot of trouble with all the traveling at airports. Soon they are going to have to do a full back ground check before you can get on a plane. I am so glad that I do not fly.
Well that is about all from here. Hope Kendall gets well soon and does not pass this on to her brother and sister.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23379

Hi Colleen,
I have that pine cone shirt. It is warm. That’s one of the ones that i bought last month full price and now it is on clearance. Ticks me off!
I too miss Debbie’s weekly Costco reports. I will have to email her soon and see how she is doing. Her situation makes me so sad. Someone so lively now struggles every day to feel good. I wonder how Scott is adjusting to all these changes as she always cooked for him and did many things around the house that she probably can no longer do. It really is a test of for better or for worse.
I ordered my bread mixes from an online site called the Preferred Pantry. I like getting the mixes from them because you cannot get things like rye flour around here and they have the rye mixes and the dark rye mixes. I like the bread machine because it mixes rises and cooks all in one machine. The kitchen aide has the dough hooks but you still have to rise it and knead it and then bake it on your own. The machine is for a lazy cook like me.
We used to have a crepe restaurant a town over and it was very popular but it closed down and moved to a different location. We can get biscuits and gravy around here at some of the places that are like diners they are on the breakfast menu.
I don’t particularly like flying either anymore but sometimes you need to in order to get where you need to be. I would have missed the opportunity to see a lot of places if i didn’t fly as one doesn’t always have the time to drive somewhere. Plus when my Dad died they lived in Louisiana and when Mom died she lived in Florida so we had to fly in order to get to their funerals. Flying is sometimes like going to the doctors for a checkup-you don’t particularly like doing it but you need to get to the end result. lol
My friend the cardinal is at the window again looking for love. lol
I hope Kendall feels better soon too and doesn’t pass it all around to the other kids. So far Piper and Jenny have gotten strep throat and Adam and Lachlan haven’t-sounds like the boys are safe and the girl’s aren’t. Her birthday is next weekend so she should be recuperated by then.
Speaking of that you are really in the final countdown for little girl we don’t know what her name will be. Have you picked out a new baby gift yet? You must be wondering now if every day will be the day.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23381

Hi Adele,
I hope the weather holds out and you get to visit your friends for dinner tonight. We are supposed to get rain and then it will turn really cold over the weekend. Hopefully it won’t last for too long. I’m not sure what we will do tonight. We usually go to Jenny’s but since Kendall has been sick I’m not sure. I know that after 24 hours on the antibiotics they are not contagious anymore but i still feel like the germs could be lurking on door handles and such. I know I sound like a germaphobe but I’m really not-I just have to be careful because i take an immunosuppressive.
You are right-it must be a young guy thing about not thinking soup is a whole meal. They probably still need meat and potatoes at their age. Here’s how I make the English muffin pizza breads. I lightly toast the muffins and put them on a baking sheet. i put a little of the pizza sauce on each muffin and spread it around. I use something called pizza quick sauce which is in a squeeze bottle i think made by Contadina-it’s perfect for this as you only use a small amount. Then I top each muffin with a slice of mozzarella or provolone and run them under the broiler until the cheese melts. Everyone seems to like them and they are the perfect little side to a bowl of soup.
We don’t have any plans this weekend. No more Bears games as they are out of the playoffs. It’s still so gloomy outside. No sunshine in sight. I don’t think I would do well in Alaska or one of those Scandinavian countries where they have practically 24 hours of night during part of the winter.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23383

hi Gail
Just not sure about tonight. Just heard the drizzle will continue today, and then spots of freezing drizzle. As we are not going until 7:30, I will call Joyce to see what she thinks. She broke her ankle 2 years ago, so she is cautious too.
I love that Contadina sauce idea- is that something that you put in the fridge, a nd can re-use later? kind of like the new tubes of tomato paste?
you do have to be very careful with catching anything. It is hard, because this time of year the kids are like little germ factories. Marissa just went tot he doctor, because she feels lousy and is exhausted all the time. I really thought she had low iron. her doctor said it was a virus, that is attacking her joints, and she needs more sleep. Marissa is one who has to be in bed at 9:30, or she gets testy. She has been working a lot of hours at Yankee Candle.
Then, we have Hetaher going to my back doctor today too. She has a curve in her back, and hip dysplasia. When she was little, she had one leg 1 1/2 inches longer than the other. She wore a kind of wedge on one shoe, that we had done by a cobbler, to make one shoe higher than the other, to help, until they could do surgery. They split the hip in half, took a chink of her hip from the top, and grafted it into the middle of the hip, and secured it with pins and screws, which were later removed. It was a pretty big surgery, and she had to remain on crutches, with no weight on the foot at all for 3 months. Well. Kids being kids, she later in years a admitted that she and her friend practiced walking with the crutches. That could have compressed some of the graft. Either way, her back is bothering her now, and I hope my doctor can help. he may have her get the series of 3 shots- not sure what they do for her hip.
Stephanie had the same thing, bit only 3/4 of a difference between the legs. With her, they did something to the growth plate in her knee, to slow it down, so the other leg would catch up- which it did.
Bone issues around here just do not want to stop!
hope your weather is better!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23385

Gail and Colleen
You can order just about any flour form the King Arthur Flour co.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23388

Hi Colleen
You are right- they are both very well liked at work, and easy to get mixed up, because they both work a lot of crazy hours, especially over the holidays. read my post to Gail for more info on Heather, and Marissa’s doctor visits today.
We are all waiting to hear the baby news. I bet you are on the edge of your seat, and every time the phone rings, you get excited!
How do you make the Jumbolaya? That sounds really good on a winter day. Soups and one pot dishes are my all time favorites. Easy to cook for me, and yummy.
It is very gloomy here, and reports of freezing drizzle tonight. Not sure if we will gout, as they cannot meet until 7:30. That time guarantees the freeze.
OH yes, we do need to listen to our doctors. I was talking to myself yesterday, saying, “No, you cannot reach for that, or bend that far, stupid.” We have to constantly remind ourselves not to do the things that are so natural. Such a pain.
Marissa’s actual birthday is Sunday the 10th. She got the corned beef today, so we are all set for the dinner. No turnip, though, So, I will cook 2 heads of the cabbage instead with the dinner.
Have you seen the Chew lately? I hate the lower calorie meals. I should not, because I finally dared to get on the scale. I gained a whopping 10 lbs. So, I am on notice. I have been a good girl the last few days, as I was quite shocked. My back cannot tolerate any more weight, so I have to get that off as fast as I can. Have no idea, if I can, but I will be good. I will only have 1 to 2 pieces of leftover Lindt balls a day. period. I will up my vegies, and protein, and down with the carbs. I only eat one carb per meal, so if I have bread, I will not have potato, and vice versa. Thank God all the cookies are gone!! o was having 2 cookies for lunch every day, with my tea, as my lunch. What was I thinking????? With the 4 people less for the holiday meals, there were a lot of leftover cookies. Now, I have to pay the r price. Tough this time of year, because the fruit is just not good. We got strawberries, and they were so sour, I had to dip them in sugar….so what was the pitn of eating those????
I am a bad little Quacker. LOL
Adele

[Colleen]

#23393

Hi Gail,
How is Kendall doing? Hope that the medicine is making her feel a little better. Hope that she is better by her birthday. The poor little thing. It would not be good if this is passed on to Piper. She is so little. They seem to bounce back faster then we do though. I am praying that it does not spread on to Jenny and Piper or the guys.
Maybe Scott is taking care of Debbie now. She sure has taken care of him for a long time. He seems to be a decent guy though. I think that he will do all that he can for her. Sure miss her humor. She is so funny and does some funny things. She could always make us laugh. She is such a good person.
I will have to get on preferred pantries web site and see what they have. I have to find a new bread maker. I will have to look on line and see where i can find one. Fresh bread sounds so good right now. Wish that I could make some tonight. It gives the house a really good smell also.
This baby is taking her time. We thought she would be here early but now we think that she is going to be late. Cannot wait until she is here though. She will be one spoiled little girl. She will be the best dressed. Danyielle will love shopping for her and getting her the cutest that she can find. She is thinking about going back to work and getting back into what she went to college for. It will have to do with fashion. She is good at it and should not have trouble getting a job.
We have been lucky. Most of the family lives close to where we are. So we would not have to travel that far to see anyone. Just my one sisters kids and they move all the time. They will probably be buried here in Missouri. Hopefully they will be around until after I am gone. My two nephews are close to my age. My oldest sister is ten years older then I am so she was having her children while I was still in grade school. I think that he oldest is ten years younger then I am and her other son is twelve years younger. They like to remind me of that when I call them kids. lol
That must have been hard on your parents when you were so far away. I cannot imagine being that far away from my mom. We were thought at one time. Life sure is funny.
Well that is about all from here. Take care will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23395

Hi Adele,
You sure have had a lot of bone problems in your family. Hope that Heather and Marissa will be okay. Maybe things will slow down for Marissa at the store and she will get more time off. She needs to get the rest that she needs. Please let us know how Heather is doing.
It is shrimp, sausage, rice and some vegetables . I will find the recipe and post on here later. I like to fix it when we have a lot of people coming over. Everybody seems to like it. The only thing that takes time is cutting up the vegetables. You just throw it into one pot and it is all fine.
It is supposed to snow here tomorrow. 2 to 3 inches and will stick on the ground. That is not much so will not be bad. I hope that freezing drizzle holds off until after you go out to dinner. That would be a shame to have to cancel. You and Gary need to get out of the house for awhile. You need time away from home and all the kids. You could also use a day off from cooking.
I have been watching. They had some really good recipes on there that are low cal. You can tell Daphne is back she is cooking with cauliflower. Making that instead of meat. She always bakes everything also. She must be good at doing things healthy but sometimes you need something with a little fat in it. We cannot just eat healthy all the time. We all gain weight over the holidays. It is hard not too. You have all that good food around you bake so much. It would be nice if we could all have gone over there and helped you eat the left overs. Cookies and hot tea sound good to me.
Use Splenda instead of regular sugar. It has less calories and is not as fattening. So they say. You really cannot tell much difference in splenda and sugar. They both taste good. That is what they have in diet foods now instead of aspertame. So I guess it is better for us. Well at least for today. Just give it a year or two and they will find something wrong with it.
How is Gary doing? Hope that he is feeling okay.
Colleen

[Barbara Smith]

#23397

Hello to everyone. Gosh, how I have missed looking on here every day to keep up with you all. I miss my friends so much! This has been such a nightmare trying to help Jerrys Mom out with all her finances, her bills, her safety, her phone = it just goes on and on. He is gone right now helping her to get her Cricket phone hooked back up. They just shut it off, and she was unable to call us so all night long he lay awake worrying. I really felt that she had just accidently left it on; but he was right, she had another bill that needed to be paid. We are not familiar with this type of phone; so he has taken her to the phone store to find out what all is going on and get things all paid up. And she has some kind of water bugs in her home, and that is just something Jerry is livid about that his brothers has let this go on and not had her house exterminated, so he and his Mom will have to be gone for 3 hours away from the house after they finish spraying or whatever. He took her to the doctor this week for a check up; and the doctor said he feels she can manage with help. He told Jerry he is proud of him; because he remembers Jerry from all the years of bringing his Dad to see him and now here he is with his Mom. He told Jerry right in front of his Mom that this is the way it always happens, that one child takes care of everything and all the others just sit back and do nothing. He encouraged her to go with Jerry to look at assisted living places, and she said that she has lived in her home for 65 years; but that she would go with him to look. The doctor told her that he could if he felt it was for her own good, write for her to HAVE to go into a home; but he felt she was not there, but he wanted her to know that he will look out for her welfare. I was glad he did that so she knows that Jerry is not just suggesting this for any reason but for her safety. Jerry also has arranged for a First Alert thing for her to wear around her neck, Jerry has also, in having to take her to the bank, that she has two separate savings accounts worth over 2ooooo, with both his Mom and one of his brothers names on it; so if she passes away, all the money will be his. Talk about a shocker to Jerry. He is so hurt that this is happening. Well, enough of this.
We are doing okay otherwise. Neal is very excited about the wee one. I think he will make a great Daddy and hoping Sarah will let us be grandparents. Jerry and I are so excited too. It looks so cute on the little ultrasound. She has had quite of bit of nausea, but not as bad as some that I have seen,. Colleen, isn’t your little one due real soon? I am happy for you all too. 2016 is a big baby year, isn’t it? We should suggest some Quacker tops for little ones that match the Mommy and Grand Mommy tops! Wouldn’t that be cute?
I miss Debbie so much too. She could always write the most interesting news. I so hope Scott is helping her out; and I’m sure he is. She was always right there with him working on projects.
Speaking of projects; right in the middle of all this that we have had going on, one of our commodes broke. It had something to do with all that stuff on the inside. Poor Jerry once again had to work on it; and finally got it fixed. His back hurt him so much. The boys were both at work; and I tried to talk him into waiting for one of them; but his stubbornness would not let him. It was one of those things that has made me say that from now on that we will be calling the plumbers for if the boys are not available. He just cannot go on doing these things.
I really hope you all are well and I am so sorry to hear of your little grand daughter being so sick, Gail. I hope she is doing better. With your compromised immune system, I know how you must want to go and comfort her; but I really feel you should stay away until she is better.
Take care everyone. Will write more as soon as I can. Hugs, Barbara

[Colleen]

#23401

Hi Everyone,
If I disappear for a few days do not worry. My mom in in the hospital and I will be there with her. My brother called me tonight and told me. So I am not sure if she will get to come home tomorrow or if she will have to stay. Not sure what is going on right now.
Here is the recipe for the Shrimp and Sausage jambalaya
2tbls vegetable oil, !/2 pound andouille or hot smoked sausage ( you can get regular smoked sausage if you do not want it really hot.) cut into 1/2 inch slices.,1/2cup celery sliced
1 small onion, 1 small green or red pepper chopped, 1clove garlic minced, 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, 1 can ( 8 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes coarsely chopped and undreained, 1bay leaf, 1/4tsp tabasco pepper sauce( or what ever type of hot sauce you want to use), 1/4 tsp oregano leaves dried, 1/4 tsp. thyme leaves dried,1/8tsp. ground allspice, 3/4 cup uncooked rice add 1/2 pound shrimp peeled deveined and cut in half lengthwise, celery leaves if you want them.
In large heavy heavy sauce or Dutch oven heat oil over medium high heat. Add sausage, celery, onions, green pepper nd garlic. Cook 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stir frequently. Stir in broth, tomatoes ,bay leaf, tabasco sauce, oregano, thyme,and all spice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10minutes, stir occasionallty. Stir in rice. Cover simmer 15 minutes. Add shrimp, cover and simmer 5 minutes longer or until rice is tender and shrimp is pink Let stand covered 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf Garnish with celery leaves if you want. Makes 4 servings.
We usaually get or then just 4 servings out of it but I always have to double it because of fixing it when all the family is here. You can also use chicken if you do not like shrimp or if you do not like the sausage. We have never done that. We ,like the shrimp and sausage.
I hope if you make it Adele you enjoy it. We sure do.
Well that is about all from here. have a good night will talk to all of you when I can.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23410

Hi Colleen,
I hope your Mom will be okay. I’m glad that you live close enough to go and give her whatever help that she will need. We will be praying for a speedy recovery.
Kendall is feeling better but we still stayed home last night. I figure there are still germs lingering around their house plus it was pretty foggy out so we were just as happy to stay home and veg out.
Well I guess that baby will get here when she feels the time is right. I guess she wants to pick her own date to make her entrance.
It’s snowing very gently outside now. I have no idea how much snow that we will get. I think you said that you were supposed to get some too.
You are lucky that most of your family lives close by. When they live far away you do get used to it-you wish it could be different but you just have to make the best of it.
Take good care of your Mom and I hope that she will be better soon.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23412

Hi Barbara,
I have to say Jerry is such a good son. He reminds me of Greg with all the things that he is doing for his Mom. And it is true. Usually it’s one person that ends up doing it all for an aging parent. Here’s the thing about those accounts with his brother’s name on them. They wouldn’t necessarily go to the brother if she would die. I had my name on my Mom’s account and Greg and I could write checks on his Mom’s account-mainly because we paid her bills for her-but if it’s in her will that all her assets are to distributed equally after her death then those accounts should be divided among all the siblings. The problem is that with his name on the accounts he could clean them all out before the executor could distribute the estate. Of course if she stays home with a home health worker or goes to assisted living that money could get used up anyway which I think is the whole purpose of having that savings so that you have money to take care of yourself when you get older in whatever way you need. I will never understand why adult children get so greedy about money that belongs to their parents and was never theirs to begin with. I’ve seen that tear families apart so many times-and all for what? something that was never yours to begin with. I have to say when my Mother died my brother sister and I were very careful not to step on anyone’s toes about anything that Mom owned and Mom had a written list of where personal possessions should go. With Greg’s Mom too he as executor had everything written up to show that it was all equally distributed. In that case the only one who had her nose out of joint was Greg’s oldest brothers wife who thought she should have gotten some personal things but those things all went to Greg’s sister as it should be-those things were her mothers. Plus Greg’s brothers and sister were so grateful to us for taking care of their Mom during the last 6 years of her life that they were in no way going to complain about anything as they were just happy to have their Mom in our care. You know taking care of an elderly parent should just not cause this must conflict if only everyone had their hearts in the right place. I really feel for Jerry but he is the only one trying to do the right thing. I will be praying that he has the strength to deal with all these family squabbles and that his mother will see that some of the brothers do not have her best interests at heart.
I hope Sarah has an easy pregnancy. Jenny would get quite sick at the beginning and throw up a lot but it does pass. i have a feeling that once the baby comes Sarah will be more than happy for your help and also your expertise as a nurse. That sure would have made me feel more secure as a new Mom having a nurse in the family who lived right close by.
Are you still having trouble with your computer? I hope that situation has been fixed and that you have the broken toilet under control too. it’s always something? Isn’t it?
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23419

Hi Colleen
We were able to get out last night. Because we went out at 7, we had to wait for a table, and between eating, and talking, we got home at 11:00pm. It was good to chat with ron and Joyce in person. we talk by phone about twice a week. We did not get up today until9:30-that is real late for us….LOL
That sounds like a good recipe- I love one pot things.
Heather is doing better. Most of the back pain is gone, so the doctor is not doing an MRI. He said it sounded like a disc herniated, and went back. If it happens again, she is to call right away, and they will get the MRI, before it goes back to see what is up. On her hip, he said she will need a hip replacement, but, she is way too young for that. So, if the hip becomes intolerable, he will do the shots, kike they do in my back. He told her to continue with the Motrin, as that reduces the swelling, until all is good again.
Oh yes- we have a lot of arthritic, and bone issues in this family. me, and Gary. Gary even more than the rest of us.
Thank you for the recipe.
I sincerely hope your Mom is ok. I will be praying for her. I hope it is nothing serious.
Hugs and prayers, sent your way!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23421

Hi Barbara
So glad to hear from you. We will all be watching you get more excited, as the months go by, to see your Itty Bitty come into the world. Very exciting events for the entire family. When will you know the sex?
That is good news about Jerry’s Mom. So happy she is back at her place, and Jerry is helping her out. O bet she is thrilled to have his help, because she knows he is doing what is best for her needs. Would he approach her on the savings accounts? I know I am jaded in these things, but, do you think she may not know Jerry’s brother is the only one on the account? I have no siblings, like Gail does, so I do not have that knowledge on distributing monies, after a death. I do not know anyone who has that Cricket for a phone provider, so I have no info on that one at all.
It is so sad that kids take advantage of their elderly parents. Thank God she has you, and Jerry, and a good doctor, who cares for her so much. She must be a lovely woman. she also raised a good son. God bless her.
I hope Jerry accepts some help for the boys on the commode. If not, I would definitely go with a plumber. If he hurts himself, it would be awful. Realizing what we can, and cannot do, is not easy. Especially for the men. I think it is worst for them to come to that realization.
We all miss Debbie so much. Loved her stories, and humor!
Tomorrow we are doing Marissa’s birthday. Already made her cookie- the Lebkuchen I do at Christmas. Gary and Bobby were trying to convince me to do a cake too. Not! I already have the ice on my back, between going out last night, and the rain today and tomorrow…..LOL
Hope we continue to hear good news on Jerry’s Mom, your commode, and the new Itty Bitty.
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23425

Hi Adele,
I wrote notes to you,Colleen and Barbara this morning and for some reason yours didn’t post. Maybe i forgot to hit submit. Who knows.
Good thinking-you are right King Arthur has all those things to do with baking. However I am a lazy baker and prefer to use the bread machine and the prepared mixes. I know that must be sacrilege to you as you are such and avid baker but it works for the two of us. Speaking of baking-Colleen mentioned using Splenda. if you try it be careful as you have to adjust the ingredients accordingly. I tried once with my pound cake and it came out very flat. I think you would have to look up recipes made for splenda to use it effectively. Yes the Contadina pizza squeeze comes in a plastic bottle like ketchup and you just use what you need and refrigerate the rest until next time.
I hope that Marissa will get the rest that she needs. I never heard of a virus that attacks the joints. I wonder how the doctor knows that. I guess there are all types of viruses. Winter just seems to be the time when we are all cooped up inside passing them around. And because Marissa works in a store she comes in contact with so many different people. Pretty soon we will all be wearing masks like in Asia. When we were at immediate care last week there were people walking around with masks. I suppose doctor’s offices and hospitals are two of the germiest places.
Greg is still having trouble with his ankle. I told him it takes months sometimes for a sprain to feel better but he thinks everything should be healed in a week. Of course the last couple of weeks the guy who is out in the factory has been on vacation so instead of being in the office Greg has been out on the floor a lot and doing more walking than usual doesn’t help. I’m glad that Heather’s back will be okay. I kind of figured that eventually she would need the hip replaced. I know they like to wait as long as possible before doing it so it doesn’t wear out and they have to replace it again. My brother has had both of his hips replaced. When it got so bad that he couldn’t ride anymore he got it done as an old cowboy can’t give up his horses. Since Heather and Steph had similar problems is that something that was inherited or was it just coincidence.
I’m glad that you got out last night. Where did you go. We stayed in to stay away from the germs at Jenny’s and because it was quite foggy out too. It’s been snowing a bit today but I don’t know how much we are supposed to get. I just want the sun to shine!!!
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23427

Hi Gail
I am pretty sure it is inherited. I remember my Nonna waking side to side when she was older, and I bet she had a curve in her back. I walk the same way, without a cane. I have 2 curves, and Hetaher has one. Steph , as far as we know, is straight, since the knee was operated on, and the other leg caught up. I have always wondered, since the 2 girls are like that, if my initial issue was one leg longer than the other. I asked the doctor once, and he said it all could have started that way, but now, who knows which came first, the chicken or the egg. When Heather was little, and first diagnosed, they said it was curvature of the spine. Then, we went to Children’s Hospital in Boston and she had the head of ortho, who said it was one leg longer than the other. You just do not get that exact problem, 3 generations in a row, without some kind of inherited issue. I have always wanted to do that DNA test thing, maybe that would shed some light on it. Who knows!
With Rissy(Marissa), I think when the doctor cannot find something, they call it a virus. My opinion, for what it is worth. Or, maybe she has seen people with the same complaints. you are right- with her in retail, and college, who knows what she was near. She must have touched over a thousand people before Christmas.
Poor Greg. That ankle will never heal with him on it all the time. He has no choice when he has people out. It is not easy to have your own business.
how old is your brother?
How is Kendall and Piper? I hope they are getting better. Winter is so tough on all the kids and parents.
It is going to pour here tomorrow, with over an inch in water. If it were snow, we would be in a lot of trouble. Gary is really achy today, and miserable. I will be glad when he gets the shoulder fixed. But, he will still suffer with his feet- the neuropathy from the diabetes. That is miserable when it rains. Nothing we can do about that one.
Hope your sun came out!!!
I do not blame you at all- mixes are really easier. To me, it is therapy to bake. That is the one thing I like about being retired. I can bake whenever I want to, and go out whenever I want.
We went to the 99. I like the 99, but, I prefer Bertucci’s, or the local Continental restaurant, if I had a choice. Better food, and atmosphere. But, I have picky Gary, who LOVES the 99. Nancy and I will be going out this week, before it starts to get colder, and icy- we will be at Bertucci’s…..LOL
So, this is what Gary says this morning……..”I really do not like to go out that late, I get to tired, and everything aches at night.” Good God, are we getting old, or what???
Hope your sun comes out tomorrow…..like the song. Also hope Colleen’s mother is ok.
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23439

Hi Adele,
I hope that Colleen’s mother is all right also. You never know what will happen as our parents age and we all know that we will more than likely lose them one day. Greg was lucky to have his Mom until she was 93. I was not so fortunate as my Mom died at 77 and my Dad at 63. We all want our parents to live to a ripe old age-as long as they are healthy and not suffering in any way. It’s so hard to lose them even though we realize that in the scheme of things we probably will. We just have to move on after that loss but we never stop thinking about them and loving them. I remember my sister saying after my Mom died and even though we were all adults “now we are orphans” and I think that just about sums it up. My brother and sister are older than I am Bruce is the oldest and I want to say that he is 72-if he isn’t yet he will be in a couple of months. I can never remember if they were born in 42 and 43 or 43 and 44. All I know is that they were close together-I think 15 months and older than me so they stuck together and I was the odd man out which probably was the cause of me inventing my invisible friend Jolly. It’s funny how you wanted brothers and sisters and and I had a good friend who was an only child growing up and I thought she had it made and wanted to be like her. I guess we always want what we don’t have but my sister was mean to me growing up so at that time I would have rather done without her. They probably resented me as they got stuck taking care of me sometimes, probably my sister more than my brother since she was the other girl and that’s how things rolled back then. But you don’t think of that when you are little. Anyway, we are the best of friends now even though we only see each other once a year or so.
I would venture to guess that maybe you had the same thing with one leg being longer. You should do that DNA test sometime. I’m sure it would be very informative.
I had no idea that neuropathy would be affected by temperature and humidity. We don’t have any 99 restaurants around here. It sounds like Gary eats like a little kid. I know it is frustrating fixing food for picky eaters. that’s funny about going out late and being sore and tired the next day. Pretty soon you will be going out at 3 for the blue plate specials. Isn’t it funny how as we age we start doing many of the things that we used to laugh at other people for doing. We do kind of become our parents. I tell Greg that all the time as he says corny things just like his Dad used to. But of course I am perfect! lol
Well it looks like we may have gotten a couple inches of snow yesterday. Nothing too bad. Now we are going to get a big dip in temperature. Highs only in the teens. Brrrrr!
Is today Marrisa’s birthday corned beef dinner? Happy Birthday Marissa! What do the grandkids call you by the way? We are Gigi and Grandpa.Enjoy your day.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23441

Hi Gail
OH yes- today is Rissy’s corned beef dinner. Just got it in the pot, and waiting for it to boil. before I get in the shower. It is pouring here- we are getting about an inch of rain. Can you imagine if it were snow?
Gary’s brother was the same with him, when they were little. He is 7 years older than Gary. All his memories when they were young, were of his brother telling him to go home…..LOL I guess on a lot of levels, it is easier to be an only. But, when we become orphans, only’s are really orphans. So, I am very lucky Tillie is still here. She will be 90 this May.
Gary eats like a 4 year old. Fries, chicken fingers, burgers, and chicken pot pies are his favorites….oh, and mashed potato. He is very difficult to try to re-train, for his health issues. I try to do the soups, which have more vegies, and I have been doing the chicken and dumplings, which he really loves. I have to try to disguise vegies for him, to try to sneak them in. He will only eat frozen, in juice strawberries- so, what is the point? Grapes and cherries, if they are sweet enough, if not, they get rejected. If I cut an apple, and peel it, the baby will eat it. He will not peel, or cut it himself- way too much trouble. With food, he is a lot of work.
Do you know, Bobby has tried to get fresh green beans since the holidays, and there are none? The grocer at the supermarket said they are selling for 100.00 a bucket. Whatever a bucket is, I do not know. They did have some in those heavy plastic bags, but he told Bobby not to buy them, because those are lousy. Grocer said the bean crop has been ruined. So, this week, the only fresh vegie I have for Mr. Gary is lettuce. If Bob called me, I would have told him to get a cucumber- he will eat those. I try to give him at least one fresh vegie a week- he will eat can corn, beans and peas, but, I try to limit those. Have you been having trouble with green beans in your area? By the way, it is a HUGE deal that I got him to eat fresh green beans.
For us, I have the red, yellow and orange peppers this week- I love to roast them in the oven with a little oil and garlic. I know if he tasted them, he would probably like them.
So, does Jolly still come to visit? An imaginary friend is a sign of intelligence, you know. Bobby had imaginary fish. He loved to go to the Aquarium, when he was little. I would go to sit on the couch
Gary has been having a very touch time with the pain in his feet when it rains., and he would tell me not to sit there, because his fish were there. It was a pretty amusing choice.
I think we have arrived at the blue plate special gang…..LOL
Gary has been having a tough time with the pain in the bottom of his feet lately, and way worst when it rains. I also think it odd that neuropathy acts that way. One would not expect that at all.
I hope I remember to get the camera out today, so I can get a good Rissy pic! Amanda is working a double again today, so she will not be here. Not sure about Steph yet, either. Jhonny has been working 6 days a week.
hey….how are the kids doing? Are they getting better? Those poor little cuties! I bet you miss them too.
Hope you have a good day, and better weather…..your weather comes here in a couple of days.
Adele

