22 Dec

[Mick]

mae all,,how are we doing today? hope all is good with yall.Just got back from hospital....Julies dad very confused still but he is a safe place ..not eating atm but taking on fluids .Still in storm mode here ...was sleet/snow this morning ..taking the van away in the morning till Friday ...taking the car too...that way we can drive to the hospital from the site .I appreciate that my posts aint that good so apologies .Is everyone ready for Chrimbo?We are back on Friday ,weather isnt going to be that great but its a break

[Slo]

You have a good way of handling Christmas, Mick! Just get away for awhile and skip it! I hope the storm settles down for your trip.

I have a few more presents coming in the mail, as well as one that might not make it. Got most presents wrapped the other day. Just used these soft vinyl bags instead of gift wrap.

Had a nice day with Young Daughter yesterday. Now she is with her dad.

That was a good idea to give away the Christmas ham, Lav! I have stepped away from pork as well. Nice to have hearty homemade Amish food shared with you as well.

[Lavande]

Hello everyone,

Woke up to a 10 degree morning here, wow! Felt sorry for the chickens living in an unheated house e so I made them a big bowl of oatmeal & stirred in some chopped apples. They love it, Lol. It never made it up freezing today & tonight will be just as cold. But we did have sunshine all day so that was helpful to a point. Spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen air frying chicken & Sweet potato fries & baking plant based chocolate chip cookies, so good. Did you know you can replace 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree in a cookie recipe? Worked out great so I have zero cholesterol & zero dairy cookies, yum. The challenge is to not eat them all myself, haha.

Mick, I wish you & Julie a peaceful few days in the van & Merry Christmas! You know Dad will be looked after as well as possible now.

Slo, I’m still waiting on an Amazon (or two) delivery for gifts as well.
We both had no choice to to back away from ham many years ago due to the both of us being hypertensives. I used to have ham & Polish kielbasa on Christmas but not anymore. What can you do at this point? My daughter volunteers at a food bank every Sunday & she texted me that another volunteer (around my age) fell & broke her arm - badly! Several people heard the bone break, ugh. So my daughter drove her to the ER at the hospital where I last worked, said the ER was packed, ambulances were lined up waiting & the helicopter from Thomas Jefferson University hospital in the city was there to transport someone. Oh God, I am SO happy to be retired. Feel sorry for that woman though, she’ll likely be having surgery.

Hello to everyone & wishing a good night for all!
Lav

[Lavande]

Well hello to me & everyone else haha!!

It was a balmy 7 degrees this morning but sunny all day, it still didn’t make it up to freezing. Looks like we’re due for some snow tomorrow morning & possible ice - I’ll stay home.
Still awaiting one last Amazon delivery, gift for one grandson.
I hope everyone is OK. Mick, enjoy your mini-trip & I hope Dad is quiet.

Wishing everyone a nice night!
Lav

[Slo]

Hello, Lav!

I feel terrible for that lady who fell and broke her arm, while trying to do good in the world at Christmas time! It may not be a simple fracture either. Your hospital sounds as bad as Mick’s FIL’s hospital.
Plant-based chocolate chip cookies; my favorite kind of cookie! But what do you replace the butter with? Coconut oil?

PQ usually posts on Mondays, but, well -she’s on vacation!

Amazon has been delivering my gifts, with one more to go tomorrow. A couple gifts from other sources won’t arrive on time, but Amazon is trustworthy if they say it will arrive by Christmas.

We have a good amount of snow!

I have been feeling…nostalgic for my old house and life. Ex-HB & his gf have it decorated all nice for Christmas. D3 & her family arrived there yesterday…and I can’t even stop by to see the baby or Andy! Young Daughter is there with them too. D1 & D2 will arrive there tomorrow for Christmas Eve, and after Christmas, they are all going Up North together (not D2 though).
Ah well. I like a quiet life for the most part. And I will see them on Christmas Day.

I have a 2-week guest pass at a health club with a pool, and have enjoyed going swimming there three times over the last few days!

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

[Mick]

Hiya all .chrimbo eve all.hope you are doing ok. Back to the old site..it's nice to be here and watching all the steam trains too.Julie not going to the hospital today. Her nephew is going up today instead. We are going tomorrow and then a quick zoom round to Julie's sister-in-law. Weather here is very drizzly but actually it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Got a message from the camera company that I am dealing with and buying the new one from they are closed from tomorrow until the first of January so I will get it after that taking a nice steady relaxing day-to-day hope everyone is doing well

Hiya slo how are you doing today? Concentrate on today the present and try not let your mind wander backwards the past cannot be changed the present and the future is what counts I hope you have a lovely Christmas

Hiya teegee how are you today then ? hope all as well I probably will be listening to the King's College Choir in fact I got a message from an old friend of mine who was head chorister the same time as me in Edinburgh just wishing me aMerry Christmas he is currently I think the head of the Scottish chamber Orchestra but has done lots of things music wise as well . hope you have a lovely Christmas take it easy and get some rest stay away from the shops


Hiya ppqp how are you doing? Hope you are getting better .are you doing anything over Christmas? No matter what you are doing have a lovely time

Hiya pie how are thingswith you today then? Hope all is well over there does the animal fostering get busier over the seasonal periods like now? Take time for yourself wishing you all the very best

Hiya lav how are you doing? All set for xmas?are you doing the cooking this year? I hope you have a lovely time and thank you for your help and support

finally I wish everyone who reads this all the very best over the Christmas period as we go into a new year take care look after yourself and God bless

[Lavande]

Merry Christmas eve!

