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Good morning! It is a cool 63 degrees in our house. Poor DH! The forecast high for today is 70 but we are warming up to the 80s in a couple of days. We'll see if he holds out or builds a fire. Yesterday, he was working on our front porch as we need to refinish it. Lots and lots of sanding because I want to go from a painted porch to a stained/sealed look. We really should have done it last summer but I think it will get done before rainy season gets here. We did enjoy some rain on Saturday, it was lovely.
Saturday evening we attended a celebration of life for a classmate of DD2, so a young man, only 20. So very sad. He leaves behind his parents and three older siblings - one of whom is his twin sister. They don't know what happened either, he was found deceased, though the coroner has ruled out self-harm.
Jan, what a wonderful visit to the museum for your GS! To get to hold the things? Awesome! Sorry to hear your DIL's eyes are getting worse. What a hard thing to deal with. When do you head to CA?
Gracie, are you camping in Utah? You are on the go! I agree about the cookies and how hard it is to eat just one...or two...or three!
Yum to apple pie, Kathy, and I'm glad your legs and feet have been good the last couple of days. Sorry you had so much pain in bed though.
Kathy, yum to apple pie! I haven't made one in a long time! I love the crust in pies but not the filling as much. Hope your legs feel better today.
Catherine, it's a heat wave here for the next few days. Funny that we are warmer then California. The air is on due to the high humidity, but probably by next weekend we'll need the heat!
Gracie, you are so busy traveling! Good for you! Have to do it while you are young enough to enjoy it!
Off to do laundry and look at condensing more paper! Still trying to use up old designer paper before it gets too gross. Going to start making envelopes out of some of it, my envelope punch board has dust on it!
Happy October 2, everyone! My favorite color is October. I think that's a quote from Anne of Green Gables.
Scott is back today, working on my front porch. Most of yesterday was spent making the steps off the porch. Those are fiddly to do and Dave, the contractor, did an awesome job. All that left is the railings, I believe. As at my previous house, I am the highest house on the block and with the new porch, I feel like I'm Queen Elizabeth, waving from her balcony or Marie Antoinette...let them eat cake.
I'm picking up Mirren from school today because Scott is going with friend Michelle to put down Chloe the kitty. Chloe used to belong to Liz and Scott but when they moved, Michelle took care of Chloe and she was so much happier being an only kitty that Michelle kept her. Liz and Scott would still watch Chloe when Michelle was gone. She has a tumor in her mouth and now is bleeding. Liz spent some time with her yesterday, cuddling her and singing to her. She was always a diva, kind of snarly, but they're all very sad.
I'm sorry about your daughter's friend, Catherine. How awful. And regarding Scotcheroos...I guess I would still eat them without the chocolate on top but I sometimes cut off the chocolate and eat that separately. Crazy because I'm not a chocoholic....but I do love that topping. Too much chocolate can lead to kidney stones but it will be easy for me. I doubt my kidney stones were caused by chocolate. I still remember going to a WW meeting long time ago, the leader was talking about measuring strawberries, must measure them whole, not cut up. A friend leaned over to me and said 'I didn't gain weight because of strawberries.' I could barely keep from laughing out loud. Strawberries are another thing that can cause kidney stones. Everything in moderation, Jean.
Gracie, I hope you share some pics of Utah. Never been there. Hey I'm liking that new glue thing very much. I might become a liquid glue fan.
Kathy, so good to hear you are feeling better. Apple pie or apple anything sounds great. Maybe apple crisp is in my future. I do have some apples from an orchard. I like tart apples best.
Jan, you're heading west soon. I'll wave as you fly over. If your grandson ever gets to Canada, tell him he must go to the dinosaur museum in Alberta. Even if you're not into that, it was fascinating.
I just watched a movie on Acorn called The Lost King. It's based on the story of the woman who found King Richard III in a car park in Leicester. Really a good movie. I like Sally Hawkins.
Well gotta go. Take care everyone.
__________________ Jean Bean the Dancing Queen "You can play a shoestring if you're sincere." -John Coltrane
My left leg and foot hurt today and so does my lower back. So what's new? It seems I have a good day or two and then a bad one. I sure hope the doctor can figure out what the problem is. I sometimes wonder if I'm allergic to the titanium because my back itches at times. You would think they would test for that if that's a possibility before they do any surgery. And I'm not sure exactly what they could do at this point. I don't even want to think about that.