[Barbara Smith]

#23446

SO COLD here in Tennessee today! I know you all are so much more ready for colder temps than we thin blooded Southerners’ are; but I have on my thick wool socks, and two shirts, and my Quacker jeannes, and I am still freezing. Jerry has a warm fire in our wood stove; that is our main source of heat. We had a load of wood delivered just a few weeks ago; and so we have a good supply. Would you believe that it was in the 80’s when we had the wood brought in? I felt sorry for the man who delivered it; because it was so hot that day that he was sweating. The temperature dropped so much while I was out yesterday. I was so cold that I stopped at one of those expensive coffee shops and got me a big tall hot chocolate; made with half and half no less; none of that low fat cappuccino for this girl. LOL It warmed me up though. Poor Gregg with that ankle. Gail, it has been my experience with sprained ankles that it can take weeks for it to get better; and the more he has to be up on it; the worse it will be for him. But I know he is probably like Jerry and doing more than he should. I worry so much about our guys in our little group. Common sense just goes right out the window when they feel that work needs to be done. Jerry worked all day on that darn commode; and now his knees are so swollen and sore that he can barely get around. He looks really bad to me today; like he is just drained. I am worried that he has been doing too much; what with his Mom and all the things that have been going wrong around here lately. As the old saying goes “when it rains, it pours”
I sure hope that Colleens’ Mom is better. I know she really loves her and is worried about her. Is she in the hospital? Yes, you all are so fortunate to still have your Moms. I lost my Mom and Dad about 15 years ago for my Dad and about 8 years ago for my Mom. Gail, on those bank accounts of Jerrys Mom, his brother has his name under her name on the account as POD then his name; so any monies that is in the account would be his. He is the one in Mexico. To say Jerry is upset would be putting it mildly. Jerry got her all set up with groceries, and has been in touch with the First Alert system that she will wear around her neck to press if she needs help. Now he has to have a home security system put in; if he can’t talk her into going into a retirement home close by us. We have absolutely no room in our home now; since Neal and Sarah are living with us. (and of course the wee one) She stays mostly in her pajamas now when she is home. She said she just wants to be “comfy” and I don’t blame her. It is so strange when I look at my son and think, he is going to be a Daddy, he will see a new life come into this world, and experience all the joy and wonder of raising a child. I know this is one of those deep reflections of life that seem to be drifting into my mind especially recently. By the way; I am called MiMi and Jerry is called Poppy. I think we all have sweet little grandma and grandpa names. LOL
Have you all bought any new Quacker lately? I have pulled out pieces that I haven’t even taken the tags off yet; so I am busy wearing them. Did a cheesecake today; and am going to fry some chicken for dinner; make some veggies, rolls, and may do a quick one bowl cake or brownies. This is one of those days I just feel like having some good smells coming from the kitchen and a good warm meals for us and the kids today. I am with you all; just about ready for the early bird special for us too. It is funny how we used to laugh at Jerrys Mom and Dad for making sure they left before 4 pm in order to get the discounts ha ha. And we have actually started only getting one entrée when we order a “to go” meal; and he and I just share the meal when we get home. For us to purchase two meals is just too much food for us. You would think my waist line would decrease too; but somehow that is not the case ha ha
Hope everyone (kids and adults) are feeling better today. We had actually planned a trip down to a casino today for a few hours just to have somewhere to go; but with Jerry’s knee so swollen; we decided not to go today. Better for our wallets anyway. (Not that we ever spend that much when we go; we just always have free buffet tickets ha ha) But it makes a nice drive for us to go down.
Take care and hope to hear from you all soon. Barbara

[adele shanbar]

#23448

Hi Barbara
So, how cold is it? I would venture to say, I may consider your cold, comfy. It is all in your perspective. Do you haven one of the Quacker cardigan fleece tops? I have the one with the in blue. It is real comfy when it is cold. If it stays colder down there, you may need one for your wardrobe.
Isn’t that nice, that Sarah is comfy in her jammies, home with you and waiting for the Itty Bitty to get come. Watching your children get ready to be parents is such a nice thing to see. It is a blessing. I can visualize Sarah in her jammies and slippers, chatting with you over tea….or hot chocolate.
Oh yes. the earlier dinners are getting more and more to be the norm. Than add that Gary has trouble seeing at night….LOL
I feel so bad for Jerry. Did he fix it, or do you need a plumber? I hope he gives in, and doe snot hurt his knee anymore. All our husbands keep on trying like the energizer bunnies. Then, they get hurt, or achy, and feel less than, because e they do not have the skills they had years ago. This aging really stinks. Then add all the stress, and running around with his Mom. He is doing a great job, at making sure she will be safe. I just wish his mother would change the names on her account, to add all the boys. All Jerry has been dealing with is so stressful. My prayers are with all of you.
We did a boiled dinner- corned beef. It was Marissa’s (Rissy) birthday request. You forget how good it is, when you only make it once a year on March. The salt is not good, though. I hardly added any salt to the water, as I felt the young’uns cold add the salt they needed. The rest of the spices have no sodium, so that was good.
I am also hoping that Colleen’s mother is ok. She will be devastated if anything happens. I hope this is just a little burp in her health.
Hope tomorrow is a lot warmer for you. The rain here is supposed to stop tonight.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23452

Hi Gail, Adele,and Barbara,
Mom is home from the hospital. My oldest sister is staying with her right now. She has a therapist to come over and help her gain her strength in her legs again. They are also having her do arm exercises. They will help her so while she is having trouble getting up and down she will be able to push with her arms. They told her that her arms will be her main way to get up and down. She will have to push up with her arms and not her legs for awhile. She is walking without the walker that they gave her at the hospital. She is determined that she will walk as soon as she can. So we will all take turns sitting with her for awhile. She is not liking that. She thinks that she is too much trouble for us. She is now thinking of moving into a senior apartment place. We will see. We are all just going to have to get together and talk about it.
That is all the information that I have for now. Thank you for caring. Will write more tomorrow. Might get on earlier. So will be able to chat longer.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23456

Hi Colleen,
Did your Mom have a fall or something that caused her to have to go to the hospital. I know that you are very worried about her and we are praying for a speedy recovery. If she needs that walker your family may really have to pressure her to use it. I know no one ever wants to but sometimes it is necessary for the person’s welfare. I know Greg’s Mom didn’t want to use it but I just had to keep insisting because it was for her own safety. I know sometimes she must have been mad at me for being such a pain in the butt-but I was just trying to keep her safe after she had some falls. She finally did use it most of the time unless she would forget.
I hope your Mom will seriously think about going to a senior apartment or come live with one of you guys for her own well being. None of us like to give up our independence but sometimes it really is in our best interest to do so. As to her being too much trouble-just tell her that she took care of all you kids for so many years and now it’s your turn to take care of her. Tell her you’re sure that she never said that you kids were too much trouble and that you feel the same way about her.
It’s nice that your siblings can all take turns staying with her right now. It is a good thing to have family close by. Keep us posted.
Hugs,
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23458

Hi Colleen
Aloud prayers are with you, and your Mom. I hope she keeps getting better every day. She is strong, like you, and will make it through this bump in the road.
Let us know, when you can, what happened. Was it a fall, or a tiny stroke?
It will be hard for her to realize she needs some help. Aging is so very difficult when our mothers lose their abilities to do everyday things.
love you, Colleen!
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23460

Hi Barbara,
We could never stay warm with just a wood stove. We have to have central heat but we have to fuel it with propane since we are out in the country and there are no natural gas lines out here. I know some people use wood but they have some kind of blower system with it and their houses are all on one level.
I wonder if there’s some way Jerry’s Mom could take the brother’s name off that account. Also does she have a will and does anyone have power of attorney over her finances and her healthcare decisions? I hope Jerry won’t exhaust himself with all of this plus taking care of your plumbing needs. He has a lot of stress right now.
I haven’t bought any new Quacker since before Christmas. I see where they are coming out with new boot cut pull on Dream Jeanne but I have to stop getting the Dream Jeannes even in the short as they are getting too long on me. I guess i have been shrinking since they first came out with them plus 28and 1/2 inches is still pretty long for a short or a petite-27 would be much better. You figure some regular inseams are 29 inches so their short really isn’t that short.
I think Mimi and Poppy are such cute names. I couldn’t be Mimi since Jenny has a French Bulldog named Mimi and I couldn’t be Grandma Gail as both Grandma’s are Gail-plus I didn’t want to be called Grandma so we picked Gigi and it turned out well-except when Piper was little and she thought Greg and I came as a package and just called each of us Gigigrandpa. lol
Here was my big ahaa moment when Kendall our first grandchild was born. When we saw her right afterward my first thought was ” here is our immortality-this is how we live on after we are gone from this earth.” It was such a profound moment and then you immediately fall in love-in some ways even a little more so than you do with your own children because you realize that these kids you can just love and love and love without having to worry about how they are behaving and the other things you had to worry about with your own kids. Grandkids are just a vessel that you can fill with pure love.
We are at minus 11 here this morning. Much too cold for anyone. Gosh-I am already longing for spring. The only good thing I can say is that the sun is out.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23462

Hi Adele,
Boy that Gary is a problem to feed-he sounds a lot like Brent is and how Kim was. They would not touch a green salad or fresh vegetables and dip with a ten foot pole. I always had to adjust the menu when they were here. I am lucky in that Greg will eat about anything that I fix. I know that he likes some things better than others but he will eat most things. The roasted peppers sound good. We have done that on the grill but I never just did them in the oven in winter for some odd reason. I think I will do that some time coming up. How long do you roast and at what temp? I have not tried to buy fresh green beans lately so I don’t know what the supply around here is like. I will look next time I am in the store.
That’s interesting that Bobby had invisible fish. Do you think he had a big desire for a pet as a kid? Jolly doesn’t come around anymore. My kids thought it was so funny when I told them I had an invisible friend. I too have been told that it is a sign of intelligence and creativity. Also if someone (me) did something wrong or broke something Jolly was also a good scapegoat. I’ve been told that I did use the phrase “Jolly did it” in some situations. lol I often wonder why I chose that name. Perhaps I was unhappy?
The grandkids are better. You know how fast the little ones bounce back. They are going Thursday night to spend the night at an indoor waterpark for Kendall’s birthday and they will do something on Friday so Jenny is keeping her home from school.
How was Marissa’s dinner. It’s a good thing we are not Irish as we are not corned beef and cabbage fans. Fortunately most of the things that we don’t like we both don’t like-except Greg likes sauerkraut and I don’t. So sometimes I have to break down and make him a little anyway. The girls are probably at the stage in life where they prefer money or a gift card for a birthday gift so that makes things easier. I’ll bet it was hard to get a candle in that cookie so that you could sing happy birthday to her. lol Maybe that’s why she requests cookies so that she doesn’t get the song. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23464

Hi Barbara ad Gail
I have to add what I did when Steph was born. She was born less than 2 years, after my Dad died. I have to say, it is just as Gail said, you immediately fall in love with this Itty Bitty, way more than you did with your own child. A very strange thing, how much you love a grandchild. But, as I stood there and fell in love with her, I cried, for the person who was not there to share this beautiful new stage in our lives- my Dad. It was sad, and joyful at the same time, and I will never forget the first one.
We will be waiting to hear what you do, and feel, for your first grandbaby.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23466

Hi Gail
I cut up the peppers, and put them on a cookie sheet- 450 for about half an hour. I drizzle either olive oil, or melted butter, and chopped garlic, with salt and pepper. They are as good as on the grill. I know you have a double oven too, so it would be easy to do with any baked meat. You can do almost any vegie that way. We have also done zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, onions, etc. Some times I do a medley of vegies like that on a holiday. Just be careful of the zucchini, because it gets very wet, and then the other vegies do not get that nice crust on them.
I am so glad the kids are feeling better.
I bet he did want a pet back then. When he was older, about 8,maybe, we got the cats. First we had 2,one for each of them. Then, Heather found a cat in a box at the park- he came home. The last one, was me- a neighbor was walking around with a basket full of adorable kittens. Could not resist- then we had 4. Funny thing was, you never smelled the cat smell in the house. I kept their box immaculate. They were well trained- nobody ever went on the counters, stove or table. Back then I had a glass top table, and when I cam home form work, I would occasionally see paw prints on the table. I would yell, “who was on the table?”, and all of them scattered. It was pretty funny.
Marissa loved her dinner. She took some home for Amanda- she worked a double yesterday. She would not allow any pics. She said not in Enzo’s sweatshirt- that is what she had on. I did not give her a present yet, because she wants to go shopping for some clothes. We will do that on-line…..LOL Or, she will scope out the situation, and get it with me on-line. She got new boots form my mother, some clothes from Heather, and money from her Uncle. She is a cutie. She did look better yesterday, as she slept a lot the last couple of days. The kid is just plain tired form all the holiday hours at the store, combined with finals.
There was no candle in the cookie….LOL We did sing Happy Birthday!
The sun is shining today- thank God. It has been a gloomy few days here. It got a lot colder. Do you believe it hit 60 in Boston yesterday? It is back into the 30’s today.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23480

Hi All,
My mom had a bladder infection. They put her on a medicine that she could not take. The infection was really bad since she had it three times in a year. They do not think that it was ever completely gone. She was talking to my sister and the phone went dead. My sister kept trying to call her back and could not get a hold of her. So she called my brother and when he and my sil went over there they found her in the floor. They call the ambulance right away and they took her to the hospital. She has a knot on her head from where she fell. It is right over her right eye. They did test on her and it is okay it did not do any damage and not internal bleeding. So they put her on antibiotics thru and IV and she has to go back to her regular doctor on the 20th of this month. She is also have home health coming to work with her. She has to have physical therapy to help her with gaining her strength back. She will also have a occupational therapist to come over and help her. We are not sure why they need that one but we will see. We are also baby watch. The baby is due and we are waiting for that call to get to her house to watch Owen. We will not take him to the hospital while she is in labor but will wait until the baby is born. So this will be interesting I will have to take care of my mom and Danyielle. I do not know yet how I am going to be in two places.
Thank you for all the prayers for my mom they really are helping. Well that is about all from her right now. I am hoping to get caught up with everyone soon. Maybe all of this will slow down once the baby is born and mom is better.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23495

Hi Colleen,
I’m so glad that your Mom was on the phone with your sister when she passed out. That way she knew something was wrong right away and could get help for her. That must have been so scary for everyone. I’m glad that she’s home and getting some outside help to recuperate too. In my opinion those home health workers don’t keep coming for long enough but that was my own personal experience and I guess that is all decided by Medicare. We will keep praying for her recovery and also pray for a speedy delivery-(didn’t the postman on Mr. Rogers say that) for Danyielle-and then we can finally find out the name of this sweet new baby girl. Colleen-you will be a busy girl and I hope that you can figure out how to be in two places at once. Sending love and prayers your way.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23497

Hi Adele,
Now that I think of it I used to make a dish with cut up red potatoes, garlic and onion that I roasted with some olive oil. Haven’t made that in a long time probably because I have such an issue with garlic making me sick to my stomach. My Dad was the same way.
It will be interesting to hear Barbara’s reaction on seeing her grandchild for the first time. I’m sorry that your Dad missed seeing Steph. Those milestones can be really happy and sad when we think of those loved ones who are missing them. My Dad only saw Jenny one time as he died the year that she was born. And he only saw Brent maybe three times. Greg’s Dad died too only a few years later. That’s why I make sure we get over to see our grandkids often as I want them to know us and have memories of us like Greg and I have of our grandparents. Our kids barely knew their cousins or grandparents and aunts and uncles as everyone lived all over the country. I know Greg at one time had thoughts of retiring to a warmer climate and I absolutely refused as i didn’t want grandkids who would only see us once a year and we would be strangers to them. Right about now with a temperature of 12 and a windchill of minus 10 I am rethinking all that. lol
It’s funny about cats-they are kind of like potato chips-you can’t just have one. It seems like once you get one strays just know to turn up at your house.
So I’m trying to get this dynamic all straight. Is Enzo Marissa’s boyfriend? And Amanda and Marissa live with Heather and that is close by in your old house-or do I have this all screwed up. I don’t know if it’s just me but I like to get a picture in my head of everyone in their places. I can kind of picture Colleen in Missouri and Barbara in Tennessee because I have been to those states-I can kind of picture Debbie in Oregon because we were fairly close to where she lives when we were in Idaho. But I have not been anywhere out east so I have a hard time conceptualizing it. Hopefully that will be on our to do list in the future.
Hope everyone is staying warm. I have pulled out all my comfy cozy sweaters and corduroy and velour pants to stay warm in this cold. Of course the sun shines when it is 10 degrees. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23499

Hi colleen
So glad your Mom is on the mend. I did not realize, until it happened to Tillie, how much a UTI/bladder infection does with an elderly person. Tillie ended up in the hospital a couple of years ago for the same thing. She was acting like she had a stroke. It is a very weird, strange thing, and I do not know why it does that to elderly people. I hope she recovers quickly, and is back to her old self.
Somewhere in my travels, I was told that for every day in the hospital, it takes a week to recover and get your strength back.
You were so lucky she was on the phone when it happened. An Angel was watching over all of you!
Do not worry about catching up- we will all still be here.
Love,
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23501

Hi Gailster……LOL

Here is the scoop. All my bio grands live in Saugus. Hetaher is the mother of the 2 girls: Steph, 25, Amanda, 20, and Marissa (Rissy), 19. Steph, naturally has the 2 boys, JJ and Aizen, and fiancé/hubby is Jhonny. Amanda and Marissa do still live home with Hetaher. Enzo is Marissa’s boyfriend….he gave e her a new pair of Ugg’s for her birthday.
Now, Hetaher and Steph have apartments in an apartment complex in Saugus, and they live across the street from each other.
My other grands, (Gary’s bio) live the next town over, TJ,12 and Rachel, will be 17 next month.
I know it is confusing….some days I am confused about everyone’s ages, and who they are….LOL LOL
It is cold here today and we are getting snow/sleet this evening. So, Nancy and I will have to figure out if we can safely get out maybe on Thursday, instead of Wednesday. I already cancelled my doctor apt for Thursday, because I know I will not be able to get my blood work done tomorrow am, with the ice. Not an important doctor visit- just a check in with my GP.
So, on the menu tonight, we will have baked chicken, and the roasted peppers, with Stove top stuffing. Simple to fix, and makes the house feel warmer width the oven smells. Are you reacting to fresh garlic, or the powder stuff? I cannot tolerate the powder stuff- it is too strong.
Funny thing is, the sun is brightly shining. One would never expect bad weather looking outside right now. So, today I pulled out my Carole Hochman 3 piece pj’s, with the fleece jackets. Winter has arrived.
Hope you are all snug in your house, with the oven on!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23515

Hi Everyone,
My mom is doing better but still not baby. It is driving me crazy sitting waiting for the new that she is in the hospital. I cannot wait to see the new baby. I just wish she would have her. Tomorrow I have to get another shot in my hip. I wonder if they can come up with one more thing for me to have to do this week. Now I am feeling sorry for myself.
Wanted to let you know that there is a quacker tsv in February It is around the end of the month. It is a skort and a vest. It is really cute. Wish the top came with it also but it doesn’t. That would really be cute.
Gotta go the phone is ringing.
Colleen.

[Gail Norusis]

#23517

Hi Colleen,
Thanks for the tip on the upcoming TSV. It sounds cute. I haven’t tried a skort from them yet. This might be the year. I love their bermuda shorts as they come to my knee and cover all the parts that I don’t want to show on my thighs. I wore them all through our trip to Disney last year. Of course if I buy a skort in February I won’t be able to wear it until June. lol
Glad that your Mom is doing better. I hope the baby comes soon. Maybe she will wait until Kendall’s birthday on the 16th. Go get that shot you will need it to keep up with Owen and take care of your Mom and Danyielle. I hope that your weather remains good so you won’t have to deal with snow or ice on top of everything else.
I just heard the Rams are moving back to California so now you won’t have a football team. Who will Ron root for then. I can’t think of which team might be closest.
Keep us posted when you get the next chance.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23519

Hi Adele,
Yes sometimes all the family connections are confusing. It’s nice that everyone lives nearby. Somehow though I remember something about your parents house-did they have a house close to where you live now or something? I think that’s what’s confusing me. I’ll bet Marissa gets lots of good use walking to classes in those Uggs. I remember walking to classes in freezing weather in College. That’s a good enough reason to choose a college in a warm weather state. Except that I could get tuition scholarships for schools in my own state but not in others so i guess that figured into the decisions of going to ISU and U of I. My nephew went to Boston College for some of his undergrad studies. My parents had friends from Boston and it seems I remember conversations about real estate in that area being some of the highest in the country. I don’t know if that would still be true or not. I know around San Francisco you can only get a tiny little house for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I am addicted to House Hunters on HGTV and it amazes me the difference in real estate prices throughout the country and the world. It really is location location location. I miss the days before the real estate bust when they used to have Parades of Homes and things like that. Those houses were fun to walk through and get new ideas of things to do with your own home. We walked through hundreds of homes getting ideas before we built this house and amazingly enough because we planned so well there were few things that I would have changed afterwards. Of course now after almost 20 years there are things that need to be changed and updated but for the most part the general design has stood up to the test of time.
It’s the fresh garlic that bothers me. My Dad was like that and a friend of Jenny’s is like that so I wonder if some people have a stomach enzyme or something that reacts to the garlic. I often hear Rachel Ray say how she always smells of garlic so I’m wondering if i could ever even eat her cooking.
I hope that you get your lunch in this week. I am like in lockdown mode and just don’t want to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. I can’t believe I am this sick of winter already and it is only the beginning of January. Fortunately I should have enough food in here to cook all week. Thank goodness for frozen and canned foods. These are good crock pot days. Maybe I’ll do a crock pot meal this week.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23532

Hi Gail
I love crock pot days. Mine is now permanently on the counter, until the summer.
You are right- real estate up here is out of control. Also right on my parents’ and grandmothers house- but, they were in East Boston. East Boston is 2 cities away from here. We moved here after my Dad died, in 1989.
I think as we get older, different things start to bother us. I cannot eat later that 6, or 6:30. I will not be able to sleep. Strange. Also, a lot of fat in a meal bothers me. Not to say any cross contamination with shellfish. Sometimes I will get something, and get sick right after. I think that is why I hate fries. I will only eat them form McDonalds, and if they are real hot. A lot of cross contamination happens with fried fish/fries, etc, in the small take-out places.
It is icy in the driveway today. We are going out tomorrow for lunch, but then it should be good. the driveway is an issue, because of how we park the cars, the sun, and the shade from Gary’s van, and the house. It should be gone by tomorrow afternoon. I told Ga to move his van to the bottom of the driveway tomorrow, early, so the sun can dry up the driveway. We have to get out this week, e talking about a storm over the weekend.
I like HGTV. You do get a lot of good ideas. Houses are always needing some up-grade, or repairs. They are a work in progress. I have 3 things I want to do- the kitchen counters, the living room floor, and the office floor. All in good time….LOL I like to do my projects with the 0% financing things- that way it is done, with no extra cost to me. I do one a year. So, I wait until I am done with one payment, and off I go to the next one.
I hope your weather will get better, so you can get back out. It is just a matter of time, until we get blasted again.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23543

Hi colleen
I think we are all hoping the phone call was from your daughter, saying Itty Bitty is on the way!!!
So happy to hear your Mom is doing better- great news!
Also hope the shot in your hip goes well tomorrow. If you have my luck, the shot will be interrupted by the baby. I hope it all works out.
You are in our prayers.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23558

Hi Gail and Adele,
Well there is not baby yet. Danyielle is really getting tired of waiting. I do not know how long they will let her go before they induce labor.Hope that she does not have to go thru that. It is a pain. Mom is getting stronger everyday. I have to go over there tomorrow and stay with her. I am not sure how this is going to all work out but we have to do something to help her. They are getting her all set up with some type of life alert system and doing things to the house to help fix it so she can get around better. She said that she is getting stronger by the day and is not using the walker anymore. She does keep it handy just in case. She is not being that stubborn.
Sorry to hear that the two of you are having such bad weather. We are suppose to get some snow over the week-end. We will see what will happen. We sure do not need it right now. I saw on the weather that you were getting snow around Chicago but did not know if that storm hit where you live or not.
A lot of people are cheering that they are going. They wanted this big expensive stadium and wanted us to pay for it. Everyone felt that they are not good enough team to make all these demands. The owner has been wanting to get out of here for a long time. So he has not been putting the money in the team to make it better. So we wish him luck and good riddens. We have the Kansas city Chiefs to cheer for. They are not that far from here. I hope that if they get another team here it will be one that wants to stay here.
I think that Itty Bitty is taking her time deciding when to make her appearance. She is going to be stubborn like her mom. I just hope that she comes soon so we can quit jumping every time that phones rings. Kaylee thinks that Danyielle needs to stop playing around and have that baby. She is tired of waiting. I am sure that Danyiellle did not need not hear that she is more frustrated then anyone. You know how five year olds are though. They say what they are thinking.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night and Adele I hope that you get to go out to lunch before the snow falls again.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23561

Hi Colleen,
Danyielle is just two days past due-right? That would be kind of cool if she has it on Saturday which is Kendall’s birthday-then we would have another thing in common. We could help each other remember our granddaughter’s birthdays. lol Actually my hair stylist also has a birthday on the 16th too.
I hope that you all get things figured out so that your Mom is happy and all you kids feel that she is safer. It’s so good to hear that she is doing better-she sounds like she is really resilient. That was very informative to know from Adele that often older people are really adversely affected by UTI’s. It’s a good thing to remember for ourselves as we age.
We had just a little bit of snow yesterday nothing bad at all. I think they were getting more of that lake effect snow in Ohio and such-east of here.
I forgot that you had the Kansas City Chiefs-you would think I would remember as we have gone to KC every year for about the last 8 years. I could never get used to the Rams being in Saint Louis anyway-I always thought of them as the LA Rams from way back. You are having a very busy week. By the time the baby comes and you get your Mom all squared away you will be ready for a vacation. Hang in there!
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23563

Hi Adele,
Well we are not billionaires today. Boo Hoo Maybe Barbara is as one of the winning tickets was bought in Tennessee and it looks like it was close to Memphis.
Eating late doesn’t bother me as we have always eaten late-even growing up as a kid. Except if it was a huge meal and then it just sort of sits there in your stomach. I never thought about the cross contamination in the fryers in the smaller restaurants. Personally even though it’s not fashionable to say so I like McDonalds french fries about the best anyway. I like the thinness of them.
You must not have a garage if you have to move the cars around in the driveway. That must be tough in your area of the country. And it must have been awful last year with all the snow. We have a garage and Greg keeps the pickup with the plow in the barn.
You are right a house is always a work in progress. Except we got kind of spoiled building the house brand new for a lot of years there were not things to have to keep up with and now it all is changing at once. We have several things that need to be redone now after almost 20 years. I have no idea when we will get to them or which should come first. Have you watched the new shoes Superstore and Telenovella. So far I like Superstore-Telenovella not so much-we’ll see how it goes or if either of them will stay on the air. I have not watched one episode of the Blacklist yet this year. They are all copied but i just have not gotten to any of them yet. Sometimes it’s too much TV-too little time. That’s okay-i will catch up eventually and I just make it a point not to read any spoilers. Not sure what’s cooking tonight-I still have to figure it out.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23599

Hi Colleen
What day was Itty Bitty actually due? My Nonna used to say a baby e will come during the full moon. Hope that is here today, or tonight.
Good news about your Mom. Very good news. Thank God.
So, none of us won the Powerball….LOL
I did not make it out with Nancy today. Last night, while I was sleeping, I hurt myself again. This is getting ridiculous. I woke up in pain in my neck, down to the elbow. Could not sleep after that, as there was no position I could get into that did not kill the neck. So, we are going out next week. I was really looking forward to it. I am bummed, and very tired. In a sitting position, the neck doe snot hurt.
it is sunny here today. Storm on Sat, they think will be rain.
Go Patriots!!! They will be playing in pouring rain. Are one of your teams playing us? Hope Itty Bitty makes an appearance tonight.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23601