Woke up to an icy coating this morning. I made YB walk me over to the chicken house & back so I could feed them & not risk slipping & fracturing something. Mission accomplished! It all melted once the sun arrived & will likely refreeze tonight. I’ve been busy putting together appetizers to take to my daughter’s house tomorrow & have a loaf of cranberry nut bread in the oven right now to take along as well. Grateful she’s doing the main cooking again, Lol

Slo, last night my daughter told me a friend of hers slipped & fell on ice fracturing her humerus too while visiting her mom in NY. Knowing all that I refused to step outside. Without help this morning haha! I didn’t want to be the 3rd fracture, geez. You can use coconut oil or a dairy free butter substitute when baking, either one works. For years I’ve been buying ‘Enjoy Life’ dairy free chocolate chips but recently I found Toll House is making them too, woo hoo!
Like Mick said, try to keep yourself present & enjoy all the good things in your life, kids & grandkids especially. That method really helped me out a lot (thanks to E. Tolle - The Power of Now’). Enjoy your holiday with your family.

Mick, glad you’re enjoying your getaway regardless of the weather. I hope Julie’s Dad remains quiet & comfortable.

Hello to Cyn, Pie, PQ & everyone.

Have a good night all!
Lav

[Slo]

Merry Christmas morning!

You are a wonder in the kitchen, Lav! I struggled just to get my one appetizer ready for today. Hope I didn’t put too much rosemary in the hummus. Still need to slice all the buns and cut up raw veggies this AM.

Mick, glad you are enjoying your home away from home this week! And Julie gets one day off from the endless hospital visits.

I enjoyed my quiet day yesterday, and got a lot done, shopping and domestic-wise. All my gifts have arrived! -even the one they said wouldn’t! Still need to wrap this morning, as I ran out of steam yesterday.
I went swimming again yesterday -and I’m going to join the health club! And thankfully the age for senior discount is 60, so I qualify!

Merry Christmas to PQ, and I hope you are hanging in there and getting rest and diversion.

May Christmas be an enjoyable AF day for all of us!

[porqoui]

Wishing all a Merry Christmas. All is well here, just staying home with the boys. Dinner will be a Prime Rib Roast with all the fixings. My favorite. We continue to enjoy above freezing temps and no ice in sight! Will catch up with more later...PPQP

[Lavande]

Good evening ladies & gentleman!

We just got home from visiting our daughter & her family. We had a nice day & enjoyed being entertained by our almost 14 yr old granddaughter, she’ hilarious!!
Cloudy out dry but above freezing so the trip was Ok. I hope everyone had a good day with friends & family too.

Slo, glad your day went well yesterday, hope today did as well. The swimming membership sounds like a great idea, enjoy.

PQ, hope your day was peaceful & the Prime rib roast was fabulous!

Hello to Ted, Cyn, Pie & everyone.
Have a peaceful night one & all.

Lav

[Slo]

We did it! We made it through Christmas once again!

We had a nice gathering at my brother’s house, and he & his three teens did a great job decorating and readying their house for the big gathering, and hosting. My brother made fabulous smoked brisket, as well as grilled turkey breast, for the feast. All four of my daughters and their families, including all six grandchildren, were there!

It’s sad to see how much my baby brother drinks, and his face is so red and his belly is so big. I understand his deep anger & pain & distrust though, after being utterly but surreptitiously rejected by his mother in his teen & college years. He never quite finished growing up emotionally after that.
My twin sister was busy sneaking drinks all day too. Well we fared similarly with Mommy Dearest, although we were her victims/scapegoats much earlier in life. Luckily D2 caught on to my. sister’s antics, and drove her home.
Sometimes family gatherings are tough when you were the rejected children in the family.

Prime rib roast sounds delightful, PQ!

Your granddaughter sounds like a spunky live wire, Lav! It’s fun to have the fresh enthusiasm of a young one around,

Happy Boxing Day, Mick!

[Lavande]

Greetings to all!

Our son & grandsons came for lunch & gifts today since he worked his 24 hr shift yesterday. I was happy to see my grandson’s girlfriend jumped right in with ease, very pleasant girl. My chin almost hit the floor though when I saw the DIL walk in totally oblivious to the fact that she blew us off 2 years ago. Just waltzed right in like she saw us a few days ago. She’s Bipolar & her mood swings are horrendous. She was pleasant today, I guess that’s what counts. I have experience with psych patients thank jeebus LOL
It was overcast but above freezing today, nice enough. We’re getting rain supposedly Saturday thru to next Wednesday. Better than snow.

Slo, family gatherings can be tough, for sure. It was nice though that you were all able to gather.
Grateful to no longer be dealing with any closet drinkers, we’ve had them too. Grateful to be nearly 16 years AF myself.

Hello to everyone - Ted, PQ, Cyn, Pie & everyone.
Have a nice night all!

Lav

[Slo]

Hi all:

I had such a fun evening tonight! My sister, her best friend who is also my neighbor, her friend’s high school-aged daughter, and Young Daughter and I got together at my place for snacks and cookies, conversation and games. We had lots of laughs!
Her friend brought alcoholic drinks as well as nonalcoholic ones, although I wish she would be less clueless about my sister’s condition and just have an AF night! Which is what the rest of us did.
I discovered this Poppi low-sugar, pre-biotic soda drink that my little sister brought to Christmas yesterday, so we stocked that here for tonight, and our guest brought some as well. Delicious!

Lav, well look what the cat dragged in! DIL is back in the fold. Or, at least she graced you with her presence for Christmas. Happy to hear she was pleasant.

The higher temps and rain started today, ruining everyone’s chances for skiing (nephew, for example) and going Up North for snowmobiling and/or ice fishing (sons-in-laws / ex-HB, for example), while people are on break from school etc. over the holidays.

Hi to PQ & Mick too.