Good morning! It got up to 67 degrees in the house yesterday! We are warming up again though.
I am receiving birthday cards, thank you! I have received cards from Sharon, Kathy, Jayne, and Jan, and the mail preview says I will receive one from Shirl today. Thank you, ladies! I have them sitting on my counter waiting for Saturday.
Today I have an all day meeting...yay...not.
Yay for work on your front porch, Jean. We're both having our front porch worked on though ours is simply getting sanded and then we'll stain/seal it.
I'm sorry about the kitty, it is hard to lose fur family.
And I chuckled about your WW meeting story with the strawberries! LOL
Kathy, I'm sorry your leg and foot were hurting yesterday, hoping they feel better today. And, for the record, I don't feel like you complain very much at all! Sending you hugs.
Yesterday my brother in law said that he saw several dead snakes on the road in front of our place. He said they were copperheads, which are poisonous. I took a walk down this morning with my phone to take a picture. There were three or hour baby snakes at different sections of the road, however, they are not copperheads. I'd guess garter. Google lens says possible brown snakes but the are smashed on the road so it s really hard to get a good picture. But the best picture I got shows me it is definitely not a copperhead. I even googled baby in case there was a big difference between the babies and the adults.
Good morning! Well, yesterday was a LONG day (I had an all day off site meeting from 10-5 pm though we went closer to 5:20). I stopped at DD1's Starbucks store on my in to get some reinforcement...lol. It was the first time I had been in there since I had my hair cut short and they were so sweet in reacting to it and telling me they liked it. One of DD1's co-workers came around the counter and gave me a hug. Such wonderful people working there!
I forgot to tell you that I had my eyes examined on Monday after work. I don't remember when I last got them checked, it has been YEARS. In a couple of weeks I should have my first pair of corrective glasses that I've had since my 20s. I wore glasses from kindergarten to my 20s and then my eyes just got better. Well, now they are declining again so prescription glasses for me.
Kathy, I'm so glad those weren't copperheads out there! Are copperheads native to PA?
Good morning! Well, yesterday was a LONG day (I had an all day off site meeting from 10-5 pm though we went closer to 5:20). I stopped at DD1's Starbucks store on my in to get some reinforcement...lol. It was the first time I had been in there since I had my hair cut short and they were so sweet in reacting to it and telling me they liked it. One of DD1's co-workers came around the counter and gave me a hug. Such wonderful people working there!
I forgot to tell you that I had my eyes examined on Monday after work. I don't remember when I last got them checked, it has been YEARS. In a couple of weeks I should have my first pair of corrective glasses that I've had since my 20s. I wore glasses from kindergarten to my 20s and then my eyes just got better. Well, now they are declining again so prescription glasses for me.
Kathy, I'm so glad those weren't copperheads out there! Are copperheads native to PA?
Yes, copperheads are native to PA, but usually in other areas. I've never seen one here. I just took BIL's word because he's a climber/hiker and used to work with the boy scouts. But a Google search showed they are not copperheads. I will show my search to my sister but her husband may still not believe me. I understand why my niece is so dramatic now. She got it from her dad!
That's too funny, Kathy! We haven't figured out where DD1 got her dramatic tendencies but she'll say or do something and we'll often respond, "Hyperbole much?!"
DH & I went apple picking at my sister's today. We picked a lot, but their trees are pretty loaded, so we left way more on the trees than we picked.. We left a couple of boxes ready for Bob to use. Now I have applesauce cooking in the slow cooker.
Ann, it's really simple.
6 large apples, peeled, cored & cut into about 1" pieces
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix all together in slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
I use more than 6 apples -- basically fill my crock pot, but use the same amount of water & lemon juice. I've made it with or without cinnamon. It cooks down a lot & you can leave it chunky or blend it if you want. I use an immersion blender in it.
I peel and core my apples, add a little sugar and cinnamon and cook them down until they are soft. Then I run that through my food processor to make it extremely smooth . When I volunteered at the hospital everyone begged me to make it each fall. I don't like store bought applesauce but love the homemade.