Hi Gail
I have to say, that Superstore last week, with the mannequins made me laugh my butt off. I saw it 3 times- had to make Gary see it, and Heather too. heather is now hooked on it. I feel the same way. Telenovella is good one week, and not so good the next. They have fabulous characters, and I wish they would make it more funny, with more of a plot.
Read my post to Colleen for more news….LOL
That is funny, that you feel the same way about Mcdonalds fries as I do.
No garage here! Where the garage would be, Tillie is….LOL We have the in-law apartment, instead of a garage. The driveway holds 4 cars, with plenty of room in the middle to walk. But, that is where the ice stays, because of the van making a shadow, and then the house in the late afternoon.
Thank God we have Bobby, who does all the cars, and the snow blowing. I made him chocolate chip cookies for every storm. He said he gained 10lbs with all the cookies….LOL
Lets all hope that Itty Bitty makes an appearance by tomorrow.
Are you playing our Patriots this weekend?
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23610

Hi Adele,
I hope that you are feeling better today. That’s bad that you can hurt yourself while you are sleeping just by turning the wrong way or something. There’s no way to control that. I hope you will feel better soon and can get out for that lunch next week providing the weather cooperates.
Well the couple who won the powerball in Tennessee were on the Today show this morning and it wasn’t Barbara and Jerry sadly. lol
That Bobby was a saint for doing all that shoveling last year. I hope you at least had a snow blower. You should needlepoint him a picture saying I work for Cookies! lol Speaking of that did you ever get Aizen’s stocking done by Christmas?
Yes Telenovela has a good cast of characters but is not very funny. Sometimes there are comedies that are lukewarm at first and then they improve or they tank-only time will tell. Speaking of TV-have you seen the commercial with the miniature horse who is shunned by the regular horses so the owner buys him a doggie door so that he can come in the house for company. I love that commercial!! I’m not sure what it’s even for-maybe Amazon. That little horse reminds me of the miniature horses that they bring to ONP-they are therapy horses and and just so darn cute and chubby-I just want to squeeze them. By the same token that ( I think it’s Verizon commercial) with the colored balls is just l plain stupid-I don’t get what the balls have to do with anything. I would love to sit in on a brainstorming session for commercials and hear what kind of goofy ideas that they come up with.
No our team-the Bears- are out of the playoffs. I think the Patriots are playing the Kansas City Chiefs which would be more in Colleen’s area although since we have been to KC many times I do have a soft spot for them-just like I have for the Colts since my sister has lived in Indy for so long and we have been there many times too.
We are supposed to have another really cold spell coming in by Sunday again. What a difference between the thirties and 5 degrees or minus degrees-then the furnace runs practically all the time and you still don’t feel warm.
Hopefully we will get some news from Colleen soon about the baby. Jenny,Adam and the kids went to a place where there’s an indoor water park for Kendall’s birthday last night and then they spent the night at the hotel there.
Our cardinal friend is pounding at the window again. Maybe he wants me to put in a birdie door. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23626

hi Gail!
I have seen that commercial. It was hard to figure out what they were selling/saying….LOL It is adorable. So, do the big horses not like the little guy, or were the scared of him?
that sign would be a good idea….LOL
I also cannot stand that stupid Verizon commercial. I used to love the little car commercial with the furry animals- looked like hamsters??
I hope we hear from Colleen- I bet the Itty Bitty has arrived, since she has not been on. I miss the smell of Aizen, when he was an Itty Bitty. I used to love to hold him, and put him to sleep. Itty Bitties are is much fun- all they need is a clean diaper, a bottle, and a song.
So, we will be playing Colleen’s team. Gary is getting himself all ready for the big game. I am to make sourdough bread, for the corned beef he will buy at the local Jewish Deli.
Oh no….your cold, will be our cold in a couple of days!!
Hey- did you know that the appearance of a cardinal is a message from a deceased loved one? The birdie could be your Mom- so, yes, you better get a birdie door, before she loses her wings.
I was hoping Barbara could have been the winner. It would have been fun to see what she would have done with her winnings.
it is going to pour here tonight, into tomorrow, but, not for the game. they keep changing things.
My neck is better- thank God!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23631

Gailster……..forgot to say- no, I did not finish Aizen’s stocking….still working on it. I should have known better than to expect to finish a needlepoint gift in 3 months. I have committed to finish that, before I finish the picture for my new room.
Of course, I will post a pic of the finished product. Thank God he is small enough, not to have noticed.
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23637

Hi Adele,
Glad the neck is better as I know Gary will want you in your cheerleader outfit for the big game. lol You can’t cheer with a stiff neck. Could you picture the look on his face if you came out with pompoms and a cheerleader outfit? That would be priceless!
Speaking of commercials I just remembered another one that is actually gross. The skittles one where the guy has skittles pox and the girl takes one off his face and eats it. That makes me want to throw up rather than eat skittles-what is it reverse advertising?
Aizen will never know the difference about the stocking as long as he gets it eventually. Does everyone have stockings handmade by you? My kids had stockings that Greg’s Mom made. One knitted and one needlepointed.
Newborns are sweet. They are so dependent on us for everything. It’s amazing to watch them grow and change and become little people.
Yes I have heard the stories how people think cardinals are their deceased loved ones-but I know that’s not my Mom or Greg’s Mom. That’s why I keep asking why is Jane Treacy’s mother trying to get into my house since she is the one who talks about her mother and the cardinals. Greg has said if we had won the powerball he would have hired a bird wrangler to come out and capture this bird and relocate him. He is pounding as I write this. It’s funny because at first you feel bad for him but after months and months and months you just think he’s stupid and want him to leave.
We went over to Jenny’s last night. We hadn’t seen the kids for a couple of weeks. They were all excited from being at the water park and Piper told me and Greg a twenty minute story about ghosts and monsters and costumes and dragons and unicorns-she just went on and on. Who knows where she gets this stuff. I swear she’s going to be an actress.
May the best teams win today as long as the Packers lose. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23640

Hi Gail
Oh yes, it would be hysterical if I could get a cheerleader uniform to fit this big butt….LOL LOL
I did make stockings for everyone, but, they were simpler. Material ones, that I put nice trim on. Bobby and Heather have very old crewel ones. I made in the 70’s or early 80’s. Then, when Heather married, and Bobby married, I made each couple matching needlepoint ones. Everybody loved them, and then I made them for the rest of them, accept me, Gary and Tillie- we still have our other ones. I intend to make us new ones after everyone else is done. As long as nobody gets married, or ahs a child, I can do one for me, Gary and Tillie. Enzo will get one when he and Rissy get engaged. so, that is my logic on the needlepoint ones….LOL
That crazy bird needs rescuing. Have you ever thought of calling the Audubon society, or the animal rescue? Maybe they would come rescue the crazy thing. If not, they would at least get a good chuckle out of the call. I have been known to give them a good laugh over here.
I know this may sound a little nutty, but, do you think Piper has some psychic abilities? If not, she is going to make the best actress, or writer anyone has ever seen. She certainly sounds entertaining, to say the least! You both must love your time with her.
Gary is out doing a couple of errands- getting his corned beef from the local Jewish deli. He asked me to do the sourdough bread for sandwiches today for the game. Do you believe this…….it was pouring like you would not believe. then, it snowed- nothing stuck. Now, the skies are clearing, and the sun is about to come out. I think Bill Belichuk ordered the Heavens to behave for his guys today. Very funny.
I am going to work on the stocking, while the game is on. the bread is on it’s first rising. Not quite ready to from yet.
Hope you enjoy the game…..GO PATS!!! I hope the Gronk is able to play. I love him- he has so much personality. He reminds me of Bobby and his friends when they were teens.
Hope you have a good time watching- which game will you watch?
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23660

Hi Adele,
Well Gary should be happy with the outcome of the game. I like the way he plans his own game day meals. I just watched bits and pieces of both games. Was just glad that the Packers didn’t move forward. Didn’t see the end of that one which I understand turned out to be quite exciting.
I know Animal Control would think that I was totally nuts if I called them about this bird. We live out in the country and a rogue cardinal is probably the least of their worries. Speaking of animals I got a chuckle the other night when Adam’s daughter Enya told him that his Dad had bought his Mom a pig for her birthday. It kind of sounded to me like one of those gifts that your husband gets you because it’s something that he really wants. Like if Greg bought me a guitar for a birthday gift or something.
I don’t think that Piper is psychic-just a good yarn spinner. she’ll probably have some creative excuses for bad behavior while she is growing up. However, my hairdresser has some psychic abilities. She has dreamed of things happening to people that came true several times and I take her hunches very seriously. Right before Brent was considering going back to NM I was getting my hair done. She was asking me if I knew anyone that liked hard rock head banging type music because she kept on being woken up at night by this type of music playing when it was really not-she was just hearing it. She said that she asked a few other people and they just looked at her like she was nuts. However, that’s the kind of music that Brent likes to listen to so we thought it was perhaps a message from Kim that he should move forward with his plans. Anyway, after she told me about it and I told Brent the music stopped playing so it seems like the right message got to the right person.
We are back to the bitter cold weather again. We have a wind chill advisory of 20 below here. I feel so bad for Rocky. He just got a haircut and when he has to go out he comes in shivering. Now that he’s older he has a hard time controlling his body temperature so i have one of those space haters from the Q next to his bed and will turn it on and run it for awhile until he warms up. He looks so cute laying on his bed in front of his little private fireplace. All he needs is a pipe and a smoking jacket and he could be a dog Hugh Hefner. lol Actually I wish I could get him to wear a sweater-but when I put one on him he just stands there and won’t move so i always end up taking it off. I also have an afghan that i will throw over him for a little bit too. It’s funny but our little peekapoo Belle-who was very touchy and I thought she would be the last one to wear a sweater loved hers. Whenever it got really cold she would wear it for days-inside and out.
Will Gary watch the games that are on today too? I’m sure that Greg will. It’s funny how now people watch the Super Bowl as much for the commercials as for the game-unless your own team is in it-then you actually care about the game too. We haven’t had that problem-if you can consider it that- for many years. lol
Hopefully we’ll hear something from Colleen and Barbara soon. I e-mailed Debbie last week but haven’t heard anything yet. I hope everything is good with everyone. Have a great day-stay warm and upright!
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23667

Hi Gail
That is funny about your hairdresser. I believe, like you do, that the message got through. I bet it made Brent feel more relaxed. The guilt of moving on, can be tough. Our loved ones would not want us to mourn forever, They want is to be happy. so they can be at peace .Watching In the Kitchen With Dave- Kuhn has a great new gadget that opens all types of jars- another great older person remedy!! I just have to decide what color I want. Ill get one for Tillie too.
Gary and Bobby were thrilled last night. I got another request from Bobby. he wants pumpernickel bread. So, I got on the King Arthur website this morning, to get the ingredients for that bread- needed pumpernickel flour, seeds, and this pumpernickel/rye bread enhancer. Gary will be watching the other game today. He wants Pittsburgh to win.
I wonder how many calls Animal Control has already had for the crazy birds. You may be one of many….LOL
It is a lot colder here today, too. We are getting some snow tonight, but not much, One to 2 inches. Your poor puppy! They suffer like we do, with their joints , and the cold feeling more cold. What a good Puppy Mummy you are to have a space heater by his bed. Too bad he will not wear a sweater. You never know what they are thinking.
I hope the reason Colleen is not on, is because she is busy with the new, healthy happy Itty Bitty, and not that there is a problem. Same with Barbara. I hope they did not have any affect form the bad weather in Tenn. We all miss Debbie’s posts- she is so amusing. I hope she is good too. Every night, I say a prayer for all my Quacker friends. Even the ones who do not post anything her- like Sue, and my other friends on line. I wonder what happened to Cynthia.
It was bright and sunny this morning. It is now gloomy, and overcast. It has been the lowest production, ever for my solar panels the last few weeks. Plus, we need the snow cover for the gardens.
Hope you stay warm! I had a hot chocolate yesterday afternoon, instead of my herbal tea. That always makes you feel snuggly.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23675

HI Everybody,
I am finally back. Mom is doing really good now and spent her first night alone last night. I will call her later today and see how she did. My brother and his wife are there today. There still is no baby and she could go until the 23rd before they induce labor. So we will see what happens. This baby is going to be stubborn. They are going to do an ultrasound Monday just to be sure that the baby is okay.
I am not sure that I will ever get caught up with all that has been going on for the last three day. Gail I think that you are right about Piper. She is going to be a good story teller. Maybe she will be a writer and write stories for television and movies. She is going to be a real character when she gets older. She will keep her teachers on their toes when she is in school. She will be really smart.
Sounds like both of you had more snow then we did. We had a light dusting and that was about it. The sun is out now but it is really cold. Have not heard the weather report yet so do not know if we will get more snow or not. Hope that we do not get more snow until after the baby is born. We either call her ittiy bitty or Danny jr. I figure if we keep calling her that eventually she will tell me her name. This has been a long wait for all of us. She does not seem to let her bother her though. She is just taking it in her stride. She is funny.
Adele you stoking that you are making for Azien sounds really cute. My mom use to make Christmas stocking for all of us and then for all of our kids. She did not make any for our spouses though. She said she had too many grand kids to make them for. You make a lot of them. It is nice that they are all different. They will never get them confused with someone elses. You are so talented.
Sorry to hear that you did not get to go out to lunch with your friend. Is your back better today? That is terrible when you try to sleep and do something to your back and neck and then cannot sleep. My go to place is the recliner. It is comfortable and my neck will be okay and back in that chair. It is weird that it is more comfortable then my bed. We are still talking about getting one of the beds that are adjustable. It would be nice to be able to raise the head of the bed at night if I need to.
I do believe that some people can see things that are going to happen. Your hair dresser just happens to be one. I do not want to know bad things but the good things are nice to know ahead of time. I hope that she is right about Brent. I hope that he finds the right person for him there and will be happy. Finally have a family that he wants.
That is funny that your dog has his own heat. It would be funny to dress him up like Hugh Hefner. Do not know if he would keep the pipe in his mouth though. That is good that you have a heater for Rocky. He needs the heat. The poor guy.
Ron has not been watching any of the foot ball games. He may have watched things when I was gone but not since I have been home. Unless he did watch while I was sleeping yesterday evening. I was so tired. I have been so sore. My mom has steps to her basement ( what a shock) and we had to take all of her Christmas things down there. So I am sore from doing all that walking up and down steps. We do not have steps at our house at all. Just the ones going up to the deck. I am getting to be a real mess. Cannot even walk up and down steps. We had to carry things down with us when we went down the steps. So that made a difference also. Okay I am just getting old and have not used those muscles for a long time.
Well that is about all from here. Will write more tomorrow. I am not going anywhere now until the baby is born. It will be nice to be at home.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#23678

Hey Colleen
We all thought Itty Bitty was here. Maybe the little muffin is waiting until my birthday to make an appearance- the 22ond. That would be real funny. Not for your daughter, though.
Steph is supposed to come by Tuesday, as long as Jhonny does not get called into work. So, I hurried and got the eyes, nose, and arms of the stocking done, so you can see it is a snowman. Did the s too. I usually dot he darkest colors last. but. I wanted to show Aizen, so he could make out what it is. I hope they do make it.
Steph said he was supposed to be off Saturday, but, got called in, because a lot of people called out sick to see the game. They would have come by then.
So glad your mother is doing better. At her age, we get scared thinking, this may be it. Every time Tillie doe snot answer the phone, I get that lousy feeling, so I know you get it too.
here is a little exercise you can do, to help your legs be strong enough to do the stairs- I try to do it every morning, when I remember to do it. You sit straight in a chair, and lift one leg, straight up, still bent at the knee, and hold it for 5 seconds. Do it with each leg, for as long as many as you can. It may help a little.
I am very bad in bed. I move around a lot, and I can never know what position I wake up in. I think that is why I end up hurting my back, or neck. I have noticed I cannot take my head, when sleeping on my stomach, and change the position of my head, from the left to right, or back. That motion of lifting up the head, and turning it, hurts the neck. I have to raise myself up a little, and then move the head. So…….does that mean I have a huge brain? LOL LOL My girlfriend think I may need a new mattress. I will have to do some research, because there are so many choices, and I would want to get the right one for me, and Gary. No rush though. I will be taking surveys on who has what mattress. I know Gail has a sleep number one.
So glad to hear from you, Colleen, and know that everyone is ok.
We have still not had a lot of snow- dustings, with ice only. Tomorrow we are supposed to get 1 to 3 inches.
Hope you are having a good evening, and getting some rest.
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23696

Hi Colleen,
Glad that your Mom is doing so well. That is such good news.
Now you can just look forward to the baby coming sometime this week. I guess the baby just wants to keep her name secret for awhile longer. I am glad that Danyielle is just taking things as they come and not stressing about it. How is Owen feeling about having a little sister? There will be a big difference in ages right-about 8 years.
Brrrrr it’s cold here again today-only a high of six degrees.
Unfortunately I have to go out today as Adam’s vacation is over so I have to babysit. I’ll have to pull out one on my Dennis Basso coats for this cold weather-haven’t had them out yet this year. They are the warmest when we get into this zero degree weather.
Greg watched all the games both Saturday and Sunday. I just kind of drifted in and out of the room and watched some. I did watch part of the Quacker show and they had some new stuff. I ordered a set of those new shirts in the black and white as I need some new basics as I usually go for the colors. I liked the look of those shirts with the little bit of gathering-if i like the fit I may go back for a set in colors.
I hope that you are not as sore today. When you are not used to doing stairs you do feel the difference. That’s the only thing I don’t like about our house now is i wish it were all on one level. When we were building it we were still young enough where that was not an issue and we did add a den on the first floor that we could convert if need be for an aging parent. Now we are the aging parent-lol-and it would be nice to have something not quite so big all on one level. But I know I can’t tear Greg away from his putting green and koi pond so I am resigned to having these steps for many years to come until he gets tired of maintaining it all too. Oh well- I could have much worse problems-at least it’s nice to be in the stage of life where the house is paid for and there is no mortgage.
I hope that you get a chance to just stay home and relax today.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23698

Hi Adele,
I am like you and have all those little kitchen gadgets for opening things. I remember how my Mom used to complain about everything being so hard to open and i used to just role my eyes and-guess what?- now I am my mother and you often hear me in the kitchen grumbling while trying to open the packaging on something. I have that little thing like a bottle opener and you just pop the seal on the jar with that-I don’t have the big one like they had yesterday. i also have a bottle opener thingy and of course scissors are your best friend for opening things too.
I’ll bet Bobby’s pumpernickel would go well with Gary’s corned beef. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Greg’s Mom used to get a Lithuanian rye which I thought was similar to pumpernickel. Whatever-all homemade breads are delicious!
We have a kuereg so I keep the hot chocolate pods around for whenever I get a taste for it. I also keep a bottle of the whipped cream in the fridge so I can top it off with a little squirt to make it extra delicious.
Yes a new mattress is a considered purchase. When we needed a new one I went out and bought a very good Stearns and Foster mattress and within a few years the damn thing had a huge dip in the middle. Now it had a guarantee but they come out and measure the dip and then they still charge you according for the number of years that you used the mattress etc. etc. and we didn’t want another one of that make anyway so we just took a loss on it and that’s when we bought the sleep number which we just love. However I can understand it might not be for everyone. For me personally with the RA I like not having the feeling of the innersprings-plus I can make it soft and Greg can make it however he wants on his side. It’s so hard to know when you are checking out a mattress in a store if it it will be something that you will want to sleep on for the next 15 years.
Well-I’m glad that Colleen is back and everything’s going well. As to wondering what happened to Cynthia-she has come and gone on here for several years-she never was a daily poster so someday she may be back-or maybe not. I’m not sure if anyone had her personal e-mail-I know that I didn’t.
Did you watch Quacker yesterday? Did you or Tillie get anything? Right now I’m wearing all my Quacker with snowmen and snowflakes and things like that after I had to bid my Christmas Quacker adieu until next year.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23701

Hi Gail
OMG- I missed the show, with all the football wackiness in here. Gary watched both games. It was football, football, football. I did Aizen’s stocking. I took a pic of where I am with it, and will post it here. It is hard to see where I stitched, and where I did not . But, you can get an idea at least.
Aizen is supposed to visit tomorrow, as long as Jhonny doe snot get called into work again. We are hoping they will all he here. that is why I made sure I got the snowman’s eyes and nose done, so he can see it….LOL
I love my Keurig- best thing we ever got. I even use it for hot water for my herbal teas, without the pods.
I downloaded a recipe form King Arthur that looked good- Caraway Rye Bread. Had to order a couple of ingredients I do not have. So, we will see if this loaf works out better with the corned beef for the boys.
I think researching a new brand of mattress is going o t be a real pain. So far, everyone seems to love the Tempupedic. You love the sleep number. This has become a lot more challenging.
I am so glad Colleen’s mother is ok. I am hoping Jerry’s Mom is continuing to do better. We just have to wait to hear from Barbara.
It is freezing here today- we got 4 inches of snow. Sun is shining, and the temp is supposed to get colder as the day goes on. So, crock pot dinner tomorrow, for sure! If the kids are definitely coming, I will do a simple pound cake,,,,,I think.
Hope you and your puppy are staying warm. Nancy and I have to figure out when the snow goes away a little for our lunch.
Adele

Attachments:

1. 

[Colleen]

#23710

HI Adele,
Danyielle is in the hospital right now. They induced labor and so it will take awhile for the baby to come. I have been thru that and it is worse then natural labor. So we will have a baby any time now. Just waiting for the call. We did not go to the hospital we are at home. I know that she did not want us to come there and sit around and come in the room and see her in pain. I did not want anyone around except Ron when I went into labor. We usually did not call anyone until the baby was born. My mom always came early and took care of the kids that were at home. So it just really worked out well.
I hope that Steph and Johnny will be able to come over tomorrow. Aizen is really going to love his stocking. It is really cute. Hope that JJ will be able to come with them also. Maybe they will come when JJ is out of school.
Thank you for the tip on exercises to strengthen my legs. I will try them tomorrow. I am peddling every night to help with my legs also. It also burns up some calories. That always sounds good when you tell the doctor that. They think that you are really trying to lose weight. It is just that thing that I have to use when I go to the back doctor to help my legs and back. Ron found one and got it for me.
That must be it. You have a big brain and that hurts your neck when you turn it. I like that one. lol It is aggravating when you cannot move because of hurting your back and neck. It is hard to make it thru it. I do not remember having that problem before I hurt my back. Getting old is not for the weak.
We are supposed to get some snow Wednesday. It is supposed to be about 3 or 4 inches. That is not too bad. It would be nice to get some snow. Do not want like what you had last year. That was way too much snow.
Mom is doing really good. She will never let anything get her down if she can help it. She does not think that she ever wants to give up living alone. One of the therapist at the hospital wanted to put mom in a home. So she called my brother and her told her no. My mom and all of us said that same thing. Her doctor agreed with us. So that was over with in a hurry. I do not know what the doctor said to that woman but I bet it was not pleasant.
Well that is about all from here. Will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23712

Hi Gail,
Danyielle is in the hospital. They decided to induce labor because she was losing some of the fluids around the baby. So she thought that it would not be wise to wait. So the baby will be here sometime probably early morning. They induced labor when I had my youngest and it took forever. Would never have wanted to go thru that again. So I feel really bad for her. Hope it goes faster for her. Owen is excited about his little sister. Right now it all sounds really cool. Just waiting when he finds out the baby takes a lot of his mom’s time and cries a lot. He may not like her as much. Owen is still 7 will be eight in March. So he will be almost 8 when she is born.
Mom will not give in to anything. She just amazes me. She is getting around really well and not having that much trouble. She is still taking therapy. They come twice a week and a nurse comes three times a week. So she will be getting tired of them coming around so much. She is funny.
Do you have one of the Dennis Basso coats that are all fur? I would love to have one of them. I can imagine that they are really warm. They just look really warm. I have one of the puffer coats. It is long because the jacket coats are not as warm. The older I get the colder I get. If I live to be 90 I will have to wear two or three coats and wrap in a blanket. That will be hard to get around in. lol
You liked the same tops that I liked on the show. I am thinking of getting the turquoise and yellow. I like those two colors. They are really cute. I have a lot of black tops not many white but we all had to wear white uniforms when we worked at the nursing home. So really got tired of the white. Those colors will go with the jeans that I have.
Maybe if you have to you can get one of those chair lifts that take you up and down the steps. They say that they will run even when you have a power failure. That would be nice. That would take you up and down and you would not have to worry. They have so many new gadgets to help people stay in their homes. One thing that I would love to have is that walk in tub. Those are so nice. They have the jets that relax you. Just hope that they have straps to hold you up when you fall asleep you are so relaxed. lol I guess that never happens or at least you never hear about it.
Ron did not watch football this week-end. I guess he is just not interested in foot ball right now because of the Rams. They really took St. Louis for all they could get. I cannot believer that they gave them all of that and have no way to recoup their loses. They must have the worse lawyers in the country.
Well that is about all from here. We are just sitting here waiting for the call saying the baby is here. Hope it come soon.
Colleen

[Barbara Smith]

#23716

It seems like each day brings a new set of adventures around old Tennessee land for us. Jerry has been gone EVERY day with some got to do this right now project with his Mom. Mind you, I am not complaining about his helping her; but there are only so many hours in the day; and he is really beginning to show wear and tear on him from all this constantly being on the go. It is about a 45 minute trip, one way, from our home to hers and I worry so much about both of them. She does not live in a very good neighborhood; but she had lived in that house for such a long time that it is all she knows. I truly understand when she says that she doesn’t want to leave her home; but I so wish she could only see how much better off she would be in an assisted living home where she could be with others her age. We have even thought about asking Joey if he would move out of Paw Paws old house out back of our place so she could live there and we could see about her. Jerry has found out so much about what his brothers have been up to since she was hurt. The reason she couldn’t come to the phone to talk to Jerry of Thanksgiving was not because she was in the bathroom like his brother told Jerry; she was at a hospital where they were trying to have her mentally committed. Jerry is so hurt. He promised his Dad that he would make sure his Mom was taken care of if he was gone. I want to just bless them out; but you know what? It just wouldn’t do any good. Family—-we want only good memories but we know that isn’t possible.
Hope that the new baby is here and healthy. What an exciting time with new life coming into this world! All the wonderful things she will be able to see and do in this world. Hope MaMa is doing well too. I am sure she is tired but very happy. Congratulations, Colleen. So glad your Mom is better too.
It is 17 degrees here right now, and it is only 9 at night. It is bitterly cold here. We went from mild to extremely cold in a matter of a few hours. I know you all have had some ice and snow; but we just are not used to these bitter temps in this area. I think; and this may just be how I feel, but since we are not used to this cold, that when it does come, it seems so much worse to us than if it just stayed this was all the time (not that I am hoping for that ha ha) I layered my Quacker today. And this is one day I just stayed indoors. Our neighbors called about 2 and asked if they could just stop by and visit. We said of course; and we had the nicest visit. We have been neighbors for over 25 years. They are both retired. The husband has some heart problems, but still gets around good; but of course; she worries about him; because he also tries to do more than he should. She is a retired nurse; worked in pediatrics for many years. Their son and our boys have been good friends since childhood. It was really nice. She said they just was sitting around the house talking to each other about how fast time has flown, and starting to feel sorry for themselves, and said lets just go see Jerry and Barbara.
I have to close for now. Oh, yes, Sarah has been sick with laryngitis. She is finally beginning to feel some better. Her OB doctor put her on some antibiotics. I did the laundry for them since she wasn’t feeling well, and got Neal’s work clothes all ready for this week.
Made homemade chicken and dumplings yesterday; the kind you roll out the dumplings on the counter top and drop them in the broth. Gosh, it was good. Bye for now. Barbara

[Gail Norusis]

#23727

Hi Barbara,
Doesn’t it seem that family sometimes make things much more complicated than it needs to be. If Jerry’s brothers all had their Mom’s best interests at heart things could be very simple. It would be convenient if you could put Jerry’s Mom in Paw Paw’s old house but you can’t really ask Joey to move either and your house is probably already bursting at the seams. It’s always hard to know what the right thing to do is in these situations. I would imagine that one of the biggest worries is that Jerry’s Mom is not in a good neighborhood. It would be at least better if she would move to a nicer neighborhood or maybe somewhere closer to where you all are. I hope that you can find some situation that is agreeable to all parties-and that in the meantime Jerry doesn’t wear himself out.
You are having some cold weather for your neck of the woods. We expect that around here but not so much in the Memphis area. You need lots of afghans to snuggle under and a pitcher of hot chocolate.
That was nice of your neighbors to stop over for a visit. We barely know our neighbors except for the people that live across the street.
I’ll be right over for some of those chicken and dumplings leftovers if there are any. lol
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23729

