what are you doing right now?

[minnesotapaintlady]

I spent all the monies today.  OMG.  Thankfully I got a super-mega sized paycheck today (my 401K maxed out on the last paycheck plus I had some OT so this one was about 2.5X what I'm used to).  Target, liquor store, farm supply store, grocery store and the vet.  I think I'm all done with shopping though, now I just have to hope I'm ok for Christmas bags and paper to put all this stuff in.  If not there will be one last Target run tomorrow night. 

There are a LOT of bottles of alcohol on my counter.  That's kind of my go to gift for my siblings and their spouses, as well as my mom, my dad, my stepmom... LOL  I think I spent close to $200 just on booze.

[chiver78]

Dec 22, 2023 16:42:59 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I dropped off the bags at Goodwill, then hit the grocery store.  I almost did a panic when I went looking for the tart pie cherries and didn't see them, as they're not in the same bags that they normally are in.  

Got the stuff to make the green chicken enchiladas tonight for dinner with the leftover chicken.  The tomatillos I bought are really small, I need to get them roasted off for the sauce.

tell me more about this sauce, please? I've found a tasty jarred option, but I always prefer to make my own. 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 22, 2023 15:23:06 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Dec 22, 2023 13:25:32 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

My son had ongoing ear infections. We tried ruling out everything know to mankind. Pediatrician finally said need to see ENT.  Had his tonsils and adenoids removed. He was 4 at the time. It was like a miracle cure.   He was and is rarely sick since that even at 57. I know this doesn’t help you but I hope it’s something that can be addressed and have as good outcome as he did.. I had a pediatrician from Heaven as far as I was concerned give I was a green as a gourd Mother. 

At her regular check up, we did talk about getting her tonsils out as something to look into but we didn't have to do.

She doesn't sleep through the night. The dr asked if she stopped breathing for a moment. I'm actually pretty sure she did for a bit when her hear was hurting. I should bring that up to DH. He's noticed it too.

And it's hard, because I noticed it after being up for 20 hours. So, it's not like I feel like I was the most reliable judge, KWIM.

Sleep apnea is why we had Carrot's tonsils removed.  He would stop breathing all the time.  Plus they were just huge and he was getting sore throats all the time.

[busymom]

Just got back from errands, as I wanted to get things done BEFORE rush hour got going.  Ouch, the parking lots are full today.  Glad to be back home.

[Pink Cashmere]

I just got off the phone ordering Christmas dinner from HoneyBaked Ham. Mister has been all over the place about whether he wanted to cook, and now he’s sick so he asked me to just see if we could just order it from somewhere. I love their hams, it was always my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner when my Aunt and Uncle hosted. Fortunately it wasn’t too late to order a meal, so that’s taken care of, thank goodness.

We aren’t having guests, idk if Mister’s children are coming over. 

He is starting to feel some type of way since this will be his first Christmas since his parents passed. Thanksgiving was weird and he was out of sorts. Christmas will probably be even more so. Even when we’ve had our own holiday stuff and Christmas dinner, he still visited his parents on Christmas Day and took them gifts. Last Christmas was different because his Mom was in the hospital, but at least he could still go see her and his Dad. But not this year. A few people have reached out to him to see if he was hosting for Christmas and he said no. He told me he’s not ready to take the baton, that he’d talked about it with his therapist and he’s just not ready. I understand. I do believe he will eventually start doling it for holiday family gatherings though, just because his parents’ home had always been the gathering place for the family. I am good with it either way.

I don’t really know what to expect over the next few days, or even the next week or so, since starting a new year without either of them will also probably be difficult for him.

[soupandstew]

Dec 22, 2023 17:28:44 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I just got off the phone ordering Christmas dinner from HoneyBaked Ham. Mister has been all over the place about whether he wanted to cook, and now he’s sick so he asked me to just see if we could just order it from somewhere. I love their hams, it was always my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner when my Aunt and Uncle hosted. Fortunately it wasn’t too late to order a meal, so that’s taken care of, thank goodness.

We aren’t having guests, idk if Mister’s children are coming over. 

He is starting to feel some type of way since this will be his first Christmas since his parents passed. Thanksgiving was weird and he was out of sorts. Christmas will probably be even more so. Even when we’ve had our own holiday stuff and Christmas dinner, he still visited his parents on Christmas Day and took them gifts. Last Christmas was different because his Mom was in the hospital, but at least he could still go see her and his Dad. But not this year. A few people have reached out to him to see if he was hosting for Christmas and he said no. He told me he’s not ready to take the baton, that he’d talked about it with his therapist and he’s just not ready. I understand. I do believe he will eventually start doling it for holiday family gatherings though, just because his parents’ home had always been the gathering place for the family. I am good with it either way.