I'm making my hobo stew on Saturday night. It's basically vegetable soup. The reason we called it hobo stew was when we first started making it we would have people bring cans of different vegetables and as they came they would just open their can and dump it in the pot. We always started the pot with some beef, sometimes hamburger, and some cabbage because the cabbage took longer to cook. Now I just make the whole pot myself. We have a turkey cooker. Just a big kettle that comes with its own heat system that you hook up to propane. So I cook the beef in a slow cooker to get it good and tender. I cook it with Lipton Onion soup mix and beef broth and then I add more of that when we move it over to the big pot. I actually cook things in a granite canner. It's the kind you do open kettle water bath when you're canning. I don't like to use the aluminum pan that was part of the turkey cooker because of the tomato juice I add. Tomato juice stains those aluminum kettles.
I always peel, core and dice mine, then cook on the stove top with cinnamon and sugar to taste. The kids like it a bit chunky. But I love the idea of using the crock pot to have it warm! I do like mince cold though.
Kathy, that stew sounds yummy! I used to make my roasts that way using lipton onion soup mix, adds so much flavor.
Nope, no sugar. I've used apples from our tree and my sister's, and they are sweet apples. I don't know if it would be sweet enough if you used granny smith or some other tart apple. But I know you can buy applesauce that has no sugar added and it's sweet. Our tree doesn't get sprayed, so the apples are wormy, which makes it a lot more work getting them peeled and cut up, but they make great applesauce or pie. I've also used them in muffins, etc. You can also mix different types of apples in it as well. I love using the crock pot, since once the apples are in there, you don't have to pay any attention to it at all. Win!
I am caught up with reading this thread- so love to hear what everyone is up to!
Catherine- so sad to attend a memorial for a 20 yr old! I have a friend in Ky that had a son doe a few years ago- 23... he only son- ended up being a blood clot! So very sad! How wonderful it has to be to go to DD1's place of work and have (old) co-workers hugging you! Sweet!
Jan- love your stories of your GS and dinosaurs! My son was so into dino's when he was young- and it is really cool to see him engage at the nearby dino museum now! Will pray for your DIL's eyes!
Kathy- yum on the apple pies! I can smell the delicious smell in the air just thinking about it! I am so sorry you are still having pain issues! Goodness- scary to image copperheads close by- I have no clue what they look like! Or a gardner snake either- we used to have those alot in the childhood home I grew up in- was on a river!
Ann- I sold my envelope punch board- wish I still had it! Darn!
Melodie- will have to try this recipe- and thanks- my immersion blender is not getting packed!
Gracie- your pictures of Utah are amazing!
We will go to Grand Junction Colorado for baby #2 birth, and decided to hang out there for an extended stay! Thru all of the holidays.
Hubby finds out his fate tomorrow, he feels OK about the situation, and told me today that even if he gets cut, everyone that does will work until the end of the year.... Oh yuck!
We went to Chicago tonight and saw the Lehman Trilogy- three hours L-O-N-G!!! We stopped at Katies first- made a quick batch of taco's! It gave me the opportunity to go thru the refridge and clean it out. I took her a random bag of food......... Traffic was terrible going in and at 11:30 PM heading out of the city!
Good morning! Yesterday my oldest brother called so I took the opportunity to check with him about a possible surgery he might be having if the doctor board & insurance approve. He has Parkinson's and his doctor thinks he is a good candidate for some sort of brain surgery where they go in and do some adjustments that help with the tremors. I'm praying he gets approval. One of the doctors wanted him to try some different medication so he is doing that but his doctor doesn't think it will help.
We had our small group meeting last night and I made scotcheroos (minus the choc/butterscotch topping) for the sweet snack. So tasty!
Yum to the discussion of applesauce. Melody, my brother's apple trees were extra loaded with fruit this year too.
Kathy, what a fun soup idea. We make what we call hobo pouches on the grill putting in chopped veggies and seasonings. So tasty! We actually put a veggie burger in there too. It is all wrapped up in foil and then put on the grill.
Yes, you can definitely buy unsweetened applesauce because that is the kind we buy! And it tastes fine...not as good as homemade, but OK.