Hi Colleen,
I hope that you are a new grandma again by now and maybe by the end of the day you will know new baby’s real name. lol Congratulations!!!
Jenny had that same thing where she was losing amniotic fluid-I think with Lachlan and Piper-but maybe with all three but of course she had c-sections so they did not have to induce.
It’s so good to hear how well that your Mom is doing. She is one strong determined lady.
I do have the coat that has fur all over and I have a couple of reversible ones too. Unfortunately I added some extra pounds since I bought my original ones and I cannot button them all up-but I still have a couple that fit well so I use those and I will hold onto the others in case I loose some weight. (I’m not counting on it but some day I may get inspired) lol
I think if I go back for colors in that shirt I would get the turquoise and yellow too. I actually wish they had that turquoise and melon as a set but the melon is with the lime which I don’t buy much-that yellowy lime doesn’t look good on me.
I hope that you will be able to get one of those walk in tubs sometime as I have heard you wish for it several times. Tell Ron that’s what you want for this years birthday, anniversary and Christmas gifts combined.
Have fun seeing the new baby and give her a big (soft) hug from all of us.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23731

Hi Adele,
I heard on the Today show this morning that you may be in for a nor’easter this weekend. And so it begins… Maybe it will pass you by-it’s still early in the week yet.
I hope that you get to see Steph and Aizen today-too bad that JJ will be in school. The stocking is looking good. I love home made stockings they are such a great family heirloom.
Did you decide to make the rye instead of the pumpernickel? Do you have to make that for the next football sandwich snacks?
It’s been so cold here that I made hamburger soup last night and served it with those English muffin pizza breads. Greg has rehearsal tonight so I won’t have to cook so it will probably be leftovers for me.
Have a hair appointment tomorrow and a dentist appointment on Thursday and sometime I need to bring my car in for an oil change.
Greg was nice enough to pick some groceries up for me on Sunday so I don’t have to worry about that until the weekend again.
I need to do some dusting and vacuuming today so I better go and get started on that since it takes me awhile.
Stay warm everyone!
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23734

Hi Colleen
So glad your Mom is better. that is a huge weight off your heavy brain….LOL
Heather was induced with Steph, so I know how bad that gets. I was induced with Hetaher- she was 2 weeks late. Strong, and fats, is what I remember. You go for 0 to 90 in about a second. I feel for Danyielle. must have had Itty Bitty by now. I hope everyone is happy, and healthy. You must finally know the name!! Do you remember with Aizen, it took a few days until we had a name? I just called him Itty Bitty Baby. I still call him Baby.
nobody is coming today. We are all disappointed. because of the holiday yesterday, Jhonny was called into work. He may stop by, when he is done, to get some goodies, and Tillie’s clothes that she has for the boys for Christmas, as it is getting too long.
I hope you do not get too much snow, because you have a lot of visiting to do!!
We are getting a storm on Saturday. They keep saying it is getting bigger- we will see. I guess I will be baking. Today I have the crock pot going, because it is cold, with a wind chill of 8. Yuck. Glad I am retired!
Congrats on the new Itty Bitty, as I am sure baby is here by now!!!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23741

Hi Gail
It is freezing here too- thank you so much for sending your weather our way…..LOL Whatever you get, we get right after. We are still in lone for that storm Saturday.
I decided to do the Caraway Rye bread. The flour is coming today, along with the additive it needs (King Arthur Rye Bread improver). I was going to do a trail run tomorrow, with it, but, I need sour cream, which I do not have in the house. I feel bad asking Gary to stop for it today, as it is a wind chill below zero out there. Oh well!
I worked on the stocking a very little yesterday, as I had to get the rugs vacuumed, as well as the kitchen. The Swiffer is just not good enough for a kitchen floor. We are all alike- everything take sus so much longer to do, and then we get so sore after.
Today, I am sewing. Tillie has pants, and a nightgown she needs hemmed, and bobby has pants for me to fix. Every time he gets new work pants, I add a patch to 2 places, as he gets rips there all the time from his equipment he carries- his flashlight, and something else. With the patch, the pants last him a little longer. He gets about 6 months out of his pants. (of course he has a lot of them….LOL)
No visits today. We are all disappointed. Because it was a holiday yesterday, Jhonny was called into work again. He will stop by, after work, so he can get some goodies, and get the clothes Tillie had for the boys for Christmas. Tillie is afraid Aizen is going to grow out of them, and doe snot want to wait any longer. Oh well.
I bet by now, Colleen has held her new Itty Bitty!!!!
Stay warm- my dinner is in the crock pot. Got up so early, I had to sit in the recliner for an hour after I had it all in there.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23743

Hi Barbara!
Glad you are good, and staying warm. I hope Jerry gets some rest. You are right- all that back and forth takes a toll on us older people. So sad about what his brother was trying to do to his Mom. She is so very lucky to have Jerry.
The weather people are saying the big storm coming , will be here by Friday at 11pm. It looks like you may get some of that storm too. Have you heard anything about it? It is coming straight across the country.
I am glad you DIL is doing well with the pregnancy. Too bad she got a flu/cold. That must be awful with all the morning sickness. how long until she passes the 3 month mark?
Those dumplings sound real good. Can you post the recipe for the rest of us? I have just discovered dumplings, and have to say, the family has loved the 2 recipes I have done them with so far.
What a nice visit you had with your neighbors, especially since Jerry has been gone so much. What goodie did you make for them? Bet is was tasty!
I was going to make a cake today, but, since the kids are not coming because Jhonny was called in, no need for today. I will spend the rest of the day sewing for Tillie and Bobby.
I hope it works out for Jerry’s Mom to live either with you, or close by in an assisted living place. It would make all your lives so much easier. There are always times when we need more rooms in our homes. When Heather and the girls moved aw years ago, we had Amanda in one bedroom, and Heather and Marissa in the office, which we split in half, and called the boffice. So, we had 7 people in this 10 room house. It was a challenge, to say the least. So, I know how you feel.
Hope you stay warm, and all continues to improve.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23745

Hi Girls
Forgot to say, since I missed the Quacker show, I could not get the top I liked- the anchor one. Of course, it is a waitlist for my size in the black and blue.
Hope everyone got what they liked.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23751

Hi Barbara,
It is good that Jerry has stepped in to help his mom. Their is not telling what they would have done with his mom if he did not do something. I cannot believe that they tried to say that she was mentally incompetent. Do they really need her money that bad? At least with you and Jerry she knows that you do not want anything from her. Just hope that Jerry realizes that he has to take sometime to stay at home and take care of himself and be with you. We are all lucky to have the caring husbands that we have.
It is really cold here also. It is sleeting now and we are supposed to have 3 to 6 inches of snow. I hope that they are wrong just in case I have to go back to St. Louis tomorrow. At least I do not have to go to my moms to help her right now. Will do that again next week if the weather is better. She needs help cleaning the house and she cannot do it herself. It is just hard to get everything done at one time. So we have to go back and fourth.
Glad to hear that Sarah is feeling better. It is hard when you get sick and you are pregnant because you cannot take the medicine that you can take when not pregnant. Is she starting to show at all? I started to show early but my daughter does not. She watches her weight while she is pregnant. Never did that when I was expecting. That was a good time to be able to eat what you wanted. I did too. Really enjoyed myself and ate a lot of fatty and sugary food. Kids just do not know how to take advantage of situations like that.
You and Adele always are making such good food. If there is any chicken and dumplings left I will be right over. I have not made them for awhile. Will do that next time the kids are here. We cannot eat a lot of them and that is one dish that I do not know how to cut down for two people.
Sounds like you had a nice visit with your neighbors. It is fun to talk with old friends. It is nice that your kids grew up together. You had a lot of things to talk about.
Well that is about all from here. Will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23753

Hello All,
The baby is here and we have a name.It is Aliza Mae. It is cute but hard to get use to. I do not know where she got the name but it took her a long time to pick it out. They would not tell us any other name that they had picked out. We accepted this name so do not know why they would not talk about it. lol
Needless to say the baby is beautiful. She weighed 6pd. and was born at 11:44pm on the 18th. She was 20 inches long. She had a head full of hair and it is dark. She is just so pretty.
Just wanted to let everyone know at one time. Danyielle is doing fine and they will come home tomorrow.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23756

Hi Gail,
I would wear the coats if they closed or not. He has such pretty coats. One day I will get one of those. Right now I want to get a kitchen aid mixer so I can make cream puffs again. It is hard to mix the dough for the puffs so would like to have something that I can use to do it for me.
I do not care for the lime color tops in Quacker. Well in any line of clothing. It makes me look really washed out. I like the bright colors that give a little more color to your face. I really need it. I do like the melon color also. They usually put that color with the dull colors. I should not say that their probably a lot of people that look really good in that color. I do not look good in that new blue that they have now either. Have you ever ordered anything in that new color? I think that it is blue bonnet. I wore the brown fleece pine cone shirt today. I really like that top it is really comfortable. If it is supposed to be a Christmas shirt it doesn’t matter to me. You can wear that shirt all winter as far as I am concerned.
Ron will never get me one of the walk in tubs. He thinks that it would take too much water to fill them. it cannot take that much or people would not order one. The jets would really make a persons back and knees feel really good, If he goes first I can always get me one then. That was horrible thing to say. Shame on me.lol
The baby is just so tiny. When you hold her she just fits so good in your arms. I was holding the baby and sitting on the couch Kevin’s mom was sitting in the rocking chair. I could have asked her to change places with me but do not know her well enough to ask her to do that. We got some good pictures of the baby and Owen. Did not get too many because we were taking pictures and so was his mom and my other daughter Mandy. I kind of figured that they were all getting tired of all of that.
Well that is about all from here. Will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23758

Hi Adele,
We are getting snow and sleet here right now. We are supposed to get 3 to 4 inches. Gail must have sent her bad weather our way also. .lol. Well maybe it will go up her way after it is done here. Who knows.
It has been a long three or four days. Read what I wrote to Gail that has most of everything written there. The baby is just so cute. It will be nice to get to have a day to spend with the baby when no one else is there. Then I can rock her and spoil her a little. There were too many people there today to hold her for very long.
How is Gary doing? Has he been having anymore trouble with his shoulder. It will be nice when he has the surgery and does not have to deal with all the pain. Any kind of arm or foot pain is really hard to deal with. I do not see how Christine has put up with that foot pain for so long. I would be ready to bang some doctors head on a wall.
That is a shame that they did not get to come over and visit for awhile. He may have to bring them over before he goes to work one day and they can spend the day with you. That would be nice. Give you sometime with Steph also. You two could use some time together.
I need to start cooking stews and soups now it is so cold. I have not baked anything usually do not. We could use some fresh baked bread. It makes the house smell so good. I sometimes boil vanilla and water on top of the stove to give the house a better scent. It smells like your baking but your not. I do cheat instead of baking I come up with scents that make people think that I have been baking.
Have you been watching the Chew? It has been pretty good. They had a viewer that made a dip that I want to try. I have to find the recipe. It had spinach in it and cream cheese. Cannot remember what else have to look it up. It just looked really good. The other viewer that made her dip used hot peppers in it so do not want that one.
Well that is about all from here. There is another Quacker show on tomorrow on qvc plus. It is chics night in so will watch it. Did you find a channel on your cable that carries it or do you have to watch it on the internet? That show is just so laid back and they seem to have a lot more fun on that show.
Well that is about all from here. Will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Barbara Smith]

#23760

So very happy to hear that little Aliza is here and healthy and that Mom is doing well too! Congratulations! I am so looking forward to our little one coming too. I started to buy this little outfit the other day that had lots of kisses on it that said that Grandma has been here. I have a feeling that we will be just as excited when our little one arrives. Sarah was well enough to go to work tonight. She is still a little congested; but says she feels much better. I sure wish she was more thoughtful of Jerry and me; but it is as it is; and I don’t think it is ever going to change. I will pull out an old Southern saying of “bless her heart, she just can’t see the forest for the trees” and just accept the way things are. Neal and I had a really good conversation one day while she was upstairs resting. I asked him was there anything that he thought I could do to help Sarah and me to be closer and he just looked at me and said, Mom, you try really hard to get along with everyone, and you have for as long as I can remember, and you just need to not try so hard, that most daughter in laws just don’t like their mother in laws and nothing changes it. He didn’t really say that I have done anything wrong, or how to make her like me more, but more or less to just be myself and let her feel however she is going to feel. He said Mom you know I really love and appreciate you; so that made me feel so good. I would just feel so good to know my daughter in laws knew the love I feel for our sons is so different than their love for them; but that when you add both together that it makes a whole heart. Just saying.
Bitterly cold here again today. I was so tempted to buy something from the garden shows today, but my many failures of the past kept me from all the temptations. I did get one solar light for the garden. Just couldn’t resist on that. I remember how Debbie and I would always say we were not going to buy again, and then we would cave in and get us some sort of plant and anxiously await for it to bloom, and nothing. Mine would usually just shrivel up and fall over. ha ha Did you all order anything? Mabey I could use Aizen to come help my plants grow!
Yes, I have been talking with Jerry about pushing himself so hard. He barely slept last night. His Mom didn’t answer her phone, but as it turned out she was just napping. He worries about her, but she is so lucky now to have him taking care of her. I know it will come a time she will have to make a decision about her living arrangements. I so agree that Joey has his home all fixed up for himself; and even though I know he would leave it; it would simply not be fair to ask him to do so. I feel our family is in such turmoil; and that there is no easy solutions. He and Lisa are not really happy. You can see it written all over the both of them; and my heart just breaks for them both. So very, very sad.
On a lighter note; I will be more than happy to post the chicken and dumpling recipe. I don’t know if you all will want to go to all the trouble to make it though; it is an all day project; since I roll the dumplings out and cut them by hand. But they really do taste good. We tend to eat too much of them; and have to sit up and wait for the fullness to pass before we can lay down. ha ha
Yes, Adele, I do have on one of my Quacker sweatshirts today; and it feels so warm. Angel looked so pretty in her photos. Poor Glen looked like a fish out of water. I wonder what he does for a living? They look so happy. Young love is wonderful, and old love is even better!
I cooked a whole chicken and picked the meat off the bone and mixed it in with our doggie food today; so the one out doors would have a warm meal. I worry about them in the cold.
Well, guess I will close for now. I am sure you all are probably tired of all the complaints and gripes. Sure hope you all are doing well, and keep as warm as you can. Hugs, Barbara

[adele shanbar]

#23780

Hi Barbara
You are not complaining. You are venting. We all need to vent. For example, here today we have Steph, Jhonny and Aizen visit. Jhonny had the day off, so they could visit as a family. They did not come with JJ, because when he gets out of school, Heather is likely to b e back form her route. and Steph is not talking to her mother right now. You see, we all have the family drama going on.
Here is the comedy show for here today:
So, this morning, I could not get in the shower, because they were coming early, and I promised chocolate chip cookies. So, here was my schedule for the day- up at 8:00, got quickly dressed, into the kitchen to quickly measure out all cookie ingredients to get together as soon as the crew left on their routes. Gary starts yelling, we have to have breakfast, as Hetaher and Frankie would be here shortly, while I was putting away the dishes from last night, getting out the cookie sheet, and quickly checking the business account to make sure nobody bounced a check on us yet (oh yes- our lovely customers do bounce checks, especially around the holiday period, and I would rather know at 9, than at noon). Quickly get the dishes out for breakfast, and Heather arrives, followed shortly by Frankie. As soon as they all leave (now it is 11:45) cookies are started. As I finish cleaning the cookie sheet, and table Steph Jhonny and Aizen arrive, with soup from Panera. I did not have the nerve to say I was not hungry, as I just had breakfast, so I ate the soup. Tillie comes upstairs, Aizen opens up his birthday gifts, and we all have a nice 2 hour visit, in which I took 2 Alleve’s when nobody was looking, because I now had a big headache. Do I dare mention how much noise the Paw Patrol vehicle makes???? Gary then arrives home, and they get ready to leave a few minutes later. I pack up half the cookies, so they can give some to JJ, and off they go, with Aizen’s belated birthday gifts. All is now quiet, for a few minutes, until Frankie and Hetaher land back here, and I do the books. Meanwhile, no vegetables have been cleaned or prepped for supper. LOL LOL
Still, I love their visits, no matter how short, confusing, or crazy it gets. I just have to accept all the arguments between all the family, and work around them. So, this is what I decided for today. I am not going to host a birthday party for me this week, as I am not going to invite only half the family, twice. and that is the gospel, according to Adele for 1/20/16. LOL LOL I have to keep my sense of humor around here.
Do not worry, Barbara. We all have this going on. Thank God we have each other to vent to. I am trying to figure out a way to get Bobby to cook dinner tonight. Do you think it would work, if I lay on the recliner, and moan?
When Bobby was married, there was not one thing I could say to my DIL that made her happy. I had to hold my tongue a lot, every time they visited. It was very hard. I also do not get it. When they have a nice MIL, who treats them good, and genuinely cares for them, why do we still have to be hated because we are the MIL? FIL’s do not get that rap. Not fair, I say. Basically, it doe snot matter what you say to a DIL, it is wrong. On the other hand, you can slap a SIL, and still be loved. Go figure. that old adage is correct……your daughter is your daughter for the rest of her life, your son is a son, until he gets himself a wife. Words we all have to live by, even us sparkly Quackers! Some day, they will look back on this, and realize we were really not that bad at all.
Love you, Barbara- hope you enjoyed my rant, and wisdom for the day, or lack thereof.
It is freezing here too. The storm coming may miss us, and get you more. Stay warm!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23782

Hi colleen
I will read the post to Gail for more info. Congrats on the baby!! Thank God all is good. Another Itty Bitty Angel has entered the world.
Read my post to Barbara, for a good laugh. They were able to visit for a couple of hours today, because e after Jhonny worked 16 hours yesterday, they gave him the day off today- unexpected, but good!
Gail is killing us all with her weather….LOL LOL I heard the blizzard coming will get the southern states more than us, as of right now. They keep changing it.
Gary re-scheduled his surgery, because he was getting real nervous about me not being able to drive him in the ice and snow. He is pushing it off a month or so. Not so good, a she is in agony lately. there is no position that arm can be in, without pain.
I recorded the Chew today, as they were all here when it was on. I did see it yesterday, and love all the game food. But, Gary will not eat any of it….LOL
I have not found the QVC extra channel yet. I think they will be on late tonight, but I am be asleep by then.
I hope you were able to get a visit in today, if the weather cooperated, so you can snuggle that baby.
Congratulations!!!!
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23784

Hi Colleen
Congratulations on baby Aliza aye, and Danyelle. So glad all went well with the delivery. Those cute Itty Bitty’s with all the hair look so adorable.
So happy for all of you!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23798

Hi Adele,
There is never a dull moment at your house. I am glad that Steph and Johnny came over and spent some time with you. It is a shame that Steph cannot get over being mad at her mom. Kids never really grow up as far as we are concerned. Hopefully she will change and everyone will get together. That is not right that they are not giving you a birthday party. You cook for all of them and they should do the same for you. It may be nice to just enjoy the peace and quite for a day. That would be nice.
We did not bother Danyielle and her family today. She came home today and they had to get all settled in and everything. So we thought that they needed that time to themselves. Kevin took some time off work to help her with the baby. So after he goes back to work we may go over and spend some time with her and the baby. She will have so much company this week-end and the baby will be passed around so much that she will be really tired. One day next day next week we will go over there and cuddle with that baby and no one else will be there.
I can understand why he changed it. That is horrible that he is in so much pain. Hope that the time goes quickly for him and they get that taken care of. It is hard to drive on snow and ice. We had snow yesterday and this morning. The roads were really bad here. So we only went out once today and then stayed home. Our road is one of the last to get cleared. There will not be any school here tomorrow again. The roads will refreeze and then we will not be able to get anywhere. Poor Gail with all the snow. That is not good that they are getting that storm. I have not been following this one. I just figure that if we get it, there is nothing we can do about it. So will go to the store tomorrow and pick up a few more things just in case.
On the Chew today they said that Clinton will be back Feb. 3rd. It will be fun for him to be back but I hope that they keep taking turns being the spokesperson. It is fun to see all of them doing the talking. He really took a long time off this time. I guess he went over seas on his vacation. He will have a lot to talk about when he gets back.
I hope that this post made sense It is the middle of the night and I am half asleep. Glad that you got to see Aizen maybe you will get to see JJ soon.
Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23800

Hi Barbara,
I am lucky we do not have any dil. We just had the girls. So the husbands are different though. We get along with them but if they step out of line with my girls there is trouble. They do not get along with me. We have a pretty good relationship with our sil right now though. If they do not like us they keep it to themselves. That is nice because I do not want to know.
Sarah may change a lot after the baby is born. That seems to change all of us. It will be so much fun when you see your grand child for the first time. You should have gone ahead and bought the outfit with the kisses on it for the baby. It may have made Sarah happy to know that you were that excited about the baby. It is hard to know what another person is thinking. Sometimes we just have to do what is best for us and hope that the other person accepts us. If you feel good buying the baby something do it.
It is really cold here now also. IT was under 10 degrees for a couple of days but has warmed up a little was almost 30 today. That is sad when we think that 30 is getting warm. We are supposed to have more snow this week if they do not change it. They do change a lot. The baby will not be able to go out as much right now. It is just too cold.
You have such good sons. It was nice that Neal told you all of that. I am sorry to hear that Lisa and Joey are not happy. This has been a rough time for both of them. Hopefully they will figure all of this out and be happy again. I know it must be hard to watch. Who ever said that is gets easier when the kids got older had no idea what they were talking about. You worry about them more then what you did when they were home. It is hard to accept their decisions sometimes.
I would like to have your recipe for chicken and dumplings. They sound really good. I roll mine out sometimes when we do not have the frozen ones. They are much better fresh like that. Ron’s sister uses those soft shell tacos to make her dumplings with. I do not really like that like that. They really have a different taste. They are tortillas. What ever they are called I do not like them that much.
You can vent on here any time that you feel you need to. We all vent on here. It is nice to talk to people that are going thru a lot of things that we are. I do not think that there is one of us that is not having some type of problem with our kids. Or as my mom use to say all the drama of our kids lives. lol She turned out to be a lot smarter then we thought she was when we were young. It is funny how that happens.
Well that is about all from here. Hang in there my friend. Things will get better.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23802

Hi Colleen,
Congratulations on welcoming little Aliza Mae into the world. I’ll bet she’s a beauty! I think it’s smart to wait until everything calms down to go over there and spend some time. Sometimes it seemed like Jenny’s room in the hospital was like grand central station-especially with the first two-by the time the third one came all the other girls (her friends) also had two or three kids of their own at home so it wasn’t as easy to get away and stop off at the hospital. Jenny was always in a few extra days because of the c-sections. With Piper it was cold and snowy and right before Christmas so we were practically the only ones stopping by. With Kendall Greg and I were actually the ones who brought them home from the hospital-I can’t remember why Adam couldn’t get away-must have been something with work not letting him go at the time. Anyway, when everyone goes back to work and people stop coming by that’s the time to lend a hand and take up the slack.
I’m not sure if I have anything in the blue bonnet color or not. I think that maybe I do. I have that same brown fleece shirt with the pine cones-I don’t think it’s for Christmas-I think it’s a winter shirt and I will definitely wear it all winter long-especially when it’s really cold out. Besides half the time I’m just at home anyway so no one sees me-and then if you are out to the store you have a coat on anyway.
You know I doubt those walk in tubs take more water than other tubs. They are deep but not wide-plus I’m always of the mind that we should treat ourselves in our own home if we can. It’s nice to have some of life’s little luxuries to make us feel good about ourselves. Plus the whirlpool would be good for your back and legs and such. Tell him it’s something you need for medicinal purposes. Doctor’s orders-Doctor Gail that is. lol I could be like Doctor Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies.
We are lucky we are not getting any of this coming storm it is going south and east so you, Barbara and Adele might be getting it while we are clear up here. Plus the sun is out and the temps are in the 20’s so things are good.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23804

Hi Adele,
Glad that you got a chance to see Steph, Jhonny and Aizen yesterday. I would say that you had a truly hectic morning. You deserve a rest today. Plus Happy Belated Birthday-I think it was yesterday but I wasn’t on here. I don’t blame you for not having two separate parties-that’s just getting to be too much. Plus-it’s your birthday-they all should be doing stuff for you. I never do stuff for my own birthday-I figure it’s up to everyone else to do something and they usually don’t so Greg and I will just go out to dinner or something. So if you don’t have snow maybe you and Gary could go out this weekend.
I’m sorry that he put off his surgery. I know he is in a lot of pain and will feel better once he gets it done and he recuperates from the surgery. I can’t believe he won’t eat the game day foods. Usually guys like all that stuff. I think if I were you I would sometimes get so frustrated trying to feed him that I would want to hit him over the head with a frying pan. lol I’m surprised that you don’t have to go on strike more often.
Did you throw yourself into a chair last night with a cold compress on your head and moan like Scarlett O’Hara until Bobby fixed dinner. I think that was an excellent idea. I’m sure you could put on an academy award winning performance. lol “Oh dear me, Bobby, I have the vapors.” “Could you get me the smelling salts?” ” I think I little bite of dinner would certainly cure me.” lol
I hope the snow misses you. I heard this morning that Boston may only get a few inches. The sun is shining! Yahoo!!!
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23806

Hi Colleen
I bet you are exhausted. Do not worry- your post made perfect sense.
I am the one saying I do not want a party, not the rest of the family. I just do not want the drama of who will not come with who there. So, I just decided to eliminate all of it. However, I may get voted down, and they may all show up anyway. They get funny like that- get mad when I say I do not want to celebrate my birthday. I have a hard time with my birthdays lately. I do not know why. I really hate my birthday lately, and have felt like that since I turned 60. On the other hand, the lack of one, is not great either….LOL This is # 66.
I am going out with Nancy today, before we get any more snow.
I think it is a great idea to go over to Danyielle’s when everyone else is gone. You will get some private time with her, and the baby, and she will appreciate her mother being there to help. Nothing like your Mom helping you with a new baby. How are they all doing, now that she has been home for a couple of days?
How has your Mom been doing?
How have you been feeling- how is your back?
it looks like the big storm is missing us, but they keep changing it. We would be thrilled if it stays more south.
I was very happy they came to visit yesterday- Tillie was thrilled.
Hope your day is going well!
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#23812

Hi Barbara,
You are not complaining or griping-you are venting. And we all do that here-that’s why we’re all friends. We’re all here to listen to each other and support each other throughout the happy times and the sad times and we have all had both and been there for each other. It’s good to have a sounding board and hear what others have experienced in similar situations.
I must say I don’t completely agree with Neal-I don’t think all DIL’s dislike their MIL’s. I think there might sometimes be some conflict about different ways of doing things and maybe some jealousy but not real dislike. I think living under the same roof doesn’t help the situation as the new wife might feel threatened by the mother’s relationship with her son. It just seems when they live independently from you there’s much less chance for rubbing each other the wrong way. I do like Neal’s advice about just being yourself. Plus if she doesn’t like you for some reason that is really her problem and not yours and you can stand on your head and do cartwheels across the lawn and nothing will change that-so just be yourself and maybe eventually she will feel more comfortable about her place in the family. It’s not your fault-you did nothing wrong-it’s her adjustment to make. Plus sometimes I think young people have to grow up a bit before they can really appreciate their inlaws. I think perhaps her feelings will change over time as she matures and realizes the value of extended family. Maybe things will change with the coming of the new baby.
We were lucky that we got along well with Kim. She had told me once that she appreciated how welcome we made her feel and that she felt very comfortable with us. I only wish that her life had not ended so early-what a horrible shame. I hope her girls and her parents are all doing well. They must miss her daily.
I didn’t even watch the garden shows. When it’s ten below one doesn’t think about gardening too much. Plus i wouldn’t buy any more of their plants anyway.
I’m sorry that Joey and Lisa are having a hard time. Did they ever go to counseling like you had mentioned. If they are both unhappy maybe it’s time for everyone to move on.
You know I heard one time what Angel’s Glenn does for a living and for the life of me I just can’t remember what was said. I want to say like something with construction but I may be way off the bat too.
It looks like you may be in the path of the bad storms. Stay inside, stay warm and stay upright.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23814