I don’t really know what to expect over the next few days, or even the next week or so, since starting a new year without either of them will also probably be difficult for him.

Mister is very fortunate to have a wise and caring partner to walk with during a very difficult time.  The first holiday after the passing is the passing is the hardest; it does get better, not perfect, but better.  I'm glad he talked to his therapist about this, and glad he told those who reached out to him, not yet.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 22, 2023 17:43:30 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

Dec 22, 2023 17:28:44 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I just got off the phone ordering Christmas dinner from HoneyBaked Ham. Mister has been all over the place about whether he wanted to cook, and now he’s sick so he asked me to just see if we could just order it from somewhere. I love their hams, it was always my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner when my Aunt and Uncle hosted. Fortunately it wasn’t too late to order a meal, so that’s taken care of, thank goodness.

We aren’t having guests, idk if Mister’s children are coming over. 

He is starting to feel some type of way since this will be his first Christmas since his parents passed. Thanksgiving was weird and he was out of sorts. Christmas will probably be even more so. Even when we’ve had our own holiday stuff and Christmas dinner, he still visited his parents on Christmas Day and took them gifts. Last Christmas was different because his Mom was in the hospital, but at least he could still go see her and his Dad. But not this year. A few people have reached out to him to see if he was hosting for Christmas and he said no. He told me he’s not ready to take the baton, that he’d talked about it with his therapist and he’s just not ready. I understand. I do believe he will eventually start doling it for holiday family gatherings though, just because his parents’ home had always been the gathering place for the family. I am good with it either way.

I don’t really know what to expect over the next few days, or even the next week or so, since starting a new year without either of them will also probably be difficult for him.

Mister is very fortunate to have a wise and caring partner to walk with during a very difficult time.  The first holiday after the passing is the passing is the hardest; it does get better, not perfect, but better.  I'm glad he talked to his therapist about this, and glad he told those who reached out to him, not yet.  

If not for me knowing everything that has happened since last fall with his parents, which led to both of them dying this year, and me having compassion for him due to all of that, I’d probably have smothered him in his sleep by now. If he wasn’t also working with a therapist, I’d probably still have left already, even if I managed not to smother him in his sleep. I don’t think I’d have even a glimmer of hope for us if he wasn’t going to therapy and actually trying to work through things there.

Thank you for the hug and your kind words.

[taz157]

chiver78 - What humidifier did you get at Walmart? I had gotten the generic one last year for DD2 and recently threw it away. It seemed like I had to replace the filter every time I turned around. The filters were about $10 a piece too.

[TheOtherMe]

Pink Cashmere  I'm sure Mister is going through all sorts of feelings about this holiday having lost both parents since last year.  He did a good thing for himself in saying no to hosting.  I'm glad he's talked with his therapist.

It might be tough for you to watch or he may hide in his man cave.  

I'm glad that you ordered food and no one in the house is going to have to cook.

My sister tried to make like everything was fine the first Christmas after mom died.  It wasn't and there wasn't another person who could do the everything is fine routine.  She sat in mom's chair at the table and I thought my dad was going to lose it.  

I drove home from dad's funeral on Christmas Eve.  I had no decorations or anything that year because we had spent the month of December in crisis mode.  Somehow she went on and had her big Christmas dinner and had found time to do the tree and a room full of presents.  

That was also a no for me.  Of course, by then, I had no desire to even see my sister.  

[chiver78]

Dec 22, 2023 18:12:52 GMT -5 taz157 said:

chiver78 - What humidifier did you get at Walmart? I had gotten the generic one last year for DD2 and recently threw it away. It seemed like I had to replace the filter every time I turned around. The filters were about $10 a piece too.

it was a Honeywell, I'll try to take a pic of the label and PM you. the options for warm mist were this one and a brand I'd never heard of. this was almost $50, which is more than I paid for the last one.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 22, 2023 16:55:09 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 22, 2023 16:42:59 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I dropped off the bags at Goodwill, then hit the grocery store.  I almost did a panic when I went looking for the tart pie cherries and didn't see them, as they're not in the same bags that they normally are in.  

Got the stuff to make the green chicken enchiladas tonight for dinner with the leftover chicken.  The tomatillos I bought are really small, I need to get them roasted off for the sauce.

tell me more about this sauce, please? I've found a tasty jarred option, but I always prefer to make my own. 