Shelly, I'm praying they can find the cause of death to give his family some closure about what happened.
What a fun trip and fun time you have ahead, Shelly! As for Ray's work, praying things work out for the best.
Oops, there goes my alarm and I haven't finished my coffee!
I have a question maybe someone can answer. I think I know the answer but not sure. I was subscribed to a YouTube channel watching some judge Judy episodes. All of a sudden I cannot find any of those videos, not even in my history. Do you think that person was banned for maybe posting videos without permission?
Good morning, all! I closed my windows, chilly here. Of course we all need to toughen up a bit. In the spring, the temp could be what it is today and I'd have the windows wide open. It's 51 here. I'm thinking I should ask my son in law if they ever turned on the furnace to make sure it works.
Daughter Liz is in St. Louis for an OCD conference, SIL Scott worked yesterday so I picked up Mirren from school and spent the evening with her and Clare until Scott got home at 10 pm. First thing we did is head to Walmart to buy a particular Barbie that Mirren wanted to buy with her birthday money. Clare had a little spending money too (she is not as frugal as Mirren) so she bought a small Lego set. i love Legos like she does, although she is better at putting them together. Then we went to Hmong Golden Egg Roll for dinner. Yum. I haven't been there in a long time. Then we came home, Clare put her Legos together, Mirren was happily playing with the Barbie. Eventually Clare and I snuggled and finished watching The Little Mermaid. It was a lovely night. I sure love those girls, they're so much fun. Loud but fun. It was so cute....when I got home with Mirren, Clare was already home from school and she ran outside to hug Mirren. They definitely have their sisterly moments, good and not so good. It's lovely to get to know them better. When I got them moving along to get ready for bed, Clare snuggled in with a book and Mirren and I did word searches and she poured out her heart, telling me she didn't love her teacher, complaining about the boys in her class, she doesn't like her new music teacher this year, says they sing baby songs (I agree with her). She generally loves school but apparently this year is a challenge.
Scott told me last night that they are probably going to skip the back porch for now and get started with the siding. I'm thrilled with that, was hoping that might happen. He's never sided a house so he needs some help/instruction. Now that I have a safe way to get into the house in the front, I can live with the porch in the back until next year. Cross your fingers for me.
Not sure what I'll do today...I told Scott I could help with the girls this weekend since he's solo parenting. It's good for him to do that; Liz does it all the time.
BTW my mouth is watering with all the talk of food....I still have fond memories of my Grandma's homemade applesauce. Soups and stews and apple pie, oh my. i need to make apple crisp, I like that better than pie.
Shelly, you are about ready to head west. Hope everything with the baby and your grandson goes well. I can't believe how long you'll be gone.
Gracie, post some pics of Utah please.
Gracie and Catherine, your cards are in the mail. I am constantly putting cards in the mailbox for my postal carrier to pick up. I wonder if he's surprised at the amount I send.
Kathy, is that a walking stick? I hope you're feeling better.
Well, gotta go do nothing. See ya.
__________________ Jean Bean the Dancing Queen "You can play a shoestring if you're sincere." -John Coltrane
Jean, it's a praying mantis. We are just starting to see them as temps cool down.
My beef is in the crockpot and I have vegetables and cabbage in another crockpot. We still have AC units in the windows. I took them out too early last year and regretted it. I've been turning them on at night and turning on my electric blanket! Once I climb into bed I turn the blanket down low but it feels good to climb into the heated bed.
Got home last night, we had a 40 minute delay in the mountains as it was one-way for several miles and they were repaving the road. Oh well, made it home safely! I'll post photos as soon as I have time to download them from my phone to computer. I'm not real computer savvy.
Off to clean out the trailer and do laundry!
I read all the chat and now I'm hungry!
__________________ Judy aka Gracie "Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud." Maya Angelou
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Hi everyone! A quick break in house cleaning to check in here. When I was talking to my oldest brother on the phone, he said something about I'd better agree with him or he would have to come down here and straighten me out. Whatever we were talking about, I did agree with him but then said, "On second thought, I don't agree with you at all. You better come down here and straighten your little sister out!" He shouldn't make such good offers, he might find me taking him up on them! We might go up to Idaho for Thanksgiving though. It depends on if DD2 can get the time off. Yes, DH and I could go up without her....but I wouldn't! She is off work today so is helping me clean the house even though she is exhausted.