Hi Gail, and everyone!!!
you gave me a good chuckle. Now, I have one for you. So. Bobby was late last night, so I had to do the chicken, with green beans Yes, we have them in the supermarket again. First time since Christmas. So, Bobby bought so much green beans, I had to clean, and freeze half of them in that cryovac (not sure of spelling) machine I got from the Q. So, I got these cool spices from a company named Penzeys Spices, that have no salt. I ordered 4 of them, 2 for chicken, and 2 for pork dishes. I mixed them in with the Pankp breadcrumbs. Well, low and behold THE HUSBAND said it tasted real good. I nearly fell off my chair. Yes, Gail, I have threatened to hit him with a frying pan, because he is so very difficult to feed. Tillie also said dinner was great- they were lucky the headache went away.
So, when Bobby came home, I asked I if he wanted a piece of my fabulous chicken that they thought was great, and he says, “They only said that because they are afraid of you.” Well, the Boy did have some. he also liked it. A good day for the cook, I would say. He had not noticed the tin of chocolate chip cookies, so I told him about them. Of course., he took a bunch down and said…”what happened, that is barely enough for me”. Of course, more than half got sent home with the kids. I was also telling Gary he needed to check for gas for the snow blower, just in case. Bobby added,” You know the snow blower does not need gas, it needs chocolate chip cookies.” LOL LOL
I am about to leave for Bertucci’s to meet Nancy. We have to get another lunch in, before it gets more icy and snowy. So, Hetaher was wondering why I was venturing forth with obvious snow on the ground. I told her there is no snow in the driveway, and should not be any in the handicap section of Bertucci’s. If there is, I will just park right in front of the door, and tell them I will stay there so I will not fall when I leave. Gary told me one of these days, I am going to get towed. Not. I bet they are afraid of a sparkly, cane wielding old woman…..LOL LOL Wearing my new “necklace” black long sleeve Quacker top, with my new corduroy pants that feel like PJ’s….LOVE THEM !!! It is finally cold enough to wear them. I hope they come out with more colors next year- you will love them, if you have them.
I also feel bad he is pushing off the surgery, but, he was getting way too anxious, and that was not good either. They are supposed to call back today, with some dates.
My birthday is actually tomorrow. Gary has a late CAT scan for his kidneys, so not sure if we will do dinner out tomorrow. My favorite take out fish place is close to the hospital, so I may have him bring me and Tillie home a plate when he is done. With all his food issues, he loves fried clams- go figure!
It was nuts here yesterday. A lot quieter today, and no headache. Yeah!
Hope your sun stays out. It is sunny here to.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23821

Gail and Barbara
Very well said, Gailster. Totally agree.
I tried to answer Barbara’s feelings with the humor in my life to let her know she is not alone in all of this, and we are all here to listen. I use humor to get through the most difficult things in my life. I remember one day, when Gary was real sick, and in a wheelchair, Hetaher came over and asked me what I was going to say was the good part to that day. I do not remember my answer, but some days it is a reach to see the good in a situation.
Being a MIL is hard. Especially if you are known for being a strong woman, who your family respects. Maybe they feel they need to have that same strength, and not realize it comes from years of struggles. You just do not get that when you are first married, and they may feel “less than”, even though we do not judge. Who knows. We do the best we can, and then stand, as that old saying says. “Do all you can, and then stand”.
I hope your day is going well. Also hope your DIL is feeling better, and the pregnancy is going well. When she becomes a Mom, you may become a lot closer. Your son is right. You have done all you can. You are a good Mom, MIL, and will be a great Nana. I cannot wait until you describe how you feel when you hold your Itty Bitty for the first time. Bring your Kleenex.
Love all you guys!
Lunch with my buddy, Nancy was great, and Tillie has my leftovers. All is right with the world, for now.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23827

HI Gail,
We have not heard that we are getting the blizzard snows. I guess that Sue is going to get it she posted on here for everyone to be safe. Sometimes it will snow a lot in St. Louis but we will not get any. Then sometimes it is the other way around. Our road is still slick from the sleet that we had. It melted some yesterday and then refroze today. This is a mess. The schools are still out here. There are not many kids that live in towns around here they all live on country roads. The towns around here a small.
It will be a mad house at her house for then next few days also. Her friends that have kids will come over the week-end and so will Melissa. She had to wait for Ethan to be out of school and be able to come up there. So with all of them there it will be a mess. Kevin took vacation time to stay at home with her also. So it will all be hectic there until next week. Besides i want to have the baby all to myself and be able to hold her as long as I want to. I do not want to share.
I wear my snow man shirt even though one of the snowmen has a Santa hat on. They are snow men and it is still winter. I also have the jeans with the snow flake on the leg. So they just go together. I will wear that fleece top all winter also. It is so warm and do not want to put it away for next Christmas. Did you watch the Chics Night in the other night. It was okay but they did not have anything that I felt like I really needed. I like watching that show because they seen to have a good time doing that. They are not as formal as they are on the regular qvc. They seem to have more fun.
I agree with you on the walk in tub. It is not as wide as a regular tub but the jets are beneficial to someone that has problems with their back and hips. Now if I could get my back doc to agree with you then he may be able to talk Ron into it. He listens to what ever that guy says. I will also tell him that you recommended it. That will make him think about it. lol He will probably want to know if I am complaining about that on here to everybody. He is so strange at times.lol
You are lucky that the storm is not coming your way. I think that Adele said it was not going to hit there either. Maybe we will all luck out and not get that storm. Poor Sue she is going to get it though. Maybe it will miss her also.
Well that is about all from here. have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23829

Hi Adele,
With you not wanting to have a party I thought that maybe they will surprise you with one. They will do all the cooking and you can just sit and watch them do it all.It is your turn to have a meal cooked for you. You deserve it.
We are the same age. I will turn 66 in July. It does not seem possible though. Just think if we did not have anymore birthdays we would not have all of our grandchildren. We would not want to miss all of that. I just figure that we cannot change things so we might as well be happy with our age. We none of us will ever be able to have all the face lifts and getting everything else lifted. So we will be the age we are and be happy and sparkle and shine.
Everybody has been doing fine here. I do not call Danyielle that much because of the baby. Do not want to wake her up or disturb her if she is feeding her. It is hard the first month they are home. They get up so many times during the night.
That must have really hurt Tillie when Steph was mad and would not come over. I am glad for both of you that it is all over with and she will come and bring the kids. It is nice that they came to get Aizen’s birthday gifts. Poor Bobby. You gave away the cookies. That must have made things really hard on him. lol It is hard to be a cookie monster when there is little kids around that love cookies also.That is funny that the snow blower works on chocolate cookies. Bobby is funny. Your chicken sounds really good. We still do not have fresh green beans in our stores. Will be glad when they have them again. They are so much better then the can or the frozen. We were going to get some cauliflower the other day but it was so expensive so we passed on that one. I like to steam fresh veggies. They taste so good.
It may be better off pushing it off instead of worrying about you being able to get to the hospital to pick him up. He just worries about you Adele and that is so nice. You two make a good couple.It will not be too long and the weather will be nice and he will get it done. I am sure that if it gets too bad he will go and get it done sooner.
I hope that the x-rays of Gary’s kidney was okay Has he been having any more problems? I hope that he brought you and Tillie some fish home from that restaurant. That would be really nice. I hope that you had a nice dinner out with you friend. I feel like you do at this stage of the game I will park where ever it is easier for me to get in and out. If it happens to be in front of the door that so be it. They should keep the parking lot cleared for their costumers.
Well that is about all from here. have a good night.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23836

Hi Colleen,
I’m glad that you are not getting all the snow. We are not either except maybe a little dusting. I feel bad for Sue having to shovel herself. You know it is harder to find new postings on this site-I almost missed hers as I generally just click on whoever posted last under General Quacker Chatter and that normally takes me directly to this discussion. It just is not as easy to see when someone posts something new under a different heading as it used to be.
Aha! I am the elder of you and Adele so you guys have to listen to me and respect your elders. lol So you guys are Greg’s age as he is 66 and I am 67-you must have graduated high school in 1967 then. I graduated in 66-can you believe that is 50 years ago now. I wonder if there will be a reunion-there has been for all the other decades. I think we have gone to most of them. Yikes-am I old or what?!!!
I don’t blame you for waiting until all the activity subsides to go see the baby again. That way you can have Danyielle and the baby all to yourself rather than competing with a houseful of people. She will appreciate it more that way too-there’s nothing like having your Mom around with a new baby in the house.
I watched Chick’s night in or out or whatever it is but didn’t see anything that was that interesting either. Plus I can only take Albany in small doses as she seems kind of fake to me-but that’s just my opinion-I’m sure others love her. I guess that i don’t watch QVC as much as I used to as there are three new hosts and I barely even know who they are except for the one who was on In the Kitchen with David. Years ago I used to keep it on as kind of background noise-that was when they had much more diversity in their product lines.
Good Idea-get the chiropractor to recommend a whirlpool and then maybe Ron will go along with him-since you don’t think he’ll put much credence in my recommendation. lol While you’re at it maybe he could recommend a hot tub for your deck too. And a maid. lol
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23840

Hi Adele,
I agree-humor can defuse many a tense situation. Laughter is good medicine-plus I am a glass half full person and I believe that you are too.
Glad that you got to lunch out an didn’t get towed away in the process. lol
So the panko crumbs and the Penzey’s spice made a winner winner chicken dinner. That’s funny that Bobby said they liked it because they are afraid of you. lol I don’t think that ever bothered them before when they didn’t like something. You have a unique snow blower that works on chocolate chip cookies instead of gas-I wonder which costs more-the gas or the cookies?
I have those soft pants in the black and went back to order them in the blue but they were long gone. They need to bring those back in more colors and greater numbers. At this stage of my life comfort is king!
Well happy Birthday today! I don’t know why I thought I read that it was on the 20th. Old age I guess. I hope that you pick out a good gift for yourself. lol
It’s funny that you said that about Gary liking fried clams as Brent and Kim liked those too. Maybe the people who have bad dietary habits and don’t eat vegetables all like the same stuff. Greg thinks fried clams are like eating rubberbands and I must say I agree with him on that one. I can really feel your pain as I know how hard it was to feed Brent. When he lived here he kept stuff in the freezer for times when I fixed stuff for me and Greg that he didn’t like but you can’t really do that to your husband although I’m sure there are times when you wish you could just give him a frozen dinner and cook for everyone else. It’s like having a little kid again and cooking something different for them all the time. It makes me grateful to cook for Greg who will eat about anything and who will go out for dinner just about any time that I want to also.
The poor guy-remember he sprained his ankle-well then his knee started hurting because he was walking funny with the ankle-so now he has a wrap on the ankle and a wrap on the knee-if things keep going the way they are he will be all wrapped up like a mummy.
They are predicting lots of snow for DC-I hope it misses you. Just in case though bake up some chocolate chip cookies.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23855

Hi Gail
Feeding Gary is like feeding a 2 year old. I have to hide the ingredients, and lie all the time. Maybe liking clams is a thing with food issues. I think they taste gross. Get this- he loves the Jewish sour pickles, and says he hates garlic. I almost gagged trying the pickle. Talk about garlic!!!! Speaking of that, the ingredients I bought for the rye/pumpernickel bread came, and I am going to try it tomorrow. Gary will get the corned beef, before it starts to snow.
We are not getting much, unless they change the forecast again. First it was a blizzard, then a trace, then an inch, now it is 2 to 4 for us, at the most. So, we are lucking out on this one. I think the cookies cost more than the gas….LOL
Can you imagine, I am now 66? Tillie cried this morning, when she sang to me. I said, “why are you crying, because you are old enough to have a daughter who is 66?” That made her laugh. I would bet she was wondering if she will be here for my next one. God bless her, at 89, I would be thinking the same thing.
So, I tell Heather today I do not want a party, a nd she says I will not get away with that one. She is on her way over for tea. Gary is out getting the Carvel cake- my favorite. Bobby promised to make his mac and cheese this weekend for me- my favorite. he will be snow blowing, and I will do the cookies, of course.
Good God- that man has to see his doctor, before he ruins his joints all the way up to his shoulder. Will he go????? Another person to add to the prayer list.
Hope your weather is good for the weekend- go Pats!!!1 Who are you rooting for?
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23858

hi colleen
‘I did not see any post from Sue- where is it?
Gary is at the take out now, getting us the fish for tonight. He already got the Carvel cake.
I hope your daughter and the baby are settling in. I know what you mean about waiting for her to call, so their sleep is not disturbed. So hard when you live further away. I bet you are dying to get over there to snuggle the Itty Bitty!
I cannot believe you are all still having ice. We are to get about 3 inches ( as of a few minutes ago) total tomorrow, but, they are still saying it can move. The blizzard part will be a few states lower than us. I hope the ice stops, so you are not trapped in the house, and the kids can get back to school. It got very gloomy here a while ago, and already looks like snow. It is not supposed to start until tomorrow afternoon.
Tillie was thrilled to see the boys. They will come over next week too. Maybe Wednesday, if I can go get them, and there is no ice/snow.
They check GAry’s kidneys with the CAT scan, to make sure the remaining stones do not move. he will get the results next week.
What is up with the green bean shortage???/ Cauliflower has gone through the roof on pricing. I guess we should just eat Hostess cupcakes….LOL
We are the 2 66 girls, and Gail is our senior sister….LOL LOL
have a good night!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23863

Hi Gail,
I graduated in 1968. I will be 66 in July so still have time to be 65. lol I did not know that Adele and I were so close in age. You are just a year older then we are so that is not that old. we are lucky that we are getting around and can still come on here and chat. Don’t know if that really makes anyone feel better but what else can we say.lol
I get on the main page and find where someone has posted. That way I do not have to scroll all the way down to find out. They have to do something to fix this. It is getting harder and harder to find where we are at on here. I very seldom go to the discussion page anymore. There are not that many new posts on there. Well at least I cannot find them.
It will be nice to just be able to sit and talk to her and maybe go out to lunch. It will depend on the baby and the weather. Ron is wanting to go up there and see the baby also. She is such a little cutie. I could just bring her home with me but she is being breast fed so that would be kind of hard. lol There is something to be said about bottle feeding the baby. People can take the baby and take care of her for you. Kids just do not listen to us.
I have not been watching as much either. (qvc) They do not have that many things on there that interest me. I do watch the Quacker shows and the food shows. That is about it. I ordered my tops from qvc and they are already on their way here. Have you gotten yours yet? I hope that I like them in person as I did on tv. That does not happen that much with the Quacker stuff though.
I am sorry to hear about Greg’s knee. That must be painful to have a foot and a knee that hurts. Hope that they get better soon. There are days that we feel like we are falling apart. That must be the day for Greg. How is your ankle doing? How is your sil? Are they still doing the blood tests on her? I hope that she is okay now.
My mom is doing so good now. It is hard to believe that they gave her a walker to get around with. She is getting around better then she did before. I guess with them doing therapy with her they did a lot to make her legs stronger.
How did Kendall do when she went back to school after being sick? Hope that she did okay. Sounds like she is the only one that came down with the scarlet fever and strep. The poor little girl. Hope that all three of the kids are doing fine.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23865

Hi Adele,
Just go to the quacker social page and scroll down and you will find it. I always do that instead of going to the discussion page. It is easier to find things there. You do not have to click on all that stuff.
I did not think that your family would let you get away without having a party. You deserve to have one just like the rest of them. I am glad that they are going to do something for you. The cake sounds really good and glad that you are getting your fish from that restaurant. You are going to have a great day for your birthday. Do they have the wrong date on here for your birthday? I had to change mine because they had the wrong date on here for mine. Just went to my page and changed it there. They made a mistake on a few peoples birth dates. Guess it is hard to get that many right. I do not see how they keep things up on here.
We are not getting any snow here at all. They have not changed that yet. So we will wait and see what happens. Glad that you did not get the blizzard that they are getting in other places. That is hard to have to deal with. Hope that you had a good time with your friend when you went out to lunch. That is nice to have someone to be able to just go out to lunch with and not have to just go with family. It is nice to just get away for some girl talk.
It will be nice if you can go and get the boys to stay with you for awhile. I can imagine that you and Tillie really miss them. They probably really miss you also. You need to figure out away that you can see them more often. It is hard not being able to see the grands when you want to. It really makes you feel like you are missing something in your life. Then they come over and fight the whole time and then you cannot wait for them to go home.lol It does not sound like your two grand sons fight like ours do. They really have some battles when they are here. I guess it is because one is a boy and one is a girl.
Hum just eating hostess cupcakes all the time. That sounds like a plan. We would not have to worry about the price going up a certain time of the year. They pretty well stay the same price all the time. We eat a lot of fruit in the winter. It does go up some in the winter but not that much. I do not know why fruit is so expensive in the summer. When I go shopping I think that we will eat healthy. So we get chicken that is baked and broccoli frozen and brussel sprouts and different fruit. Then we go to the bakery and get cinnamon rolls and custard donuts. Even got a piece of bread pudding. Now is that healthy or what.lol So if you want a healthy menu just call me and i will help you with one.
Well that is about all from here. Have a great night.
Colleen
p.s. Hope that you have a lot of cookies made for the snow blower. You will need to keep it going.

[Barbara Smith]

#23867

Hello everyone. And Happy Birthday Adede! Don’t worry about being 66 I am 67 now, and I have learned to accept that while I wish I could run and do cartwheels like I used to; that my mind is willing but my body says no way, so find a new adventure, Barbara. Yes Gail, it is the year of our 50th class reunion. If they hold it during the hot part of summer I already know Mr. Jerry will balk. That is one reason he didn’t want to retire to Florida. Now we certainly can’t go off and leave the wee one. He has been so good with his Mom. Makes me love him all the more for the kindness he shows her. He made sure she has plenty of food, weather being icy and all. We have lots of ice but so far not much snow. Jerry didn’t sleep too well last night. He was worried that he might need to pick Sarah up this morning when she got off since Neal had an important appointment he had to be at and would barely make it on time if he picked her up. But she did just fine. Her morning sickness has eased up. She is doing lots better.
Colleen I know you are so happy with the new baby. I bet she is a cutie!
My other computer has just kicked the bucket for good (wonder who said this originally, and why?) Jerry got one for me, but he has kept on working with that one and we haven,t set up the new one. Hopefully, Joey will give me a hand with that this week end.
I am going to call our son in NM tonight to check on them. Really miss him. Guess what Jerry just told me? He said we were having popcorn for dinner, and he had put some ICE CREAM in the freezer yesterday for our treat tonight! Did I mention this is our coldest night so far? Ha ha Thanks for always being such good friends. Your insights, and personal experiences have helped me so much. From the frozen South————Barbara

[Gail Norusis]

#23879

Hi Barbara,
It’s funny how everything is a matter of perspective. Greg kind of wanted to retire to somewhere warmer and he was looking at property in Tennessee-and you guys from Tennessee were thinking about Florida. lol Of course then I put my foot down and said no way was I leaving the grandkids and have them growing up with us as strangers that they only saw once a year. So that changed all his ideas. Then he kind of wanted a summer home in Wisconsin and I really don’t want two houses to maintain when I can barely maintain one. I think he really just wants somewhere to fish and put his boat. Now we have decided that after he retires we will just rent a place in warmer weather for a few weeks each winter and then we won’t be tied down to the same spot all the time.
Okay-you asked for it-here’s where kick the bucket comes from-the wooden frame that was used to hang animals by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket-obviously they would struggle during this procedure and thus would “kick the bucket.” There’s a pleasant thought for this morning.
Now, on a much lighter note-popcorn and ice cream for dinner!!! Count me in! Hopefully it’s gourmet popcorn and ice cream. lol
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23881

Hi Colleen,
Okay-I won’t make you older than you really are-actually that makes you the baby of me, Barbara, Adele and you-so you are the one that we will have to spoil. lol
I don’t scroll down either. I go to Discussions-General Quacker chatter and then click on the last post which is usually by one of us anyway and that takes you straight to whoever posted last-like today it was Barbara-and then I can just scroll backwards and read what Barbara, you and Adele posted. I have no idea why they neglected to put pages on the discussions when they recreated this site. I still think this is not as user friendly as the original site from five years ago when I first came on.
I’m glad that so many women are nursing now a days. It’s so good for the babies and it’s so much more economical than buying formula too. Plus now they have those really good breast pumps that actually work and they can use them to pump and store extra milk in the freezer so there is extra milk for when they go back to work or are gone somewhere. Little babies are like us older folks-they take lots of naps! lol It will be nice just to visit with you, Danyielle and the baby and have them all to yourself for a bit.
I did get my shirts already and they are really cute. I was looking at where they posted some of the drawings of the new designs for spring and there was a short sleeve shirt with butterflies-now you know I will have to get that in every color as I have been looking for more short sleeve Quacker and butterflies is the added bonus.
My ankle is okay-about the same as there is no real cure besides surgery-so now Greg and I can go dancing in matching ankle braces. lol
My SIL is still struggling with those results on her bloodtests. I think she had more done last week and I haven’t heard the results yet. And then she broke her wrist a few months back and has been struggling with that too as we just don’t heal as quickly as we used too and she says it’s still pretty painful.
It’s good to hear that your Mom is doing so well. That is a huge relief, I’m sure. When will she get to see the baby?
The grandkids are good. The scarlet fever actually comes from the strep-some kids will develop it and some not-also if you don’t catch the strep right away it can then develop into scarlet fever-which is what happened to her as she was showing no symptoms the second time around. Then Piper and Jenny got it and Lachlan got bronchitis-the doctor didn’t even bother doing the strep test on him as she said the antibiotic for the bronchitis would take care of any strep also if he did have it. Hopefully, now that they have passed everything around for a month everyone will be healthy for the rest of the winter.
I can’t wait until summer as Jenny said yesterday that Lachlan and Piper will be on the same TBall team. This I gotta see! I will need to take movies. Oh my gosh. Last night she was hysterical. She had on her princess nightgown and she was dancing all around the family room and she kept on wanting me to say what dances she should do-like the cha cha- or the pony or the Nae nae and then she would go do them but they all actually looked the same-and then she did this one dance where she ran in a circle for about five minutes. The child never sleeps! Lachlan was asleep on the couch-Kendall had gone to bed and she was still going like it was noon. But then she had to stop to get some water to re-hydrate. That child is going to keep them jumping!
No snow here-thank goodness. I hope everyone out east stays safe and warm.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23883

Hi Adele,
Well with the cake and the mac and cheese you will be getting an informal impromptu party-so that is good-whoever is there is there and you won’t have to worry about playing referee.
That’s funny-I used to hide ingredients from Brent and Kim too-the big thing with them was onions-I would chop them really fine and tell them there weren’t any in the dish-other wise they would just automatically reject it without even trying it. Which would drive me nuts. Speaking of that today would have been Kim’s birthday. I imagine this is a tough day for her parents and sisters. My prayers go out to them.
Greg went to the doctor when he first sprained the ankle and they basically don’t do anything except to say rest it and right now he is not able to do that with so many people having been off on vacation at work over the holidays. So I know for a fact that he is not going back as there is nothing they can do.
I’m sorry to have to say I won’t be rooting for the Patriots although I think they will probably win. However I have a soft spot for Peyton Manning after he played all those years for Indy and my brother lived in Colorado for many years so I have to go with Denver. The other game I will have to go with Carolina as I remember watching Cam Newton in that college championship game and liking him back then. So we will have to be rivals this weekend-although I am not really committed to anyone as we don’t have a horse in this race-so to speak. I guess it’s a good thing that game is in Denver and not out east. What city do the Patriots actually play in anyway? New England is kind of a general term.
Did you get your fish last night. That sounded good. What kind of fish is it? Speaking of that I’ll bet you get good fish and seafood there being so close to the coast. That’s the one thing we don’t get much out here is good fresh seafood. We haven’t been to fish fry in a long time as we are usually at Jenny’s on Fridays. We picked up Taco Bell last night and brought it over for Jenny and the kids. Talking about all this food is making me hungry-I better go get some breakfast.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23896

Hi Colleen
We are getting a lot of high winds, and only 4 inches of snow. further south of us is a blizzard- it has been all over the news. The southern part of Mass is getting clobbered, later today, into tonight.
I have the rye bread rising for it’s first rising. this is the first time with this one, so we will see how it comes out. I hope they like it, because I had to buy 3 more ingredients for it- caraway seeds, rye flour, and a King Arthur rye/pumpernickel enhancer. bobby is getting his new speakers installed that he got for Christmas, and when he gets back, he will get the corned beef.
It is so dark and gloomy here- with the wind blowing the trees all around.
I think one of my fishies is dying. The friendly one, who come sot the top, and stays there, until I pat him. He is a funny, Beta fish. The other one, is boring, and swims away, if I touch him. They are in 2 separate little bowls, because they would kill each other of they are together. Funny fishie was not moving at all, fell to the bottom, and leaned on the plant, and did not come up for his food. I tapped his bowl, and still nothing. Gary went over later, and tapped d harder, and he moved. he is in the bowl pointing straight up, and not moving. Every once n a while, he will move. It does not look right. They are the fish I got when Enzo graduated from high school- they were the centerpieces. They will be 2 this summer. or not.
the boys do not fight yet, because there is too much difference in their ages, I think. JJ is 9 1/2 and Aizen is just 2. Maybe when Aizen gets bigger it will start. I know the girls fight….LOL
Gary got us the fish last night, after the CAT scan, and we had a piece of the carvel cake. Bobby is making the mac/cheese tomorrow….yum, yum.
The fruit we get is real sour. the strawberries were so bad, I had to dunk them in sugar. Kind of defeats the point of fruit. Apples are always good, but I do not want one every day. I will check the flyer to see what fruit is on special for this week, and hope it tastes good. usually the grapes are ok, but Gary would not eat them a couple of weeks ago, because he felt they were not sweet enough!!! I love all the fruit in summer.
Hope you get to see the baby and Danyielle this weekend. I love to hold them, and out them to sleep. they are so cuddly.
Hope the weather is better out there.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23900

hi Barbara
thank you for the birthday wishes. Thank you for sending the blizzard up too…..LOL We are lucky, we are on the north fringe of it, and getting only 4 inches, but with a lot of high winds.
Read my post to Colleen about my poor fishie. He looks like he is on his last fin. I may need to bury him, and you cannot go out there today.
I am glad your weather is getting better- we were all worried about you, and Jerry, going back and forth in all that ice. You are so right, when our husbands act kindly to someone, they look extra good to us. So good that his Mom is doing better. Also good he did not have to go out in the ice to get Sarah.
Your DIL must bet getting to the 3 month mark, when the morning sickness gets better. That is a huge milestone for a pregnancy. they will feel good, until the last month, as we all know. I bet you are on line shopping away for the first Itty Bitty in your family. This is such an exciting time.
OMG- that is so funny. Popcorn and ice cream for dinner. Are you sure Jerry is not pregnant???? LOL
Hope your weather is better, and you send that up here, quick!
I Have to go and form the bread for it’s second rising……
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#23903

hi GAil
I just looked out and the snow has begun to fall. We are getting the wind, and only 4 inches, so we are good.
the Patriots are in Mass- they actually play in Foxboro, very close to where my SIL lives. I LOVE the Gronk. he has so much personality. this is a funny for you. So on the news the other night, they were, of course, talking about the Patriots, and then featured Gronk , naked, with his naughty bits covered by something, on the front of some athletic type magazine. So, I turned to Gary, and said, “Do I get a poster of Gronk like that for my birthday?” Naturally, as Gary has yet to purchase his sense of humor form Walmart, he did not laugh. I did. Laughed so hard, I had to blow my nose after.
I do like Peyton Manning. he is a good guy too.
Read my post to Colleen about my poor fishie. I think I will be having a funeral today.
We got our fish last night, and Tillie was thrilled. So far, I have had 2 pieces of the Carvel cake….LOL Going for the 3rd today.
Piper is so entertaining. You could post a video of her on that You tube thing, and she would be famous. I am glad they are all better. So hard to see them be sick. Makes you sad.
Did I tell you Hetaher fell on the ice, and because she had her glasses on, they went into the bridge of her nose, and she broke it? Broke her good glasses too. You should see what she looks like- all bruised on the bridge, and around the outside of her eyes. She went to the ER, and they are referring her to a nose doctor, to make sure the bones are healing right, so she will not have issues later. She had a ponding headache, when she laid down to sleep, it was worst. She has prescription Motrin, which is making the swelling and headache go away. I yelled at her for the dam boots she wears- those cute up to the knee ones, which have no traction. Told her I do not want to see them on her feet, until all the snow is gone. Everyone has been laughing at her face.
Hope your day is going well!
Adele

[Anonymous]

#23905

If anyone needs some snow come and get it. We have 20 inches and it is still coming down. Everything is closed so only thing on the roads are snow plows. I am so grateful for good neighbors, The neighbor across the street and the one next door shoveled me out and one of them cleaned off my car. Then Luke came (co worker) and he did my deck and made the sidewalk wider and put salt down for me but by the looks of it it will need done again only this time hopefully the deepest is off.
I made a big pot of vegetable soup and an angel food cake. So I am doing okay.