I roast tomatillos, onions, garlic and Serranos until broken down and toasted, then I toss it all into a pot with a can of chicken stock and let it simmer awhile.   I add cumin, salt and pepper and hit it with the immersion blender.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 22, 2023 18:41:36 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Pink Cashmere   I'm sure Mister is going through all sorts of feelings about this holiday having lost both parents since last year.  He did a good thing for himself in saying no to hosting.  I'm glad he's talked with his therapist.

It might be tough for you to watch or he may hide in his man cave.  

I'm glad that you ordered food and no one in the house is going to have to cook.

My sister tried to make like everything was fine the first Christmas after mom died.  It wasn't and there wasn't another person who could do the everything is fine routine.  She sat in mom's chair at the table and I thought my dad was going to lose it.  

I drove home from dad's funeral on Christmas Eve.  I had no decorations or anything that year because we had spent the month of December in crisis mode.  Somehow she went on and had her big Christmas dinner and had found time to do the tree and a room full of presents.  

That was also a no for me.  Of course, by then, I had no desire to even see my sister.  

All of this has been tough for me to watch, even though he tries to pretend he’s okay even when he’s not. I know how much he loves his parents and how close he was to both of them, so imo, if he was really okay, that would mean something was really wrong with him.

I understand that it’s not the same as it is for Mister, but I do get it about holidays not being the same after losing someone very important to you. The first Christmas after my Grandmother died was a mess. We tried to carry on the family tradition, kind of, but nothing about it felt good. We’d buried my Grandmother less than 2 weeks before Christmas. If we even tried on Christmas after that, I don’t remember. My birthday hasn’t even been the same since, because I was shopping with my children on my birthday that year, to make sure they had appropriate clothes to wear to her funeral in a few days. 

[snapdragon]

I have a new garage door motor with all the fixings. Really glad I was able to get it taken care of before New Years as the 2 BFF's are coming to celebrate. The motor is quieter than the previous one too. Every time I would open up the door early to take out the garbage, I just kept picturing a ringing dinner bell for the local black bears. 

Slowly working on boxes. I have broken down several and got a few done today and will work on more later this evening. For the life of me, I am still mossing the 2nd bedspread that I bought. I KNOW it arrived and I moved the box, but can I find it? No, no I can't find the sucker.

Managed to get the finances all caught up and did some shredding to. 

I plan on making Chocolate Chip Coconut cookie dough this weekend and freezing the rounds. Baking peanut butter cookies closer to when my company is coming. Probably the morning of. I have not had the best will power on food these last few months. 

[chiver78]

Dec 22, 2023 19:02:27 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Dec 22, 2023 16:55:09 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

tell me more about this sauce, please? I've found a tasty jarred option, but I always prefer to make my own. 

I roast tomatillos, onions, garlic and Serranos until broken down and toasted, then I toss it all into a pot with a can of chicken stock and let it simmer awhile.   I add cumin, salt and pepper and hit it with the immersion blender.  

roast at 400F? easy enough. do you remove stems and seeds from the Serranos? just trying to gauge heat level so I can season appropriately.
oh wait, and approximate quantities of what you roast would be helpful,too
thank you! 🙃

[cooper88]

Well, we did not get the fours hours off today. We always do if Christmas Eve falls on a weekday, though. I spent the afternoon watching Better Call Saul and working on the case closures I've been avoiding. Picked up dinner on the way home and kicking back now.

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 22, 2023 19:25:56 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

I have a new garage door motor with all the fixings. Really glad I was able to get it taken care of before New Years as the 2 BFF's are coming to celebrate. The motor is quieter than the previous one too. Every time I would open up the door early to take out the garbage, I just kept picturing a ringing dinner bell for the local black bears. 

Slowly working on boxes. I have broken down several and got a few done today and will work on more later this evening. For the life of me, I am still mossing the 2nd bedspread that I bought. I KNOW it arrived and I moved the box, but can I find it? No, no I can't find the sucker.

Managed to get the finances all caught up and did some shredding to.  

I plan on making Chocolate Chip Coconut cookie dough this weekend and freezing the rounds. Baking peanut butter cookies closer to when my company is coming. Probably the morning of. I have not had the best will power on food these last few months.  

I use to hate opening our garage door when I use to leave for work before dawn. We don’t have bears where I live (thank goodness! LOL!), I was more concerned about alerting 2 legged animals that I was outside and vulnerable.

It’s the door itself and the stuff it moves along as it moves that’s so loud, and not the motor itself. When we had the springs replaced, the guy added grease here and there to make it quieter, and it worked for a while, but he also told me why it’s not good to keep doing that, reasons that I have since forgotten. I’ve realized since then that it’s not quite as loud outside as it is inside the garage, but even outside, it’s still loud enough to announce that the door is opening. 