My brother and SIL are coming for lunch tomorrow but DH and DD2 are cooking. I had to think what I wanted to eat but they'll do the cooking.
Kathy, I'm guessing that that YouTube channel was deleted. Interesting that something like that would erase your history too though. And I don't know if that is true, it is just what I'm guessing.
Neat photo too.
Jean, I always wonder at how temperature - and comfortable temps - are so relative. When it first starts warming up in the spring and we think 80s are hot, I tell my family to enjoy it because in just a few months, we'll think temps in the 80s are very comfortable and wish for temps that low! LOL
Yay for siding going on and for spending more time with granddaughters!
Welcome home, Gracie! I look forward to your photos when you can share them.
Melody, I always share your funnies with my card class friends via a group text! They love them!
Catherine, I was surprised that they were deleted from my history as well. I guess once they delete that account everything is deleted. Funny thing is I have found another account now that is posting judge Judy. I am assuming it's the same person with a different name! I will keep track of this one to see if it disappears too.
I love my electric blanket! The only downside is that it seems to slide down the bed overnight. I always have to straighten it up by morning. But that doesn't deter me from using it.
It rained an inch overnight. Started again but it's to be done by noon, I hope! The hobo stew is ready to be reheated. My sister bought two tarps that we can close in a corner of the picnic pavilion if if gets windy. Not to start eating until 5:30. Also having a campfire.
Morning...I have an electric blanket for watching TV in the winter. I don't think I'd like to sleep with one. I prefer the weight of several blankets, wear socks until my feet warm up. I'm still running my fans, even though I've closed the windows. Nice and sunny today, I just walked over to the coffee shop. A little exercise but then I buy a chocolate hazelnut croissant. Woe is me, I'm my worst enemy.
The young woman who waited on me at the coffee shop lives next door to my daughter. I haven't seen or talked to her much as she is one of the oldest of 6 kids, all still live at home, but I would have known Claire (yes, another Clare but with an i) anywhere. Curly hair, a voice like the rest of her family, really nice girl. Her youngest sister Lydia had a terrible bike accident a week ago. Broke her collar bone, has a concussion, was unconscious for 9 minutes which is a very long time. Lydia is in 8th grade but she loves to play with my girls; they are always bopping back and forth between houses. Lydia belongs to a mountain bike group and she was training up in the bluffs, which in my opinion is a very dangerous place to bike. Fortunately she was biking with a coach who set her watch to time how long she was out. This could have been sooooo much worse. I'm guessing she'll still be monitored for the concussion. The collar bone is apparently being left to heal on its own, unless they decided to wait for surgery to give her time to recover from the head injury. She was wearing a helmet. The resilience of youth!!!!!
Melody, I love your sense of humor. You share some of the same things that I share on FB.
Kathy, sounds like a fun day. I think praying mantis like to eat baby birds, which I don't like at all. But they are interesting. I've never seen one...used to see walking sticks when I was a kid.
Happy World Cardmaking day, happy Thanksgiving to Canada.
__________________ Jean Bean the Dancing Queen "You can play a shoestring if you're sincere." -John Coltrane
We arrived inSF safe and sound last night , DIL upgraded our seats on the flight, had a bulkhead, three middle seats but no one came to sit with us so we could use the middle seat, good food too, took fifty minutes to park the plane after we landed, annoying as we landed on time but there was no one at the immigration , couldn’t believe it, walked straight through, had our photos taken, asked how long, where etc, our son was waiting down the road so a couple of minutes and he’d picked us up.
didn't think we would be coming as Steve had a fall on Wednesday morning, our son was emptying the dishwasher and Steve tripped over the open door, didn’t look where he was going,fell on the kitchen floor, scared the life out of us, he’s badly bruised his shoulder and face, very challenging with our luggage as he can’t use his left arm, it’s quite swollen but he says it feels a little better this morning, I told him he’s such a worry to me what with one thing and another LOL of course our son blamed himself.
we've been awake since 3am so I think a nap will be happening this afternoon.