[adele shanbar]

#23908

Hi Sue!!!
So glad you posted, as we are all worried about you. Soup and a cake is the best thing for this type of weather. We are all so funny, eat is how we all seem to roll- food and baking.
I am waiting for the bread to finish rising, so I can get it in the oven.
It is snowing like crazy here now. I wonder if they changed the forecast- we are supposed to get only 4 inches. The lower part of New England is getting a blizzard, as well as the south of Mass.
Be safe! Sparkle form inside your comfy house.
So happy to hear form you, Sue!!!!!
Adele

[Colleen]

#23911

Hi Barbara,
That is funny. I do not think that I could do cart wheels when I was younger. We could do all kind of things that were adventurous and it did not bother us. Now if we walk down the stairs and do not fall it is an accomplishment. I do have to say since I have had all the shots in my hip that I am getting around a lot better. I have these pedals that they use at the doctors office and I pedal a lot. I think that has strengthen my legs a lot. So off and running again.lol
That seems so strange that you are getting all the ice and sleet there and we are not getting anything. It is supposed to happen in our area and not yours. Just be careful going out in this. This weather is really kind of crazy.
That is so great that Jerry is taking such good care of his mom. I guess she found out which of her sons cares about her the most. Not her money just her. He sure has been good to her. He is keeping his promise to his dad and I know that at first it was hard. You have a good man there.
I am so glad that Sarah got home okay. That must have been relief to you that Jerry did not have to go out and pick her up in this kind of weather. Do they give you any kind of idea when all of this is going to clear up? Hope that it will be soon.
Popcorn and ice cream is a good meal to me. That is better then having to cook anything. What kind of ice cream is it? Well really any kind would have been good to me.
Have a good night. Talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23913

Hi Gail,
It is good for the baby and it makes the mom and baby closer to each other. I bottled fed all of my kids so I missed that experience. I did not have enough milk to breast feed so did not get to even try.
It is funny that just those few month’s makes that much of a difference to me. Guess I am not aging well either. I am hardly a baby. It would be hard to spoil me. Ron does that already,lol That would be nice if he did. I would have my walk in tub and my kitchen aid and all those things that I really want out of life. Do not think any of that is going to happen unless I get the kitchen aide my self. I could always act like it is from him and that would make it better. No not really.
Those drawings were really cute. I cannot wait to see what color they have them in. I have really been into the color yellow here lately. They had that shirt with the flags on the front and I am wondering if they will all be on purses or if each color will be different. I always think of you when I see tops with butterflies on them. You must have every butterfly top that Quacker ever made. I cannot wait to get those tops. Do they look good when they are on? That is what is what worries me that they will not look good on me when I try them on. At least we will be able to wear them all year long. I am waiting to see if they come down in price like the pine cone shirt did .I do not know how they are doing that anymore. I do like the pine cone top though. It is nice an warm on these cold days and nights.
I hope that your sil gets better soon. That is terrible that her wrist has not healed completely yet. I hope that the results of these blood tests are okay this time around. She has really been going thru a lot here lately. Well at least she got her house sold and does not have to worry about that again.
When everyone is feeling better we will have a get together here and let her introduce her little one to the family. That way she will not have to go to so many houses to show her off. Not many of the family could go to her baby shower. They had it on a bad day and a lot of people had already made plans. So I will make a big pot of jambalaya and corn bread for everyone and that will be it. I will get some of the throw away bowls at Costco and that way will not have that many dishes to do.Besides that I do not have enough bowls for a lot of people. That would be a lot of dishes.
I am so glad that everyone is doing better at Jenny’s house. It would be nice if they were all done with this stuff for the winter. Poor Kendal got it worse then anyone else did. Your grand kids are so sweet, Piper is such a little character. I really like the all the dances that she did. It is funny how they can use their imagination and do almost anything. It would be nice to have that much imagination now. That will be funny to watch them on the same team. Hope that Piper and Lachlan are both really good players. It will be fun to just watch Piper.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23915

Hi Adele,
I was hoping that the snow would miss you altogether. I do not like it when the wind is blowing it will make the snow drift and hard for people to drive. Well at least you will only get 4 inches. Hope that they are right.
Your rye bread sounds really good. I love corn beef on rye. Will you make a rubeun or just corn beef on rye. That sounds really good. Tomorrow I am going to try and make a chicken ring. I have never done that before so it will be interesting. I just hope that Ron will like it and if it is easy to make we can have it again. I am going to have to put is on some foil and then put it on a cookie sheet. I do not have my round pizza pan anymore. Hope with it being on the foil it will still work. Your dinner sounds really good. How many times do you have to let the bread rise? I thought it only had to rise once.
It is sad that the friendly one is sick. Not that I want either of them to die but the mean one would be better. You won’t be able to pat the nice one head anymore. Maybe he will get better. You will just have to wait and see. That is just so sad. I do not like to see a fish die. My grandson had a fish and he decided that he wanted to sleep with it. So he took it out of the fish bowl and took it to his room and put it in bed with him. Of course it died and he did not understand what happened. So when he told his mom she had to try and explain and be serious when she really wanted to laugh to think that he took the fish to bed with him. It was just funny that poor little guy thought he could take the fish out of the water and sleep with it for a night. So of course they had a formal funeral for the fish.
Your are celebrating your birthday like Jeanne Bice. She liked to celebrate her birthday for the month. Since you birthday is at the end of the month you should be able to continue celebrating all thru the month of Feb. Jeanne was always so funny and knew how to party. She was taken too soon.
So far the fruit has tasted pretty good here. I bought some blue berries and raspberries. They are both good. I put the raspberries in my oat meal to give it more flavor. It sure beats the dull oat meal that does not have much of a taste. I really like oat meal but sometimes it is nice to have something with flavor to put on it. Well that is about all from here. Enjoy your mac and cheese and have a great night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#23917

Hi Sue,
that is really nice that your neighbor and one of the guys from work are digging you out. Hopefully the snow has stopped now and you will not have to worry about getting out. Your soup and cake sounds really good. You will not have to worry about something warm to eat. There is something about soup on a cold day it warms you up inside and out.
Does not sound like you are going to have to worry about shoveling yourself out even if there is more snow. You are really getting hit with this storm. Just take care of yourself and if you have to go out be careful. I am glad that you checked in and let us know how you are doing. I have been thinking about you and all the shoveling that you would have to do. Am so glad that you are not having to do it. Please keep letting us know how you are doing.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#23930

Hi Colleen
the bread was a hit, so that one is a keeper. It rises twice. First, it goes in a covered plastic tub, I got form King Arthur to double in size. Then, you shape it into a loaf, cover it with Saran Wrap, and it rises again. Then, with this bread, I have to spray with water, and make an incision in the top- like the lines you see on top of the bread you buy. Then it bakes. It is really simple. even though it doe snot sound it.
What is a chicken ring?
We ended up with about 6 inches. Amanda called me, when she got home form work last night at 10pm. Thank God I did not know she was working so late. She said it was awful coming from Boston last night, the roads were a mess. I am so grateful she got home safely. If I knew she was that late, I would have eaten all the rest of the chocolate in this house…..LOL
My fish is still alive. I just don’t know what to do. I do not want it to suffer. It is in the bowl, with it’s nose out of the water, in a straight up and down position. Every once in a while, it jerks, and swims, and then ends up either on the bottom of the tank, or in that weird position. I do not know if he is going to die, or get better. Right now, he is in the plant in the tank, resting. he is not eating anything.
that was a funny story about your grandson and his fish. The poor kid!
Bobby will make dinner during half time of the game. I will be doing the cookies, shortly.
hope you are having a good dya,a nd that the roads become clear enough for you to visit with Danyielle and the baby.
Adele

[Colleen]

#23936

Hi Adele,
I am glad that your bread turned out okay and everyone liked it. I have never had to let dough rise twice. Maybe that is why my bread never turns out right. I have just started to get on the King Author site and did not know anything about the plastic tub that you put the dough in to rise. That is why you are such a good baker you have all the equipment. Do they have King Author bakery anywhere near your house? They have shown advertisements on here a couple of times and am not sure where it is or if there is more then one.
The chicken ring is really easy to make. It is crescent rolls, chicken and broccoli with cheese. You just put the rolls down on a cookie sheet and make a circle then you put the chicken, broccoli and cheese in it and close it. That is how it makes a ring. The chicken and broccoli is cooked before you put it in the unbaked crescent rolls.. I guess I explained it right. Ron really liked it and it is something simple and easy to make.
You got a lot more then they had predicted at first. We did not get any snow at all so that was good. You were probably better off not knowing that she had to drive home from work. You would have worried and like you said ate the rest of the cake. Sometimes it is better we do not know somethings until they are over with. As long as they are safe. It is harder when the kids are older and they are getting out and going on their own. You worry about them more.
How is your fish today? I hope that it is doing okay. I do not know where you would go to find out what is wrong with it. It would be nice if when you wake up in the morning that the fish would be fine and swimming around in the bowl. There is just no telling about them.
Danyielle has had so much company since she got home from the hospital. I am glad that we decided to wait. She had a house full today visiting. So thought it would be better if we wait until this week because there will not be as many people. Everyone has come to see the baby already. We will get to hold her more and spoil her just a little. It will be interesting to see how the cat and the dog are accepting the new addition to the family. They may not be liking it too much.
The snow blower must have run out of cookies. I will not forget that it was funny. How nice that Bobby is fixing dinner for you. Sorry that your team lost today. We do not have a team playing in the play offs or competing for them. We are watching the Cheifs to see how they do next year. Hope that they do good.
Well that is all from here. Have a good night will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#23965

Hi Sue,
I hope the snow is over for you and your neighbors and co-worker came back and shoveled again. As long as you were snowed in I hope that you made good use of the time by snuggling in with some movies or a good book. That was one whopper of a storm breaking records all over the place. The soup and the angel food cake sounds like a good snow day meal. Hope today is sunny and snow free!
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23967

Hi Adele,
I was wondering what a chicken ring was too-so I’m glad that Colleen explained.
How is your fish doing-unfortunately fish normally don’t live very long. When we used to have a fish tank if we had a fish that was doing that sometimes it would help to take him out of the tank and put him in a bowl with some salt water in for awhile. Sometimes that would revive them and sometimes not. Don’t ask me how much salt as I don’t remember-maybe you can find something online.
I hope Gary went out and got you that Gronk poster. lol Sorry about the Patriots-we said that missed extra point may come back to haunt them. I feel bad for their kicker as he must be kicking himself in the butt-but someone is going to be the winner and someone is going to be the loser no matter what.
I’m glad that most of the storm missed you. That was really a whopper! So many snowfall records broken-it looks like West Virginia and Virginia actually got the most. I hope that you fed your cookie monster/snowblower.
Poor Heather. I hope that she is feeling better. She probably looks like she got in a fight with Rhonda Rousey. I know those broken noses will give you some nice shiners to go along with them. Sometimes I think you can slip on ice no matter what kind of shoes that you have on. Look at Greg-he slipped and fell taking out the garbage and I don’t think he was wearing his high heeled boots that day. lol
Did anyone see the chocolate s’mores cake on the Chew last week. I definitely got that recipe-that marshmallow frosting looked so good. Plus I just realized that Greg set up my computer with the printer so I can go to The Chew website and look up the recipe and hit a button and just print it right out. How slick is that? Obviously their website is very user friendly for that very reason as I imagine many people go there to print recipes.
I’m glad that your bread turned out so good-now did that end up being a rye or a pumpernickel? I like a good rye for a sandwich-actually I will eat a good rye with just bread and butter. I hope the sun is shining today. We are supposed to warm up to the upper 30’s by the end of the week. I will take that anytime.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#23969

Hi Colleen,
Well, I hope some day that you will get your Kitchen Aide-I think it’s probably in my top three favorite things for the kitchen. When I first got it I actually felt kind of guilty as it made mixing some of those heavy doughs so darn easy-I hardly felt like I was doing anything at all. By the way-Greg ordered a part and I think mine is fixed so I won’t have to get a new one. He’s a handy guy to have around-he just recently fixed my washing machine and my mixer. Now if only I could fix his poor ankle for him.
I too wonder if they will have different motifs on the Americana shirt with the purses. I guess we will have to wait and see. Quacker does do some pretty Americana shirts. I think I am trying to get every butterfly shirt that they ever made. lol So far I’m doing a pretty good job of it too. Speaking of butterflies everyone should get some milkweed and plant them to help bring back the monarch butterfly population. We are losing monarchs because so many milkweeds have been lost due to farming and building and monarchs only use milkweeds for their larva. So this summer if you want to do one little thing sow some milkweed seeds. We did last summer and I want to add more this year.
That is so funny that your grandson wanted to take his fish to bed. The poor thing. I can remember when I was about 6 I had a fish that I won at a carnival. Well like most goldfish it didn’t last long and I was heartbroken and I put it in a box and buried it in the backyard. Of course about two weeks later I wanted to dig him up and look at his bones because I wanted to be an archaeologist-this was going to be my first great find. You know I never could find him again which was just as well as I doubt very much that he would have been dusty old bones in two weeks time and I probably would have been traumatized all over again. I often wonder if one of my parents anticipated my next move and snuck out and relocated his burial spot.
There’s a good chance that Danyielle’s dog and cat won’t even be bothered by the baby. Jenny’s dogs never seemed to mind the babies and our dogs and cats never did either. The dogs liked them and the cats basically ignored them. Poor Danyielle must be tired if she had a houseful of people all weekend. I hope they all brought food and drink so she didn’t have to worry about feeding and entertaining people.
We are supposed to have weather in the upper thirties by weeks end. That will be so nice. Rocky will appreciate it too and not be shivering when he comes in from going to the bathroom. We had a fire in the fireplace yesterday afternoon and that felt good. We haven’t had many fires this year. Some years Greg has one every night. I guess we had a pretty warm fall and we just didn’t use the fireplace as much as usual. It does make it feel warm and cozy when we are just in watching TV and there’s a warm fire crackling in the fireplace.
Did anyone get to watch any of the National Figure Skating Championships this weekend? I saw the women’s and pairs and ice dancing and copied the Men’s finals but haven’t watched it yet as we were watching football yesterday.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23986

Obituary for Fishie
1/24/16

Fishie was a good fish, who led a quiet and splashy life. He was the friendlies fish on the planet. Orange in color, he was the Golden Globe for brightest shiny Fish. Although not white, he was nominated for his great personality at the upcoming Oscars, and a fan favorite.
Fishie fought a valiant battle with what appeared to be some kind of erratic fish disease. He lasted for two days, and must have decided not to die on his owner’s birthday, the 22ond of January.
Fishie is missed by his Fish friend in the opposite bowl, who has been staying near the edge of where Fishie lived, obviously wondering what happened to his counterpart.
Fishie was laid to rest last night, by his owner, and friend. As flushing his delicate carcass down the toilet, or putting him into the garbage disposal seemed to cruel to entertain, he lovingly wrapped in the plant that was his final resting place in his bowl, gently placed into tin foil, and placed into a Zip lock bag. He was entered into the trash can, for his final resting place.
Fishie is mourned by his owner, Adele. Also mourning the loss is Gary, Tillie. Not quite sure if he is mourned by Bobby, who felt he should have been flushed.
A brief tear was shed, as he was laid to rest, and his bowl was disinfected, should he ever return.
Please join us in saying a prayer for Fishie, who was with us for 1 1/2 years. Amen.

[adele shanbar]

#23992

Hey Gailster
By now you know, the Fishie has left us. I will use that idea, should the remaining boring fish start to act weird. Thanks for the tip- never heard of that before. I wonder why they need the salt.
I have not received the Gronk poster. I think the Broncos bought all of them to do a Voodoo curse. This house is in mourning, for Fishie and the Patriots. Gary refused to see the awarding of the trophy. I am betting the offending kicker may no longer be a Patriot next year.
We are all glad the storm missed getting us bad- we got about 6 inches.
You should see Hetaher today. The bruising is around her left eye, and now there is some on the side of her jaw line- around her mouth. She looks like she was in a car accident. she is blaming the frame of her glasses for all the bruising. I told her she may have been lucky the frame took the brunt of it, as she could have had a bad concussion from what she looks like. She has on work boots today. She has to make that appointment with the nose specialist. She does seem to be breathing ok. When she lays down to sleep, is when it hurts more, not while sitting up. Weird.
I broke my ankle putting away a Fisher Price riding toy for Bobby once. Slipped, my foot hit the toy, and crack is all I heard. I re-broke it, taking out the garbage a year later- another slip and fall. I had on platform shoes….LOL remember those from the 70’s?.
the bread was a rye, with caraway seeds. They loved it.
I did not see that cake on the Chew. But, I agree. It is hard to get the recipe you want on there. Not a great website for that. I have tried looking by the guest host too. I even got out of it, and then Googled recipes from the Chew.
it is cold here today, and supposed to get warmer, than a storm is coming over the weekend. Hope it does not get as bad as last year!
how is Greg feeling?
hope your foot is not giving you more trouble, now that it is winter.
Adele
POS….Bobby’s mac and cheese was good- he added bacon.

[Gail Norusis]

#24024

Hi Adele,
Poor Fishie with no name. He had a good life and was well loved. I guess you will have to decorate the house with black crepe in honor of Fishie and the Patriots. I wonder how long the mourning period will be? Will Gary refuse to watch the Super Bowl now-or will he watch it in order to root against the Broncos? I kind of think Carolina will win anyway as they are a powerhouse this year so maybe that will make him happy. You gotta watch it for the commercials if nothing else-it’s an American tradition.
I can’t believe that you broke your ankle two years in a row. You better wrap yourself in foam rubber. I do remember the platform shoes but didn’t really wear them. In fact it’s ironic that I never had to do the high heels for work thing and spent my adult life wearing “sensible” shoes yet I’m the one with bad ankles, flat feet and bunions-go figure.
Greg’s ankle is doing okay-sprains are slow healers. My ankle is okay-sometimes the cold bothers it-it’s just one of those things that you have to learn to deal with as best that you can. Greg was remarking the other day about how you don’t miss your mobility until it’s gone-and I told him he was preaching to the choir-plus how many times have I said the same thing to him about how we take our health for granted until something goes wrong. However, he would never remember that I said these things as there is a little switch in his brain that turns off his hearing as soon as I start talking. I know this for a scientific fact. lol Actually, sometimes it’s funny what he hears sometimes instead of what was really said-I wish I could remember what he thought the guy said when we were watching the men’s program in skating last night-it was so totally different from what was actually said and it was funny. Speaking of saying something funny-yesterday Piper and I were playing Barbies and of course we were making them go swimming and shopping and all sorts of activities. And then she was singing a song about what the Barbies were doing and she sang “we are going swimming and then we are going outside in the no and then we are going to jump on our dodo dicks.” Translation-we are going outside in the snow and jump on our pogo sticks. That just cracked me up. Also one of my favorites is when she talks about unicorns and she pronounces it oonacorn. It is so darn cute.
Well I hope fish number 2 won’t be too lonely. You will have to dance around the kitchen and tell him jokes to amuse him now.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#23994

hi colleen
I posted a fishie obit…..LOL Now I have one lonely fish….LOL.
King Arthur is in Vermont- quite a ride away from us, but a lot closer than to you, for sure. They have great detailed recipes, that are easy to follow. I love that website. I also love their recipes. You can do them, I know you can. The first one never comes out good, It is always better the 2ond or 3rd time.
We are expecting another storm this weekend, and I hope it will mostly miss us too. We will see as the week progresses. Thank God I do not have any appointments out this week.
I hope everyone goes home, so you can get to Danyielle’s in peace and play with the baby, before you get more bad weather.
I totally agree. I was so glad I did not know Amanda was driving home that night. It would have made me nuts, and I could have made her more nervous too. I hate that she works so late in Boston.
I hope your weather is good today, and that you are able to get to Danyielle’s!!!!
Adele
PS….hope you get a o good laugh form the fish obit!

[Colleen]

#24000

Hi Gail,
You should not feel guilty for using that mixer. You have arthritis and like me it is hard to mix that dough and get it right. I use to make cream puffs all the time and everyone really loved them. But now it is so hard to mix the dough that I do not make them. That is the only thing that I ever made from scratch. Well since I have gotten older. Anything to make our lives easier is better. That is my theory.
We will see if we can find any milk weed seeds. i have never looked for it. If we can find it we can plant it at the edge of the woods. That way Ron will not cut it down with the mower. Butterflies are so pretty. Have you ever had one of those butterfly hatching things. My granddaughters did and they kept it at my house. It was really cool to watch them go into a cocoon an to watch them come out of it. We feed them orange slices and things like that . Until they got big enough to let go. We use to have a lot of them around but last year I noticed that we did not have as many. How is your cardinal doing? Hope that he has found a new home. It is a shame that you cannot catch him in a bird cage and move him on down the road. Those birds are a real pain. I cannot believe that people think that they are relatives come back to visit. They must not have had any of the crazy ones around.lol
That would have really upset you if you found that fish again. It was a good thing that someone moved him. It had to be your parents trying to save you from heartache. It is funny what kids do not thinking about what will happen the the animal or fish. They just love them so much. Ethan did learn his lesson though and never tried that again.
I am hoping that they all come with food for dinner so Danyielle did not have to cook. I imagine that Melissa did because Danyielle would say something to her. It does not bother the girls to say something to each other. She would not say anything to me and her dad but we will bring something with us for lunch. We will call and see what they would like to eat. I am afraid to by anything without checking with her on what she can eat so it does not upset the babies stomach. That is one thing about breast feeding. They do tell you something s that you should not eat so you do not give the baby an upset stomach. It will be so nice to see her and be able to hold her without anyone else getting in my way. One day if she does pump some milk I will go up there and watch the kids so they can go out just the two of them and enjoy a meal. That is one thing that when a baby is little you do not get to do that often.
Our weather is going to get into the 40’s and 50′ this week. Then next week it is supposed to get cold again. This weather is really crazy this year. You do not know how to dress the kids or yourself. I want the weather to stay warm for a month and then go away for the year. Instead of this off and on type of weather. I bought my muk luk set and my long winter coat and want to get some wear out of them.
Next week is the week to start to clean out the closets. I have so many of them and they are small but you would not believer all the junk that we get into them. I will have to clean it out and get them vacuumed out and put new fresheners in them. They really need that. I am doing this early guess because of the weather. It will take awhile to do this since we can only do one closet at a time. Do not want to have back aches again and the doc tell me that I am doing too much in a day.
That is one thing that I miss. That is a fire place. It would be so nice to just curl up with a good book by the fire and not have fifty blankets wrapped around me. Do you get really cold like that this time of year?
There is going to be a lot of quacker shows on for the next two days. I did not realize that they were have shows on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hope that they have some good sales and some new things. They had a picture of some capris and they looked to cold for this time of year. I am not thinking of warm weather yet. It will be awhile.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night and will talk to you later.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24002

Hi Adele,
You had me laughing when I read you obit for the fish. I especially liked the part when you said that about Tillie not mourning and Bobby saying you should have flushed him. That was so funny. I do have to say that is the first obit that I have read for a fish. It was pretty good though. I am sorry that you lost your fish.
Poor Heather. I hope that she heals fast and that her nose is healing like it should. The ice is so dangerous and so many people fall on it and really get hurt. Just glad that it is not any worse then what it is. I do not blame you for telling her not to wear those boots in this type of weather. Now if she will take your advice and wear different boots.
Sounds like you are getting a lot of snow now. Hope they are wrong also. That is all you need more snow. We are just supposed to get some rain this week-end and then it will cool down next week. You sure do not need more snow.
We are going to her house one day this week. We are going during the week so we do not have other people around when we are there. That way we will be able to hold the baby and she will not be passed around the whole time we are there. We have to find out what we can bring with us for her to eat for lunch. Do not want them to have to fix anything for us. Just a good reason not to have to cook. If I cook at her house she will feel like she has to do the clean up and do not want her to do that. Will have to find out what she can eat so it will not upset the babies stomach. That is the only thing about breast feeding.
There is going to be a lot of quacker shows on tomorrow and Wednesday. Some of the shows on Wednesday will be on qvc plus. Have you found a way to watch that show? I would not want to have to watch it on the internet but guess I would if that was the only way. I would not be able to let Ron know though he is so protective of our of our internet. He is a mess.
Well that is about all from Here. I wrote some on Gails if you want to read that. Hope that Heather gets better soon.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#24027

Hey Adele,
You have to go back a few postings to find my reply. I hit the reply button after the obituary so it posted back by that.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24030

Hi Colleen,
You are right-I should not feel guilty about using something that makes my life easier. Especially at this point in life when we should take all the help that we can get.
I never did have one of those butterfly hatching things. Maybe Jenny’s kids will do that some day. If you can plant some milkweed that will really help the monarchs.
Our cardinal buddy is still hanging around. He gives me a headache just listening to him-I can’t imagine how he feels. This year I have to try the hanging snakes thing to deter him. We did have a owl figurine out there and that sort of kept him away but the owl kept on getting blown over into the yard and he finally broke.
I forgot about nursing mothers not being able to eat gassy things and such. It’s been a long time.
I have been trying to clean closets for about the last year and a half-I get started and then something else comes along and I have not made a lot of progress. 2016 is the year to just do it! I don’t know why I keep procrastinating because I know what a good feeling it is to have everything all neat and organized and to get rid of stuff that we no longer use. I know I have gotten kind of lazy ever since I had to start wearing this ankle brace and I need to get over that-it’s not good to sit so much.
I am usually chilly in the winter months. With just the two of us in the house I hate paying to heat it all now so I keep the temp at 68 degrees when I’d like to keep it at 70 so sometimes it does feel chilly. I’ve gotten used to putting on an extra sweater or a vest and sitting under a blanket when I watch TV-so I do enjoy having the fireplace.
Yes it’s much too early for capris but you know they will start to sell them next month sometime. Heck they already are selling gardening stuff. They are always pushing the next season. I saw them selling sandals the other day-but I tend to forget there are people who can wear this stuff all year long and aren’t at all interested when they are selling winter coats and boots.
Hope you get to visit that baby and snuggle her soon.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24034

Gail and Colleen

being a hardy New Englander, this house is at 64, once in a while at 65, if Gary moans a lot…..LOL
But, we get a lot of sun on the afternoon, and it never feels that cold in here. I always have 2 layers on, and take off the top one all the time, when I do things, because I get hot. We always use a throw watching TV at night, like everyone else….LOL
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#24038

Hey Gail
loved that song with Piper. I am like you, I love to hear them pronounce their words funny. It is just so cute. When they grow up, and learnt he right way, we start to lose them as little ones. Sad.
Gary is rooting for the Panthers, because he does not want Manning to win the Super Bowl. Yes, we will be watching, but not with the usual enthusiasm….LOL
My living fishie is sad. He is staying in the corner of the bowl that was next to the missing bowl. Changed his water last night, and it is just not the same as funny fishie. Tried to play with him, and he went to the bottom of the bowl. Somehow when he dies, it will not be sad at all. LOL
I sent the fishie obit to my old uniteers at work- they were hysterical, and said they missed me. I do not think they laugh anymore, like we used to. That is very sad. They are all under a tremendous amount of pressure.
I learned over the years, to wear the sensible shoes real quick. Even if I had on pretty shoes, they were always comfortable. I had this thing that I only bought shoes at the end of the day, when your feet were a little swollen, to make sure they fit. It any shoe was uncomfortable, I did not buy it. I was always big on comfort….LOL
Glad Greg’s foot is feeling better.
Men are weird with how they think. I look at Gary, with the thing s he comes up with, and wonder where his brain went. They have such strange ideas of what is really being said. I laugh a lot around here!
Hope your day is going well.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#24041

Hi Colleen
I think chicken soup is always good. She can heat up the leftovers for herself later, and there is nothing in there that would give the baby gas. I always opt for soup. It seems to be the safest thing. or, some chicken dish or casserole. Some pudding for desert is good to, because of the milk in it for their bones.
I can’t wait to hear about your visit with Danyielle and the baby. I bet you are chomping at the bit to get over there! You are right to wait until the rest are gone. Good idea.
I check Heather’s feet every day, and have threatened to send her home if I do not like her footwear for work….LOL The poor thing. The bruising keeps changing every day. She really hit the pavement hard. I told her those glasses that she thought caused the problem, probably took a lot of the impact, and saved her head from a huge concussion. The bruising has moved down her face to almost her chin. yesterday, it was at the sides of her mouth. I have never seen anything like it. A face and the pavement are not supposed to meet. I keep telling everyone that is why I do no go out when I see anything on the ground. You never know when you will hit a tiny patch that knocks you on your butt, or worst. Like Heather did, face first. Unfortunatle, she cannot stay home. She has to learn to be more aware, and look carefully down, instead of just running along. She is so embarrassed, as everyone is asking what in the hell she did.
I sent the fish obit to my old friends art work- my uniteers, I call them. they are all laughing.
Gary does not want Manning to win the Super Bowl, so he is rooting for the other team….LOL
Hope your weather is good- it is a little warmer here. Supposed to get snow on the weekend, but they keep changing the reports.
Adele

[Colleen]