OAN, its the holidays, give yourself Grace about your lack of willpower regarding food.

[soupandstew]

DH and I had a couple of surprisingly good, honest conversations today without him going off the rails.  A pleasant surprise but taking it one day at a time.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 22, 2023 19:46:46 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 22, 2023 19:02:27 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I roast tomatillos, onions, garlic and Serranos until broken down and toasted, then I toss it all into a pot with a can of chicken stock and let it simmer awhile.   I add cumin, salt and pepper and hit it with the immersion blender.  

roast at 400F? easy enough. do you remove stems and seeds from the Serranos? just trying to gauge heat level so I can season appropriately.
oh wait, and approximate quantities of what you roast would be helpful,too
thank you! 🙃

I had about 1.5 lb of tomatillos, one large onion, 4 serranos (no stem but kept the ribs and seeds), and about half a head of garlic cloves.  Roasted at 400°.  The local serranos haven’t been too hot.  If they care, a chug of heavy cream will dampen it some.  

[soupandstew]

Dec 22, 2023 19:59:05 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Dec 22, 2023 19:25:56 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

I have a new garage door motor with all the fixings. Really glad I was able to get it taken care of before New Years as the 2 BFF's are coming to celebrate. The motor is quieter than the previous one too. Every time I would open up the door early to take out the garbage, I just kept picturing a ringing dinner bell for the local black bears. 

Slowly working on boxes. I have broken down several and got a few done today and will work on more later this evening. For the life of me, I am still mossing the 2nd bedspread that I bought. I KNOW it arrived and I moved the box, but can I find it? No, no I can't find the sucker.

Managed to get the finances all caught up and did some shredding to.  

I plan on making Chocolate Chip Coconut cookie dough this weekend and freezing the rounds. Baking peanut butter cookies closer to when my company is coming. Probably the morning of. I have not had the best will power on food these last few months.  

I use to hate opening our garage door when I use to leave for work before dawn. We don’t have bears where I live (thank goodness! LOL!), I was more concerned about alerting 2 legged animals that I was outside and vulnerable.

It’s the door itself and the stuff it moves along as it moves that’s so loud, and not the motor itself. When we had the springs replaced, the guy added grease here and there to make it quieter, and it worked for a while, but he also told me why it’s not good to keep doing that, reasons that I have since forgotten. I’ve realized since then that it’s not quite as loud outside as it is inside the garage, but even outside, it’s still loud enough to announce that the door is opening. 

OAN, its the holidays, give yourself Grace about your lack of willpower regarding food.

thank you, we did just that and killed a blue box of Kraft Mac and cheese between us.  It's been a couple of decades at least since we did that and 2 a.m. will not be pretty around here, but dang, that was tasty.  We've agreed to make it our once-a-year guilty pleasure.  At our ages we don't get many of those   

[weltz]

I went for a spine X-ray today. I had to take a bus to the subway to get there. Then I figured that since I'm already at the subway, I'll take it for a few more stops to go to the Pilipino Fiesta, a Filipino bakery. I love their stuff....really good bread and buns, but my favourites are siopao.  They're huge steamed buns filled with egg and different kinds of meat, plus little cups of dark, sweet dipping sauce. Lovely. I got a dozen for $27.50. Seems like a lot, but they'll last me a really long time, as I can only eat one. They're very big.

[Artemis Windsong]

Slurping on a Tootsie Pop listening to the rain out side.

[chiver78]

Dec 22, 2023 20:01:25 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Dec 22, 2023 19:46:46 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

roast at 400F? easy enough. do you remove stems and seeds from the Serranos? just trying to gauge heat level so I can season appropriately.
oh wait, and approximate quantities of what you roast would be helpful,too
thank you! 🙃

I had about 1.5 lb of tomatillos, one large onion, 4 serranos (no stem but kept the ribs and seeds), and about half a head of garlic cloves.  Roasted at 400°.  The local serranos haven’t been too hot.  If they care, a chug of heavy cream will dampen it some. 

oh, no. I was looking to add heat if you did remove them. I typically remove seeds bc I find them bitter, but ribs in hot peppers are tasty. esp in anything blended. thanks for the extra detail, definitely making note to try this next time. 😀

ETA - I meant ribs when I said stems earlier. not sure why that was the word in my brain.

[giramomma]

Well, the missy puked up her antibiotics.

I'm not sure how, exactly, she's supposed to get over this ear infection.

[ners]

giramomma Hope missy starts feeling better soon.

[weltz]

My niece, the pediatrician, and I were playing phone tag all week, but couldn't reach each other. I spoke to her today. She had an extra ticket ($200) to the Nutcracker, with Les Grandes Ballets Canadiens, at Place des Arts, for me. Turns out, the whole family came down with Covid, just before the show.
They also can't be at my sister's for Christmas.
That's a shame. I really like her and her husband, and I don't see them often enough. She works long hours, and he does as well, being the director of French TV commercials here. They also have two small kids. 
No time, ever.

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 22, 2023 20:17:25 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Well, the missy puked up her antibiotics.

I'm not sure how, exactly, she's supposed to get over this ear infection.

Oh dear. I’m very sorry that she has not been feeling well for so long, and I feel bad for you as a parent trying to help her feel better while things keep going awry. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 22, 2023 20:16:48 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 22, 2023 20:01:25 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I had about 1.5 lb of tomatillos, one large onion, 4 serranos (no stem but kept the ribs and seeds), and about half a head of garlic cloves.  Roasted at 400°.  The local serranos haven’t been too hot.  If they care, a chug of heavy cream will dampen it some. 

oh, no. I was looking to add heat if you did remove them. I typically remove seeds bc I find them bitter, but ribs in hot peppers are tasty. esp in anything blended. thanks for the extra detail, definitely making note to try this next time. 😀

ETA - I meant ribs when I said stems earlier. not sure why that was the word in my brain.

I got a very hot batch of serranos today, waaay hotter than I’m comfortable with.  The sauce got a glut of cream tonight.  I threw the whole peppers in without taking out the seeds and ribs.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Got my hair cut and colored. I decided ti have all the red pulled out and go silver.

It's a bit dark right now my hair absorbed a lot of the dye but it will start to lighten with a couple washes.

Eyebrow piercing, different hair color. New decade new me.

Beats punching my boss.

[soupandstew]

Dec 22, 2023 20:45:17 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Dec 22, 2023 20:16:48 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

oh, no. I was looking to add heat if you did remove them. I typically remove seeds bc I find them bitter, but ribs in hot peppers are tasty. esp in anything blended. thanks for the extra detail, definitely making note to try this next time. 😀

ETA - I meant ribs when I said stems earlier. not sure why that was the word in my brain.

I got a very hot batch of serranos today, waaay hotter than I’m comfortable with.  The sauce got a glut of cream tonight.  I threw the whole peppers in without taking out the seeds and ribs.

Your recipe sounds like it could be a good base for a white chicken chili too

[countrygirl2]

My kitchen is cleaned. I cleaned the cabinets and put in new shelf paper, but this is a small kitchen. Still I organized things. I have mainly nesting bowls for storage, so that is nice and they take up little room that way. I also bought one of those big mats for under my sink and put that in. I had been to the store, again, and DIL came back by about 7, I was starting to clean the fridge out, she said let me help. So we got it done pretty quick. So everything in that little area is clean and neat, and organized. Will be so much easier to cook and do Christmas dinner.

Also son came by, DD had accidently pulled a towel rack in the bathroom loose, but I'm sure because I didn't get the set screw in good, he fixed that for me. And DIL wanted him to put up a picture I've had I didn't know where to put it, she found the perfect spot.

They are in and out all the time, I fixed all us all lunch and she took some home for son. Every once in awhile she will say I'm so glad you guys are here. It gets lonely and she likes coming here.  She has her days and I do too, but overall I think we are doing ok. Neither gets so mad we can't get over it and that is important. She had little guy go home with her tonight, he wanted to stay. They went and did painting tonight, I told her DD and I will go next time, I just have to much I want to do right now to go. 

I still intend to wash and scrub DD's hair tonight, her psoriasis seems to be flaring. Not sure why, she is taking a multi vitamin but think I need to add more eggs to her diet that seems to help.

I want to clean the bathrooms and need to mop again, it won't take long. Just want things nice and clean for Xmas. I do have one gift to wrap, thought I was done. It's for her sister and husband.  

I think my kitties are transferring over to hubs. About everytime I talk to him Smoke is on his lap. He said he was showering and soaping down and Tigger got in the shower with him, but sure shot out of there when he turned the water on again. I'm sure they are lonesome as DD and I are always petting on them. Sounds like he is doing a good job though. We would stay longer but I miss hubs, so likely will still go home the 10th, well plus we might be running low on meds by than.

Son said he has been studying all day. He said he is sure he needs to learn  all he can about artificial intelligence, he said I'm sure it will be used in a big way by the military. I told him maybe he needs to take some accredited courses, he said at this point he does not know about any. I'm sure when the military starts using it they will provide courses also.