#24271

Hi Gail,
We have the furnance set at 68 but we use heaters throughout the house. We have the ones that you do not have to worry about them catching things on fire. They are the Eden Pure. They really keep the house warmer. I still freeze though. I do not know what I will do when they stop working. I will be in trouble.lol
I will plant some milk weed if we can find it. I did not know that it attracted monarch butterflies. That is interesting information. We are trying to get more fruit trees planted this year also. We have apple trees we also want peach and cherry trees. We got apples off our trees this year. Hope that they are much better next year.
I hope that the snake will work. It is bad news to have a cardinal banging on the window. I do not know what keeps that bird alive. You would think that he would be out of his little bird brain by now. Hope that this works for you.
I worried about Danyielle breast feeding and now she has stopped. The baby was not getting enough nourishment so she is bottle feeding her now. She had trouble with Owen also. Little Aliza is happy though so that is all that counts. She has to take her to the doctor tomorrow so they can weigh her. They want to make sure that she is doing okay.
It is hard to clean closets. It seems like the stuff has been in there this long why bother it. I guess that it just means that we do not need that stuff anymore. It will be interesting to see what is in there. It will just be nice if it is done and then will not have to worry about it again. We just got all of our Christmas decorations put away. This is just the things that we had inside. We still have to take the lights down that are outside. Can you believe that those lights are still working. Ron put them up right before Thanks giving and they are still burning. We are waiting if they will still be lit on Valentines day. It will be interesting to see. They are the ones that we bought from Bethlehem Lights. Those are the best lights that we have ever bought.
It is hard to believe that they are selling flowers right now. I am not sure about buying things from them. Some people have luck buying from them and others do not. I have not bought anything from them. Have you bought anything form them? I know that the pink grass did not grow right.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24273

Hi Adele,
Poor Heather. I bet she looks like a mess. That is terrible that she hit her face on the concrete. I do not blame you for checking her shoes in the mornings. You do not want her to fall again. I hope that she is wearing better shoes that works in snow and ice. We have to watch our kids all the time.
Danyielle found out that she cannot breast feed the baby. The baby is not doing well with it so she is on the bottle now. She has to go to the doctor tomorrow and have her weight checked. So she tried but she did not have luck with her son either. So we can take anything that we want now. We are going tomorrow to see her and the baby. We have not seen her for awhile. All her company has slowed down now. So we should have the baby to ourselves.
I can imagine that all of your friends from work really had a good laugh from that. They probably need a good laugh. That was really funny. I hope that the mourning period is about over am not sure how long you should wear black. Never knew anyone that wrote an obit for their fish.lol If you do not have fun and laugh if is a boring life.
We have not gotten any snow but we are supposed to get more rain. We really do not need it right now but we are going to get it anyway. Just hope that it does not get as bad as it did right after Christmas. Those poor people have just got their businesses up and running again. The ones who live in the houses that were flooded are still not cleaned out yet. The weather got so cold that it did slow things down a little. I cannot imagine cleaning up after all of that mess. I just feel so sorry for those people.
How are you guys doing there. Can you and Gary get around? I figure that they will clean your roads a lot faster then they do ours. Were the kids out of school for any amount of time. With just the little bit of snow that we had our schools were closed tor three days. It was slick on the roads though. We have too many country roads and some of them are gravel. We were lucky that they paved our road. When we moved here it was gravel.
We were not rooting for any team this year. Ron did watch the game. He will watch the super bowel so he can see the commercials. Well that is what he is telling me. lol I am not choosing a team this year. I do not know that much about either team. I was wondering if Manning will retire this year. He is getting older. He is still a good foot ball player.
Did you watch the Quacker show today? I have not seen it but do have it on the dvr. Will watch it after Ron goes to bed. Then i do not have to listen to his commentaries. I have not watch the Chew yet either. It was funny yesterday. That guy that was on there was funny. Cannot remember which brother he was. I cannot remember how to spell the name and am not going to try it.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night. Do not forget about the Quacker shows that will be on tomorrow. One will come one at 4am your time. That one is on the regular qvc do not know which ones will be on qvc plus.
Have a good night.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#24282

Hi Colleen,
I hope Danyielle isn’t too disappointed about not being able to nurse. Some people just don’t have enough milk but it’s good that she at least tried with all the extra immunities that the breast milk gives the baby. They can tell really early on if the baby is not getting enough milk so everything will be just fine and now you will be able to feed the baby too. I’m glad that things have quieted down over at their house. It’s nice to see everyone but it’s exhausting too. I hope the weather stays good so that you can get over there.
I think you will be able to find monarch seeds as there is a big push right now to save the monarchs since their habitat is so threatened by farming and building. The caterpillars only eat milkweed and the butterflies need the plants to lay their eggs. The population has decreased dramatically so there is a big push to save them from extinction. My sister gave me the seeds last year and if I can’t find them in the stores this year I will get some online.
I have bought stuff from Cottage Farms but I will not again as their stuff never does well. I don’t think we have gotten anything from Robertas but I have decided it is not a good idea in general to buy plants from home shopping. You can get the same things for cheaper elsewhere I think.
We still have our battery operated lights up too. We are waiting for the batteries to wear down as I don’t want to store all the batteries. I think ours are probably from Bethlehem lights too. They might make it until Valentine’s day.
Mr. Bird is out there banging away again. I wish he’s get a new hobby!
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24284

Hi Adele,
Maybe you could have a new career writing animal obituaries. I’m glad your old work buddies got a chuckle out of it. They probably miss your comic relief at work. You are right it is a stressful job-you’re holding the fate of some children in your hands.
I hope that Heather is doing better and won’t need surgery on the nose. I got my nose broken with a baseball bat when I was three. They never did surgery but the doctor told my parents that somehow when I cried the bones moved out and if you pressed the sides of my nose on the upper part when I cried it would move the bones back in-so for the next three years whenever I cried someone would jump up and grab my nose. How’s that for breaking the mood? I always said I was never able to throw a proper tantrum from about three to seven years old. It’s probably scarred me for life. lol
What will be on the menu at your house for Super Bowl day? Sometimes we will just put out a bunch of appetizers and that will be our dinner-I love doing a snack night.
I wonder if The Chew will do football munchies next week. Clinton’s been gone a long time. I miss his “drinking and crafting.”
Did you watch the Quacker shows. They did have a couple of new shirts. Did you ever figure out if you get QVC+on your cable. Otherwise I guess you could watch Chicks Night In online. Gosh the young people watch all sorts of things on their computers and even their phones. I really have not gotten into that but it’s a good option if you miss something that you really wanted to see. I think us older folks like to see things on the bigger screen of the TV.
They always say that you should shop for your shoes at the end of the day when your feet might be swollen so you were ahead of your time in doing that. My new favorite comfort shoes are the Skechers Go Walks-they don’t have the greatest arch support but they are soft and don’t press on my bunions-so there’s the trade off. Now I know why the old ladies used to cut holes in their shoes for their bunions-man when something presses on there it practically cripples you with the pain. My Mom had her’s fixed surgically but I’m trying to avoid that for as long as possible.
Aren’t you glad that we’re going to be sending a bit warmer temperatures your way in a few days-thank you very much. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24286

Hi colleen
I totally forgot about the show yesterday, and hope I can remember the show today. I tired to get that pretty new Anchor shirt, and missed my size already. Tillie called me last night, and said we missed the show- she caught the last few minutes of it. I think it is on for 2 today.
Breastfeeding is not easy. They do check the baby’s weight all the time, because nobody knows how much they are actually eating. Heather was the only one who was successful at that. Stephanie did feed both boys for a while, but stopped too. It will be easier on one way, but now she has to clean all the bottles. At least other people can feed the baby now. I bet you are already on your way to her house. I hope you have a great time with Danyielle and the Itty Bitty. I love the smell of a new baby….LOL
the roads and driveway are all clear here. We had a warm up yesterday and the day before, so a lot melted. the storm they were talking about moved more out to sea, so that is good too.
Hetaher has been trying to cover the bruises with makeup. She had to go back to her doctor yesterday, a snow she has an ear infection too. the doctor said it was not caused by the concussion/ broken nose. But, I honestly feel her sinuses took such a bow, I am sure it had something to do with it.
I loved the recipe son the Chew yesterday. I copied 2 of them- the quiche and the meatloaf ones. it was a good show.
GAry is hoping Manning will lose. he is still pretty sad about it….LOL
Hope you have a great visit today. You have waited a while to have it, and I hope the baby is awake, so you can play with little Aliza.
Have a great day!
Adele.

[adele shanbar]

#24288

Hi Gail
I read the note to Colleen- I did not know the Monarch butterfly was endangered. How sad is that???
I hope she doe snot need anything further too. Hetaher went to her doctor yesterday, and now has an ear infection too. Although the doctor said it is not connected, I honestly feel it is. Your sinuses are all connected, and she took such a whack in the face. Faces and concrete do not do well together. You know, she always laughed at me, with my fright of going out with anything on the ground. Nobody is laughing at me anymore.
That is hysterical about you when you were little. the tantrums would have definitely stopped. They stunted your emotional growth!!! You can now feel free to tantrum all you want, to make up for it.
I cannot believe that crazy bird is still at it. Collen wrote something about a snake solving the problem, but, I did not get it. What piece did I miss?
Colleen is probably snuggling the baby, even as we speak. I bet her and Ron are having a ball.
I missed yesterday’s Quacker show, but will not miss it today- it comes on right after the Chew. I have to get my butt in gear, and vacuum, so I will be ready for my 2 hour TV watching….LOL
Thanks for the warmer weather- I may be bale to get out and get my hair done….yahoo!!!
Not sure what we will do for munchies, as you know who only likes pigs in a blanket.
Adele

[Anonymous]

#24296

On last nights show they kept mentioning the TSV for 2/26. If anyone is interested the number is A277726 for advance orders. It is a vest and skort set.

Some of our snow is slowly melting. It is good because if it melted to fast we would have flooding. Only thing what melts during the day freezes again overnight. My walk is clear and it is clear where I walk at work. He won’t let me venture out around the mill where it is slippery or muddy.

[adele shanbar]

#24302

Hi Sue
So glad your snow and ice is melting. It seems like we are being spared this year, and all my Quacker friends are getting it all.
Thank you for the number for advance orders.
I got the pretty heart shirt today, and the one with the tulips all down the front. I was also able to get the pumpkin shirt I missed last year. I was thrilled when I saw the sizes are back in stock. As we all know, if you wait until the Fall, it will be gone again. So, I am all set for Fall….:LOL
Hope you have a good night- stay safe when you walk to work.
Adele

[Colleen]

#24307

Hi Gail,
She is handling it okay. They told her that it does not always work out when breast feeding. They took the baby to the doctor today and she is gaining weight. She is finally over her birth weight. That is what they were waiting for. Aliza is just so sweet. I held her the whole time that we were there. She slept the whole time. We tried to wake her up but she would just go back to sleep. It was really nice because there was no one else there. After Kevin goes back to work I am supposed to go back up there and spend the day with Danyielle and the baby. We may go out to lunch and take the baby out for the first time. She is just so tiny. She just snuggles up to you when you are holding her. She has a good disposition. She did smile a couple of times while we were there. I did get to feed her. She never opened her eyes the whole time except when I burped her. She was being stubborn.lol They thought she was worn out from having to go to the doctor. Danyielle showed me the babies room and it is really cute. She painted the walls a lavender color. Her crib will turn into a toddler bed at first and then they can turn it into a twin bed. It is really cute. I really liked the color. She said that she did not want to do everything in pink. I do not blame her it is good to have more color in their lives. She has always marched to a different drummer.
Ron is watching the news again tonight. He keeps coming in here to me to complain about what is going on. I keep telling him to stop watching it and watch something else. I really think that he likes to complain. He is going to drive me crazy if he does not stop. He also messes me up while I am trying to post to you.
Are the seeds called monarch seeds or milk weed? Maybe I am looking for the wrong seeds. We will look again and see if we can find them. It may be too early to find the seeds right now. It would be a shame if they all died out. Hope that it works.
I just wonder if those plants work better in the area that these guys come from. I cannot remember where Cottage Farms or Robertas have their green houses. Do they live in a warm climate and then come to QVC to sell their flowers.? I think that it is better to buy from green housed in your area. Ron has bought flowers from catalogs and not had much luck with them. So we have learned our lessons.
That is terrible that your nose was broken at such a young age. Do you have any problems with it now or is it fine? It is unusual for a little one to have a broken nose. I guess if you get hit in the face with a bat that would make a difference. Was it a sibling that hit you are just another kid?
Well that is about all from here. Have a good evening.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24310

Hi Adele,
The baby slept the whole time we were there. Even when I fed her she kept her eyes closed. The only time that she opened her eyes was when I burped her. She is such a good baby. We took a lot of pictures but not one with her eyes open. Will try again the next time we go up there. Owen was at school so next time we will stay until he comes home. I want to get some pictures of the two kids together. He gets jealous of the baby once in awhile but he is really good to her. HE helps to feed her and change her. I think he just gives his mom diapers and that is about it. That is helping though. She is just so tiny. She is in new born clothes and cannot wear clothes that are 0 to 3 months. So they had to go out and buy her somethings. She may be like her mom and not grow very tall and will wear her clothes for a long time. That would be great if she does.
She had to quit the baby was not gaining weight. So now that she is taking the bottle she now weighs over her birth weight. So the doctor is happy with her weight. So she does not have to come back for a month. Then she starts to get her shots. That is a horrible time. At her baby shower she got a bottle washer and a thing that heats the water for her bottle. So it is never too warm and or too cold. I had never seen either of those things before.
That is nice that your weather is better. Glad that it is starting to melt. Maybe you will be able to get out again. It is warmer here now then it was. So we are supposed to get more rain. Just hope that it is not as extreme as it was before. A lot of the people that got flooded have not got it all cleaned up. It was just so cold. Maybe they will get more done before it rains again. People had to get a tetna shot before they could go in their homes to start cleaning. Some areas the sewers backed up and it was all over the place. I feel so bad for those people. Somethings that they wanted to save they couldn’t because of that. I am so glad that we do not live in an area the floods. Glad that you were not in the are where they had most of the snow.
I agree with you about the ear infection being connected with the fall. You cannot fall on your face that hard and not have problems. It is good that her nose is doing okay and she will not have to have surgery. I hope that she will feel better. That is funny that she is trying to cover all that stuff with make up. Is it working? It is hard on her to have her face bruised like that.I bet she gets a lot of questions everywhere she goes. It will all go away before long and she will feel better about the whole thing.
Have you ever tried It cosmetics? They were showing it on tv and they were saying that it is good for people that have allergies to make up. I just wondered if anyone has tried it and if it is as good as they say. I have not been able to wear make up for years and just wondered if it was as good as they say if it would be worth trying. Now that I am getting older I need something to cover up my old face.lol.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good evening.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24312

Hi Sue,
Good to hear that your snow is melting. You really got a lot of it. That is really nice that he will not let you go out to the mill. It is probably not a good idea to go wandering around out there. You sure do not want to fall. That is nice that your drive and side walk are cleared. It did not stay on the ground as long as usual. Is your weather getting warmer? It would be nice if it would stay a little warmer at night so all of that will not refreeze
Be careful out in the snow and ice.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#24316

Hi Sue,
Thanks for the heads up on the TSV. I hope that your snow all melts away and that you don’t get anymore. By the way, I purchased Gardenman’s book but have not read it yet. I have such an overwhelming amount of books to be read. I hope my eyesight holds out and I live long enough to read them all. It is my favorite pastime but sometimes I get caught up in playing the games on my tablet which can be addicting and the time just gets away from me. Keep on being careful and stick to walking on the clear dry spots. It’s so easy to fall and it just happens so quickly. Didn’t you have broken ankles at one time too-so you have to be extra cautious not to reinjure yourself. We take our ability to get around easily for granted when we are young.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24318

Hi Colleen
That is great that you had so much fun with Aliza and Danyielle. I bet she was happy to have her mom and dad there. What a great visit you had. Too bad Owen was not there at all. It is hard when they were the only one, and then an Itty Bitty arrives.
I love the color she did her room. That is one of my favorites. It must look very pretty. I hope you can post a picture for us , so we can see how cute she is.
We are all thrilled the snow is going….LOL Now, they changed the report again, and are saying we will get slushy snow on Friday.
Poor Heather has the bruises moving every day. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. She got a spot near her moth a few days ago. So, she asked me if she should massage her face!!! I told her to keep her hands off it, or God knows what bruise will move or get darker if she plays with it. She is too funny. Most of the bruising on her cheeks is gone- the worst one is near one eye, and then the funky spot near her moth that appeared 2 days ago.
Heather just came in- she said she is disgusted with how she looks. I told her it takes along time for bruising to go away, as it changes form and color for a while. It is hard when you are young, and not happy with your face.
I do not use makeup any more. I do use a tinted foundation. As I am getting older, make up just does not look right. If I put on any shadow, I do it just on the line of my eye, and even that you cannot see….LOL LOL Have you noticed that your eyelashes have disappeared????? Mine used to be long, and curly.
Hope Ron stops watching the news!!! Men get so weird about things. Gary is obsessed with news on sports.
Have a good day….make potato soup…..LOL
Adele

[Gail Norusis]

#24320

Hi Adele,
I too wonder if the ear infection is not somehow related to the blow to Heather’s nose. There used to be a makeup called (I think) dermablend that would cover just about anything. The woman that used to sell it covered up a port wine stain on her face with it. Now that I think of it I wonder if now they can take off those type of birthmarks with lasers. Good question.
Good idea-now if I want to throw a tantrum I can just say it is for my emotional growth and well-being. lol Actually, I’m not much of a tantrum girl-sometimes things tick me off but more than likely I will just stew about it.
The thing about the birds and the snakes is I guess birds are afraid of snakes so at one time Debra suggested getting some rubber snakes and putting them out there to discourage the cardinal but Greg was not too enthusiastic about hanging snakes out there. Now, however, I think he is ready to try just about anything-so I see some rubber snakes in our future.
Oh my gosh! Gary only likes pigs in a blanket for snack food! Will he eat cheese and salami and crackers? That’s pretty plain-or how about pizza rolls? Or deviled eggs? Or mozzarella sticks? I can just eat a meal of appetizers. Years ago I used to make these rye cream puff things with some sort of a cream cheese filling-gosh I haven’t thought about those in ages-I used to really like those. They were a lot of work though.
We had my crock pot staple of round steak and gravy last night. We haven’t had it for awhile and it tasted good-I saw Greg taking a third helping and taking leftovers for lunch today so he enjoyed it. It’s funny years ago he never took leftovers for lunch even when I told him to and now sometimes I still think I have stuff leftover and go looking for it and it is gone. I think before he used to pick stuff up outside for lunch and then realized it tastes better and is better for you to eat the leftovers.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24323

Hi Colleen,
How nice that you got to hold Aliza the whole time. They are so teeny tiny when they are newborns and you forget how much they sleep those first few months. I’m not sure what a bottle washer is but Jenny did have one of those things to warm up bottles. She nursed all the kids so she stored her milk in the freezer and refrigerator so it had to be warmed.
I like the idea of the lavender bedroom. I’ll bet it is really pretty. It’s good to hear that Owen is helping-even if it’s just to pass the diapers. Kids like to feel like they are part of the new baby experience.
So what part of the news is making Ron crazy? Is it the presidential election stuff or something else. Sometimes the news annoys me too but I figure there’s not much that I can do about it so why give myself an ulcer. I guess he tells you because he wants you to be as upset about these things as he is. It sounds like he and Jerry should watch together and then they could talk to each other about whatever it is that is bothering them. Greg is like me-we have enough to worry about in our own lives without worrying about some news or political things that we can’t do anything about. Greg is like a little old lady though as he likes to get on the internet and tell me what famous person died that day. I call him Doctor Doom and Gloom. lol
The plants are called milkweed. I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t have some growing naturally on your property already. They get those big pods in the fall with all those silky stuff with seeds attached to them.
I think Cottage Farm comes from Atlanta and Robertas comes from Hawaii-but I could be totally off on that. All I know is it’s better to buy plants locally-for us anyway.
My nose is fine now. I never really had any problems with it. The person with the bat was my sister. She was throwing the baseball bat up in the air for some reason and just as my Mom leaned out the window and yelled “watch out for the baby” it came crashing down on my face. That was the year we lived in Iowa which was a dangerous year for me as that was the year I burned my foot really bad. I was on a chair at the stove helping my Mom cook something and spilled a pan of hot grease right on my foot. I can remember having a huge blister on my foot and I had a scar for many many years. That was also the year I caused a flood. My parents had some friends over one night and all of a sudden they see water running down from the upstairs because me and my parents friend’s kid had gone upstairs and turned on the bathtub and then couldn’t get it turned off. When asked why we were filing the bathtub my reply was “because we wanted to dance.” Huh? I’m not sure what we were planning-maybe water ballet. Now that I look back on these things I’m thinking that maybe I needed more parental supervision during that year. It’s a good thing we moved back to Illinois and into my grandparent’s house as it obviously ” Took a village” to safely raise me. lol
That will be fun when you go back to Danyielle’s house and take Aliza for her first outing. When is Kevin going back to work? Maybe you can take her out to her first tea room.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24330

OMG, Gail
Now we know where Piper came from….LOL LOL

Our grands are more like us than we know.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#24332

hi Gail
the dinner was a success, when the hubby takes more, and them some for lunch, for sure.
here are some more Gary food rules: never eats left overs, no cheese at all, no chicken wings, no cold cuts, accept for bologna and turkey, never ate a piece of pizza, definitely no mozzarella sticks as they are definitely cheese, salad consists of lettuce only, and cucumber, no dressing, only vegetables allowed are corn, peas, and green beans. He does eat baked beans, and carrots and celery only in a soup, or crock pot dish. Oh……celery is eaten, only ice cold, and you have to cut it up for him…..as well as apples. he will not eat the skin of apples, and will not cut them up himself.
So, now you know why I am a crazy loon…..LOL LOL Too many rules on food. He wanted to gout to dinner for my birthday, and I was in a snit (remember I hate my birthday since I turned 60), so I told him I was not in the mood for his food issues at the only restaurant he will go to- the 99, and that I was going out with Nancy instead, who will eat at the places I like. So, he looks back at me sad, with that little boy face on, and says,”I will try Applebees with you.” Which, translated means……..I will try not to make “the face”, when I am not happy with my meal. So, that night, he got his fried clams (I cannot believe he eats them- they are gross), and me and Tillie had the fish and chips form the local take out. Everyone was happy, no “food faces”.
So, for the big game, I may make chili. He eats that reluctantly, with the food face on. Or, I may give up, and do take out. I, however, would love chicken wings, and spinach squares, or home made pizza. Yum, yum! We will see if Bobby will be home, as he likes just about everything. Accept zucchini.
I bet Greg is out buying up all the fake snakes. You will have to video the look on the birds face.
Hope your day is going good, and I age you a good laugh about Gary and his food. My 2 best friends are afraid to have us over for dinner, because of the food critic…..LOL
Adele

[Colleen]

#24344

Hi Adele,
I wonder why she has that spot on her face? Did she hit her mouth on the ground or does she know? That is not good to have bruises like that. It makes you look like you have been in a fight. That is uncomfortable to have the bruises. I am glad that she did not massage her face. I do not think that it would have done her any good. Hope that she is being careful and you will not have to check her feet for much longer.
Did you watch the Chew today? I like that chicken that Micheal made. I want to try that but without the Swiss chard. It would be better to use spinach for us. If it is bitter then that is not for us. I do not think that I would make the sauce either. Would have to think of some other sauce to put on top. I like the apples but not all the lemon juice. They seem to like their food really spicy or a lot of citrus in it. That is too acid in a meal. Cole slaw would taste better. They did not ask me though. For some reason they think that they can cook better then I can.lol Could it be that they are chefs? Wish I could cook like they do. They are really good.
The minute I come in here and get on the computer her turns the news on. He watches fox news all the time. Our computer is in the dinning room close to the living room. It is basically one big room. So I have to listen to some of it but can tune out a lot. I am not interested and do not like to listen to news men tells us what we should think.Then Ron gets mad and starts complaining. I keep trying to tell him all he has to do it turn the channel. It is easy he has the remote and that will make it very simple.
It was nice to be able to spend time with Danyielle and Aliza. She is such a pretty baby. It will be so nice to spend more time with her. She is so sweet. We are going to let Danyielle and Kevin have a night out and we will watch the kids. It will be nice for them to have some alone time and go to dinner. That way we can do what we want with the baby and they will not be there wanting to hold her or anything like that. We can also spend some time with Owen.
I do not know if the hair has disappeared or it has moved to our chins and around our faces. I do not have a lot of hair on my legs either. I do not know why that is but it has. My legs use to have to be shaved a lot. Now if there is a hair there it amazes me. I do not know why that happened but it did. My one daughter said that I am getting a mustache. Do you get that also? My hair is thinning on the top of my head and I am getting to be a mess. I am turning into an ugly old woman.lol Now all I need is a wart on my nose and I will look like a witch. Then I will scare all the kids away. Then it will be time to get the witch hat and the black dress. It will be like Halloween here all the time.
This stuff that they were showing is not foundation. It is just one thing and you do not need anything else on your face. When they put it on it looked really creamy. It was a little thicker then foundation. Guess I should just try it and see what it is liike.
I did not realize that Gary was that fussy about his food. That makes it really hard on you. I do not know what we will have for super bowl treats. Sometimes I cook snacky things and some times I do not. It just depends oh how Ron feels about it.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good evening.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#24346

Hi Colleen
I forgot to ask in my other post, if any of the people who were flooded are friends of yours. Not that it matters, but it is always worst when you know them. I always feel so bad when I see tragedy on TV. I start to say a little prayer for the people. As they say, there but for the grace of God, go you and I. The weather has been making such a mess out of everyone’s lives.
It is hard to figure out what she hit when she fell, accept the nose is quite clear. She had her good glasses on, and broke them completely. I think they took the brunt of the fall, which could have saved her. It could have been worst. It was really weird. the first day, there was red, and a little blue around her nose, and the edges of her eyes. As the days went on, the bruising became darker, and spread. the last spot that appeared was that round bruise that seemed to settle near her mouth, and then the day after it showed up, that area swelled a little- that one is almost gone. That is also the day she went to the doctor and discovered the ear infection. It was the size of a dime.. It is disappearing, the same way it came- the eye area is the darkest still, and the rest is getting lighter, and disappearing little by little. She is embarrassed, as she looks like someone beat her up.
I copied that recipe form the Chew. It looked so good. I love what he did with the vegies, but I would have to modify the sauces, or you-knw-who would not eat any of it. I would have to do a different vegie for Gary. Everyone else would love the vegie.
I agree with you. fox news is very depressing. they are always yelling about something. I do not put them on. So, Tillie’s absentee ballot came today, (so did mine and Gary’s) and I asked her who she was voting for, and she said Trump. I told her you cannot, as you are a Democrat- this is the primary. Too funny.
I have noticed that too- no hair on the legs, or under our arms. No need for a bikini wax either…..LOL LOL So weird. I pluck the little hairs on my lip. I get 2 hairs on my chin- grey, to boot! Nobody ever told us all this stuff about aging. So, how come the guys do not lose the back hair????? LOL LOL I am pretty funny tonight.
that makeup you are talking about sounds like the tinted foundation I use when I go out. It is just enough, without looking weird on me. I hate that older woman with too much makeup look. It looks awful. This aging thing is strange. I make a lot of fun about it. That is the way I deal. If I tell Hetaher about it, she freaks out. I do not think she will “age gracefully”. Not that I look graceful at all…..LOL
I bet you will have a great time when you babysit for Aliza. Is that tomorrow? I hope the weather cooperates for all of you. Dying to see a picture!!! Have a great time, if you are going tomorrow.
you need to get ear plugs to block out Ron and the Fox news. I honestly think that news can make people nuts.
Have a good night- the Blacklist and Shades of blue are on. I love those 2 shows.
Adele

[Colleen]

#24348

Hi Gail,
It was fun to be with the baby for awhile. You forget a lot of things about babies if there has not been one around for a long time. Jenny was lucky that she could nurse. I am glad that Danyielle does not have to worry about the baby not gaining weight breast feeding. I guess that is how she accepted it. Well at least she is gaining with the formula. She is such a pretty baby. I guess that I will be bragging about her for a long time.
Every thing about the news drives him crazy. The political things and just the news in general. He can find fault in someone saying that they had to leave to get a drink of water. He just needs to stop watching for awhile. He must be reading my mind he is watching Duck Dynasty that he taped last night. I am glad to hear that.Hope that he does not change the channel again. It will be nice. One night without all of the getting angry. At least with this show he is laughing and not listening to all the hype about the news. Ron needs to do something like that. He may not get as mad about someone dying. ( movie star)
We may have milk weed around here. I have never looked for any. Will still look for the seeds so we can plant some. It would not hurt to have plant more. Would like to have more butter flies. We found some surveyors sticks on our property. We are trying to find out what is going on. We think that this guy bought up a lot of land around here so he can build a subdivision. I do not know if it will work out for him because he is asking a lot of money for the land. Way to much for the land around here. If he starts we will have to find a place to move to. That would be irritating.I guess we should have all got together and put some regulations on the land around here. Either that or we should have found out who owned it and tried to buy it from them. We all really goofed.
Oh my gosh Gail. That was a bad place to live. It is good that your nose and foot healed. It is understandable why your parents moved away from there. It was good for you there is no telling what else would happen to you. Your poor sister must have felt bad for hitting you with the bat. You caused a flood.Your mom and dad must have had to watch you constantly. You must have wanted to do a water dance. lol You were a funny kid when you were young. There was no telling what you would do. That is funny. Your poor mom.
Your dinner sounds really good. It must have been a hit with Greg. He sure ate a lot of it. It takes the guys a long time to figure out that it is better to bring things from home for lunch. Ron use to take left overs to work for lunch all the time. Once in awhile he would eat in the lunch room at work but not everyday.
Kevin goes back to work tomorrow. He was telling us that he could have taken six months off but they do not pay him for that. So he opted out on that one. The baby will go on his insurance after she is a month old. I do not understand why they wait that long but they do. Not sure if they did that when the kids were babies or not.
How are Piper, Kendall and Lanchlan doing. Hope they are doing good and Kendall is back into the swing of things at schools. I hope that she is having a good time in school now. It is hard on her at school. I wonder why it affects some kids like that but others it does not bother at all.
That is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#24356

Hi Adele,
I can’t believe that Gary won’t eat pizza! I guess it’s because of the cheese but that’s darn right un-American lol-even though pizza is considered to be Italian-and a salad with no dressing! Yikes! You do have your hands full and I don’t envy you having to try to feed him and keep him eating foods that are good for diabetics besides.
I like that he makes food faces like a 5 year old too. You would think that he would be able to find something that he likes at just about any restaurant. So I suppose the dislike of cheese means he doesn’t eat a cheeseburger either. I would be pulling my hair out! At least what little hair I have left. I’m with you and Colleen-I can go for a month without shaving my legs now-longer in the winter when no one sees them. lol i remember my mother remarking on how the hair goes away when you get older but never thought much about it until it started happening to me. Tell Heather it’s a blessing-you have to shave less often. lol
Speaking of Heather-did she break the frames of her glasses and the lenses-or just the frames. I would be pissed about that as glasses are so expensive now a days. I’ll bet it is embarrassing for her to be going on calls being all bruised up like that-especially as most people would jump to the conclusion that someone had hit her. I think I would think up some wild story like I got trampled by a herd of elephants or something-just to make it more interesting-see what she thinks about doing that. lol
That’s funny that Tillie forgot that it was a primary and that she was a Democrat. I can never vote in primaries as I am not declared as a registered anything. However this year I wish I could vote in both primaries as both Sanders and Trump scare me. I guess I would be voting to keep people out rather to put someone in as there really isn’t anybody who makes me feel that good-kind of like going for the lesser of the evils. I wish I was a kid again when I thought about politics in very concrete forms of black and white and then you grow up and realize that it is all shades of gray and a lot more than 50 lol and it seems like everyone has their own private agenda which you may or may not agree with. Okay-that’s all I will say.
I was a naughty little kid wasn’t I? I didn’t mean to flood the house…lol We just wanted to dance!
I’m watching the Today Show and they are pairing Girl Scout cookies with wines. Good thing I saw this as I just bought ten boxes from Kendall so now I know what wines to drink with them. lol
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24358

Hi Colleen,
Oh yes-those talking heads on Fox news like to get people all riled up-I think that’s their goal. I never watch them as i think it has gone from pure news to propaganda. I get up in the morning and get my news on the Today Show and then don’t watch any news after that. If i want to check on the weather if a storm is coming or something I will just put on the local Rockford news to check for that. I’m glad that Ron decided to break it all up with some Duck Dynasty-at least that could be funny watching their antics.
Okay now I know what you are talking about from It cosmetics. You can always ask me as I have tried just about every cosmetic known to man-in my younger days I was a cosmetic junkie-love makeup and perfume and all that girly girl stuff. I think you are asking about their CC cream. I have tried it and it has a lot of coverage. Maybe more than you want. I usually use a CC cream now for everyday stuff and if we are going out in the evening I use a regular foundation. I found a CC cream by Oil of Olay that has a lighter coverage than the It cream-I like the color and coverage and it is probably less expensive as I think I bought it at WalMart.
Aren’t you on quite a few acres yourself. We are all on 5 out here and that gives us plenty of privacy even if someone tried to build up around us. And I think you are on a lot more than that. Plus even if someone was going to build a subdivision it would probably take a long time before all the lots were sold and the houses were actually built. I would think with all your own land that provides privacy and the slowness of the housing market right now it would be a long time before you have to worry about anything. All that stuff seems to take a long time to happen. Sometimes there’s rules too that the parcels can only be sold off in like five or ten acre plots it depends on the zoning laws in your county most likely.
I wonder why the baby has to be a month old before it can be picked up by the insurance. I can’t remember how that worked for our kids either-it was so long ago.
I was a funny kid-with tons of energy and an invisible friend to boot. lol The grands are doing fine-Kendall is okay now with going back to school. Some kids just like being home where they are the most comfortable. Hey she comes by it honestly. I cried and pleaded and hid under the bed every morning so I wouldn’t have to go to kindergarten so as it wasn’t required then they finally gave in and didn’t make me go so I was a Kindergarten Drop Out-I always thought that would make a great title for a book in case it led to a life of crime or something. lol
The sun is shining and it’s in the 30’s so it’s a good day except that Mr. Cardinal is pounding on the window. lol
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24360

Hi Gail
Oh yes, Gary is a challenge, to say the least. God rest my MIL’s soul. I wish she were alive, so I could get the low down on how this all started. I have a funny feeling she may have been allergic to cheese, and cooked without it. that is the only thing I can think of because my BIL is the same way.
here is a good one……..saw the fabulous idea of doing a Quiche with a hash brown potato crust. Convinced Gary I was making one for him with no vegies, just eggs and bacon. Of course it will have cheese- I will do Swiss, because it has the least bite. We will see how this one works out….LOL I will make the one with spinach for us, that they did on the show. So, this is what I said to him…..”you love hash browns, eggs, and bacon, so lets try them together!” This one is going to be epic. One can only imagine the post I will do after this ruse.
Hetaher broke the entire pair of glasses- frame split, and I think she said the glass part broke from the impact, not sure- just know her new glasses are dead. She is wearing her old pair, when she doe snot wear the contacts. She has not worn the contacts at all since, as the glasses hide a little of her bruising. A lot of people do not believe how it happened- everyone is thinking she got hit, or had an accident. She is constantly explaining, and getting a little ticked about it. I told her it will pass, or make up a better story……” I was skiing on Mount Washington, and ran into a tree”.
The Chew just came on- they had a lady eat spaghetti with chocolate….yuck.
Gotta go watch the Chew…hope I answered everything….LOL
Adele

[Colleen]

#24375

Hi Adele,
We did not know any of the people that were in the flood. We just went to the QT station to get a soda to drink on our way home from my mom’s We do not know any of the people that work there but we did feel bad for all of them for being out of work for awhile. The Mc Donalds that was there may not open up again. They have gone thru this a few times so that is not good for them. It was just sad.
She is lucky that the glass from the glasses did not go into her eyes. That would have been a mess. She is lucky that she was not hurt worse then she was. You can really get hurt when you fall. I guess some people do not realize it. She should make up a good story and that will make them think. People can drive you crazy sometimes.
I will have to look up the recipe on their site. I did not write it down. I go on there sometimes just to get a recipe that will be easy to fix. They have been having some recipes that are easy and quick to fix. I have not watched the show from today. I did tape it and will watch it later. Ron is watching the news right now this time it s cnn. That is not much better. All they do is whine and put everyone down. I do not want to hear all of that. The things that they think have nothing to do with what the people of this country think. I do not know who I am going to vote for yet. It is too early to choose. I am not Democratic or Republican. I read what they all stand for and pick who I like the best. Sometimes it is hard to pick the right one. I will just be glad when the elections are over with. Then all this crap will stop.
You know that is not really fair. The guys just lose the hair on their heads and nowhere else. The least that could happen is nature would let us keep the hair on our heads. That is about all we have going for us. We seem to age faster then the men and lose more hair then the men. I guess it is just one of God’s little jokes. lol At least we can wear a wig and not look bad but if men wear a toupee they look a little strange. Oh well I guess we will have to live with it for the rest of our lives.
Well tonight we had bacon for dinner. Ron is getting grateful if we have any kind of a meal. He does not complain about the meals I make as much. I guess he figures that if he does he will not get another one for a while. Just fix bacon sandwiches for Gary. Before long he will be glad to eat anything that you cook. Either that or make bacon sandwiches with potato soup. That will do it. That hash brown quiche did look good though. I would like to try that one also.
We will not babysit for Aliza until she gets a little older. They will not leave her while she is so young. They also want to make sure that she eats enough and do not want to let her stay with anyone. She was talking about doing it when she sleeps thru the night. So that will be awhile. We will enjoy it no matter it happens.
Hope you enjoy your shows. I am hearing the news again tonight. Heaven help us.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24377

Hi Gail,
Ron is making up for it tonight. He is watch Cnn now. It is as bad as fox. I just want to stop watching it and go on. If I want to hear about the candidates I will read about them and then make up my mind. I am not registered as anything either. So do not vote in the primaries. I will be glad when all of that is over with. I am tired of hearing what news man is for what candidate. Who cares.
Thank you for voicing you opinion on the make up. I just want something to cover up somethings that I have developed since I have aged. It is hard to find something since I have not been able to wear it. They say that the It cosmetics is non allergenic so that is something that I need. It is hard to buy anything if you do not know. When we were younger there was not as much for people with allergies. Times are changing. I will check the cc cream out by Oil of Olay. That might work just as well.
We do live on 20 acres. But the place where he is putting up the steaks is right up against our property that is what worries us. He is asking for 100 thousand for a plot of land so right now we will not have to worry that much. Not many people are not going to give that much money mostly because they know that none of us did and we own a lot more. We will see what happens. The guy is a menace. The other night he had started four brush fires and then left with them still burning. Now he had no idea if the wind would pick up or what would happen. It could have started the whole woods on fire. We were lucky that is didn’t. The neighbors were watching them to make sure they did not get out of hand. He should have to pay a fine for doing that. He is not very responsible.
We could not figure that out either. Why would it not cover the baby as soon as she was born. I guess she is on the mom’s insurance until she is a month. I do not know but will find out when she starts getting the bills. She will tell us that is for sure. She will be upset. Insurance is not as good as it use to be. That is a shame too.
So you are a kindergarten drop out. That is funny. You could write a book about that. You could really make a good story out of that. You should write a book. I bet it would be funny. You could think of all kinds of capers that you could come up with. Your poor mom really did have her job cut out for her with you. lol I loved school when I was in the lower grades it was the older grades that I did not like. I thought that they demanded too much from us. Did a lot of skipping and that was not good. So my mom use to have trouble with me as I got older. I did not drop out though. We were told that if we dropped out of school that we would have to move out on our own. We all believed them and stayed in school. It is funny the things that we believe things like that. It was not until later on in life that we figured out that they would have not done that. They did get us all thru school though.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#24383

Hi colleen
Oh- I thought you were going to watch Aliza this weekend. But, it is something to look forward to.
What a shame about McDonalds. I love their oatmeal, and the yogurt parfait. Not to mention the McFlurry’s….LOL
the Chew was really good this week. I copied 4 recipes. The 2 for meatloaf- one you will see form the Friday show that Mario did, and the chicken schnitzel, and the quiche. I will try the meatloaf one first, as long as Bobby can get the sausage meat this week at the store.
I do not like the CNN or Fox news either. I hate all the doom and gloom, and everyone is out to get us way of thinking. It gets depressing. The regular news channels are enough. I get so sad when I see people get killed. the level of violence is going through the roof. I feel very bad t for all the unfortunate people who have to live in areas where there are daily shooting, etc. Kids an mothers should not have to live like that. That is the most important problem I feel we face as Americans. The level of poverty and violence in the cities and towns.
In the final election, I will vote for the best person for President, not necessarily my party of choice. You have to use your head in those elections. My mother said I always vote for the losers….LOL
Gary loves bacon. Of course, it would have to go with eggs and at least toast. You know all his food rules.
I hope you are not listening to the news again…….maybe you need to get a set of ear plugs. God help us, with what these men do every day.
Hetaher is coming over for a visit later, and we will have tea. So, I better get moving and do the floor swiffering…..LOL
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#24385

Gail and Colleen
That is awful about the lots being sold off next to your property line. Something like that happened to us, after we got this house. We are at the end of a cul de sac. Across it was a huge farm, and the Town said nobody could build there for 100 years. Well, the farmer died, the kids didn’t pay the taxes, and the Town sold the farm as buildable lots. We have pretty big hoses on this street, and the ones over there are huge- they go for around 800,000, and up. All are built on the 1/2 acre requirement for this Town. Not a lot of space for a house that size.
Gail you are hysterical. Have you ever run into your teachers, when you got older? I was a riot in high school. I was always sent to the Monsignor’s office. We had Dominican Nuns. We got to know each other really well. LOL
Adele

[Colleen]

#24397

Hi Adele,
I did go to the store and got the things that I need to make the chicken schnitzel. I am making the spinach instead of that other stuff. If it is a little bit bitter it will not work for us. We are not going to have the apple dressing or salad on top though. Do not know yet what I will put on top. I guess that I could make a mild gravy and not put the chicken on top of the spinach. I could just put olive oil on top of it. That would be good enough. Let me know what you think of the meat loaf. I may try that one next. Ron loves meat loaf.
I may try the quiche but Ron is not too crazy about it. Maybe sometime when my mom is here. She loves quiche as much as I do. We use to go to a tea room that served quiche but they closed. They decided that they could not make a go of it. It is so sad that tea rooms do not stay open for long around here. I love tea rooms. We are going to have to find another one.
The shootings happen a lot in down town St. Louis. People cannot just sit in their houses and not get shot. There was a little girl who was laying on her moms bed and was doing her homework and her mom was sitting there with her. They shot thru the window and missed the mom and killed the little girl. I think they said they had the wrong house. That just really makes me sick. They cannot find these guys because no one will step forward and identify the people that did it. I guess they are afraid for their families life. That is really a shame.
Moms can really make us feel good about our self’s sometimes. It makes you feel really good to know that you vote only for losers.lol I never tell my mom who I vote for unless we both voted for the same person. She gets mad at my sister because she tries to get mom to think the way she does. So mam will not talk to her at all about the elections. She will talk to me because I just listen. I know better then to argue with my mom.lol I guess that is because I am one of the youngest. My brother and I are the youngest in the family. So as we were growing up we were always wrong. We are use to it.
Tonight Ron is watching Jaws. That is not one of my favorite movies but it is better then the news. At least this is fiction. I would rather be watching a good love story. He will not watch those at all. He thinks that they are sappy. Oh well we just have different taste. The man has bad taste and I have excellent taste.lol
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night. Good luck cooking for Gary. Hope that he likes the new recipes.
There is always some jerk that thinks that he will make a killing off this land here. The only thing it is hard to find any flat land. A lot of it is down hill so he will have to fill all that in. This guy is a pain.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#24405

Hi Colleen
That is funny! I am doing the meatloaf today. I had to pass Bobby a note, saying to keep Gary in the living room when I put the meatloaf together, so he doe snot see the provolone cheese. Instead of layering in some arugalla, we are doing a little parsley. If he sees the cheese, that is it. What he does not see, he does not reject. Also, instead of layering the cheese, so you see it when you cut it, I am going to break it up a little- he will think it is the caramelized onions….LOL LOL
that is awful about that mother and child. How devastating for them, and the entire community. I cannot stand when those things happen. Children have the right to feel safe in their homes, and communities. That makes me sick. I swear, if I were younger, and could walk better, I would start a committee of people to go into these areas, and stand there while the kids play in the street, and go to school, to give them all a message that people have had enough, and these families need to be protected. I wish I had the physical ability to do that.
We watched Hallmark last night. We both love those movies. They all end with a good ending, and with all going on around us, we all need that. The Hallmark channel is like Quacker to watch….LOL
I hope that guy does not make you and Ron crazy. Maybe Gail can send her crazy bird to torture him!
It is warm here today. I went to get my hair cut this morning, before it gets colder again. It was so nice, it made you think it was time to go to the nursery for plants….LOL
Adele

[Colleen]

#24412

Hi Adele,
I made the chicken dish today. It turned out pretty good. Instead of putting vinegar and apple dressing I made a gravy to put over the chicken. I did the spinach instead of that stuff they used and it turned out really good. Ron said that he would like to have it again. So that one is a keeper. I will try the meat loaf one day this week but will use mozzarella cheese instead of the provolone. I have the mozzarella in the fridge and not provolone. I doing like they said to use what we have on hand. Ron is happy that I am watching the chew now. He likes all the new things that I am trying. That is funny that you have to have Bobby keep Gary in the the other room so you can cook dinner. It is funny that he does not know what is in the food if he does not see you put in in there. Our husbands are like kids sometimes. They do not know what things are unless we tell them. The onions will be the one thing that Ron will notice. He really likes onions so he will be glad that they are in there and not notice anything else.
I do not know if people like us going into those areas would do any good. It is going to have to be the moms and grandmas of the kids that live in that area. We could help them but that would be it. The big problem is they do it at night when everyone is in their homes and just shot thru windows. I do not know how to stop that. These gangs need to stop. It is hard to figure out what to do about any of this. I guess we have to pray for help. The best thing that I saw was when they were having all that trouble in Ferguson the one boys mom saw him out there protesting. She came and got him. He was trying to get away from her and she popped him a good one. He ended up going home with her,. More mom’s need to do that when they see their kids out there go and get them and bring them home. At least she knew that he would stay out of trouble.
I watch Hall Mark a lot. I like all the mystery shows that they have. I could not believe when Brook Shields made one. It is pretty good though. I really like to watch Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury. She is such a good actress. I hope I spelt her name right. I like the ones where she is in Cabot Cove Maine. Those are the best ones.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

#24418

Hi Adele,
Obviously Gary doesn’t know much about cooking if he thinks he is getting a quiche without cheese. lol Greg likes quiche so I have no problem there-so “real men really do eat quiche.” lol Do you remember when that book was written? I don’t even remember what it was about anymore-just that it was funny and popular. That meatloaf that Mario made did look good. Hopefully you can disguise the cheese. If anyone makes it tell me how it went when rolling it up-that looked like it could be tricky.
I had Dominican nuns in grade school and then I went to public high school. I was a good kid in school and never was sent to the office-I saved my wild side until I got to college-what can I say-like I always told the kids-it was the 60’s. lol
Speaking of Dominicans-my friend Nan had a nun doll collection-she had all the orders in their authentic attire-I would get a guilty conscience just walking into the room where they were in their curio cabinets. lol All those nun eyes staring at you! lol
That’s nice that Gary will watch Hallmark with you. I know that would not be Greg’s favorite so I don’t ordinarily watch that when he is around. I’m sure if it was a one time thing he would watch with me as he is usually on his laptop anyway but since I usually chose the programming I try to put on things that he would like and copy the things that he is not interested in. He will watch House Hunters with me since I am addicted to it. I could kick myself as I forgot that Fox had a live showing of the musical Grease last night and I forgot to even copy it. We both really like musicals so I am sad to have missed it. I just recently found a program on TBS that we watched the other night that he really liked-it’s on Monday nights (I copied it) called Angie Tribeca-it’s a cop show comedy and it has all kinds of gags like in the old movie Airplane if anyone remembers that. It’s written by Steve Carell and his wife and we got a lot of chuckles from the sight gags and the ridiculousness of it all. So that new show was a winner.
Let us know how “operation fool Gary” works out. lol
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24420

Hi Colleen,
I hope that Ron gave up on CNN and watched something fun for the weekend.
I’m thinking that there might be a lot more non allergenic makeups now-I hope that you can find something that works well for you. If you have makeup questions please remember to ask as I have tried a lot of different lines over my time watching the Q. Of course I can only give my opinion as what works for me might not work for someone else.
I doubt you will have to worry too much anytime soon if the guy is selling the lots for $100,000 plus the costs of building the house. I can’t believe he left while the brush fires were still going-they could have blown in any direction. That was irresponsible. When you bought your 20 acres was the house already on it or did you guys have it built. I know a lot of people didn’t like when their house was being built but I loved it. I loved the process of going out and choosing every little detail that would go into the house. I wish I could do it again and again except then I would have to keep selling our present house and moving. That’s just like I loved putting together everything for Jenny’s wedding-I really should have been an event planner as I have always loved doing that stuff and in high school I was always the party planner for various events. I guess because I was bossy and good at telling people what to do. lol However, I was a goody two shoes back then and never skipped-I really liked school once I got past that traumatic kindergarten year. I liked grade school and high school and looked forward to going. I didn’t mind studying and loved getting immersed in a subject and writing papers-I learned a lot on my own about specific topics that way. That’s when you really had to research something at a library-not just google it on the internet like now.
I saw that Brooke Shields was in one of those Flower Shop mysteries. Those are taken from a series of books-can’t think of the author right now but I have read some-The other series on Hallmark that is from a cozy mystery series is the one about the bakery shop with Alison Sweeny-those are written by Joanna Fluke I believe and that is a pretty big series. My Mom always watched Murder She Wrote. They were good-I’m wondering if those are from a book series too. They seem like they could be. There are so many cozy mysteries out there with so many good authors-there is a woman that has them all listed on her cozymystery.com website. It is a fun website-she has them listed by author or by theme or whatever. it’s a good place to find book selections if you like reading cozy mysteries.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

#24422

Hi Everyone,
I just realized that it’s now February (where does the time go) so i am starting a new discussion page-see you all there. Don’t forget to check the box.
Gail

[adele shanbar]

#24453

Gail, and everyone……..
You are going to love this one!
Bobby put the meatloaf together, and caramelized the onions. I hid the cheese, under the recipe, until he put it on. When the meatloaf was served, Gary promptly, tore his apart, and pulled out all the onions. he only ate the meat, with that miserable scowl on his face. I have to say, if the rest of us liked the meatloaf, he would not be walking today…..LOL
It was a little dry- Bobby thinks he cooked it a little too much, because he uses the meat thermometer, and it was not registering properly because of the onions inside. Now you would have thought it was delicious, with the beef, sausage and onion together. I think the onions absorbed the jute from the meat- they got juicy, and the meat got dry. Had that not happened, we may have liked it more. On the other hand, maybe the onions needed to be even more crispy….who knows. It will not be made again, and Gary will live to see another dinner…..LOL
I got so disgusted, I am not going to make the Quiche. Not worth the food fight.
I was the opposite. I had such a good time in school. I always had everyone laughing, even the Nuns. They laughed, as they sent me to the Monsignor’s. As an only child, school was socialization for me. I HATED snow days, as I had way more fun in school. I was a cheerleader. We had only one team, as our school was so small, we only had enough boys for hockey. All the boys played, because the team was so small. We NEVER won a game. I would try to make them all laugh, sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not. The poor boys were demoralized. they always got creamed. It was kind of sad, but they tried their hardest. Our school had 32 kids to a class, so we had a total of about 126 for the entire high school. There was nothing you could do, that was not seen by the Nuns….LOL
One night my Dad went to the parent teacher meeting. he came home very red. he said he was embarrassed, because Sister Margaret said because of me, the entire Geometry classes grade point average dropped 10 points. So, I said……”Dad, you should be proud, I am a leader.” THAT did not go over too well. It was also the year that Sister Margaret stopped talking to the entire class- she only wrote on the board. She was on strike. Of course, that made me chuckle even more. I honestly do not remember how her strike ended. Then, in college I got straight A’s. Once in a great while, I would beget a B+

Oh….forgot to tell everyone this……Marissa was on the Dean’s list for her second term in school. It was in the local paper. God bless her, she did not know. She said, “I was wondering about that”. Their grades are all sent via emails, so nobody but Marissa sees them. I told her to check the emails better, it should be on them if she makes the Dean’s list again, which I hope she does. I am so proud of her.

Hope everyone is having a good day! It is going to be 50 here today.
Adele

[adele shanbar]

#24455

Hi Colleen
Read my post to Gail on the dinner- it will not be made again….LOL Too bad, because it looked so good when they did it, and I thought it would be good.
I want to ty that chicken dish too. As the vegie is separate, it woud work over here.
Gary loves murder She Wrote. We are watching all the Post office. dead letter shows- cannot remember the name of the show….LOL We love that series. In the summer they have a nice one too that we watch every Sat night.
I saw that mother on YV here, when she grabbed her son, and took him home. I wish more mothers would do that. It is so hard to hear of all the violence every day. I get so worried for the grands growing up in this world.
How is Aliza doing? Are you going this week to see her?
Are you getting that awful storm they are talking about?
Hope you are having a good day!
Adele

[Colleen]

#24461

Hi Adele,
That is disappointing about the meat loaf. I think that I am going to try it but put some of the sauce in with the meat to make it moist. I will let you know how that turns out. The chicken one turned out really good for us. I had to change that around a little also. I guess that you have to make them your own. I am careful with some of the stuff that they use vinegar on because vinegar is not good for me to eat. That can upset my stomach for a week. Just different things like that. I do not eat real spicy things either. Have to be so careful with that stuff. I was not too crazy about the recipes that they had on today. So will not be trying any of them. Carla’s biscuits did not look too bad but they had to fry them and that seemed to be too much. I do doing too much complaining tonight. So better stop.
Good for Marissa. She should be proud of herself. I can imagine that you are really proud. Heather is probably really proud also. That is nice that they print the names of the kids on the deans list in the paper. How cool is that. She has been on it twice. She is doing really good.
The show that you are talking about is Signed seal and delivered. It is a good show. It is interesting to see how they figure out who all these people are that sent those letters and how they get them all together. It is the same writer that did Touched by and Angel. I use to really like that show also. Ron will watch once in a while but most of the time he wants to watch something else. So I do like Gail and tape it and watch it later. There is not a lot that Ron likes to watch. He mostly watches the news and westerns. I do like westerns though so it is not too bad. A lot better then the news.
Aliza is doing really well. We are not going to get to see her this week. We have things going on this week and will not make it over there. Maybe next week It will be nice to go over there and spend the day. It is hard not to go over there every day and spend time with her but they live in the city and we are not that close to them.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night.
Colleen

[Colleen]

#24463

Hi Gail,
I think that Murder She Wrote was a book to start with. That is such a good series. There is just nothing as good as a mystery. I could watch them all night long. I like to figure out who did it before the end of the show. Sometimes it easy to do and sometimes they stump me. I think that I get the love of mysteries from my mom. She reads a lot of mysteries and watches them also. Do you remember the Charlie Chan movies? He was the Japanese detective. That was really good. They have not shown those for years and I wish they would bring them back. I like when they would have his son on them.
It is terrible that the man that owns that land does not think of the rest of us who live here. It is a good thing that Ron saw that it was burning and called Joe. They did drive up there a few times to see if they were still under control. The guy has a locked gate up so we could have not gotten on the property if we wanted to. I do not know what the fire department would do. They may just let his land burn and take care of the other peoples property. I think that we should go up as a group and talk to him about it. He should know better then that. He is not going to be a good neighbor. I do not even know if he will build a house here for himself. I doubt if I think that he just buys land like that and builds houses. Ruins other peoples neighbor hoods.
We had to build the house on here. It was just land. We also had to clear it all to have a place to put the house. When we fist bought the land their was a lot of pine trees. Then we had an ice storm and most of them died. It was very disappointing because we bought the land because of the pine trees. We still have some left and we have been trying to plant more to take the place of the ones that we lost. We still have not replaced them all. We had to have our woods cleared out a little and get rid of the old trees that were dying and not good for anything. So we are in the process of replacing the trees. So we do not have any of the dead trees in there anymore. It is not as much of a fire hazard now that we have had that done.
You really had to research things when we were in school. I can remember we had to pick a country and find out all that we could about it. So we had to send for information and look things up at the library. It took a long time. Then we got pen pals from that country. It was kind of interesting but eventually we stopped writing. I guess the older we got we lost interest.
Well that is about all from here. Have a good night and will talk to you later.
Colleen

[adele shanbar]

#24495

Hi Colleen
Gary loves westerns, and any action movie, that is not scary, or about aliens. That is why I find it so funny that he loves the Hallmark channel. Very strange.
We do have to tweak our recipes, according to the people who eat with us. I have The Chew on right now. I have never thought of dipping a sandwich of mozzarella in the egg batter, and then frying it. I bet that is good. They do add a lot of fat into everything.
I am glad Aliza is doing well. Is she a good sleeper? That makes a new baby so much easier. How is Danyielle feeling?
It is a little chillier here today, but still very warm- in the low 50’s. Very strange winter, especially since we had so much snow last year.
Has Ron been glued to the election results? I could not believe that Trump did not come in first. he and all the numbers before they had the caucus in his favor. I wonder if he will change his attitude a little, because he has been knocked down a few pegs. This election is as weird as the weather.
My friend Joyce came over for coffee yesterday, and we had a nice visit. That was fun.
Hope your day is going good!
Adele

[Author]

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