what are you doing right now?

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I made biscuits and gravy using my dad's ground pizza sausage.

Holy crap that was good. Dogs went nuts for it too.

Abby is thrilled with her Coraline button box I made she is showing it off to DH and her sister. I'm stoked.

The crystal ball Mixie was a huge hit. It kept Gwen, Abby and Archie entertained for a good hour. Never see all three of them get along like that.

[toomuchreality]

Dec 24, 2023 17:42:57 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Okay so PSA if you are in general a klutz don't get on a hoverboard.

I was doing pretty good till my face hit the ground.

Abby ran and I heard Gwen say "Oh shit!"

DH is mad because he was only gone for 5 minutes picking up milk.

My nose hurts but doesn't seem broken. Got a decent split and I cut my lip. Teeth are intact. DH thinks I'll have a black eye.

I said this will make holiday history. The year mommy almost killed herself on a hoverboard.

YIKES! I'm glad you're okay (I hope!)

[soupandstew]

Local fireworks (and gunfire) were exceptional for Christmas Eve, peaking at midnight and continuing on to 1 a.m. so we're a little sleep-deprived here and naps will start soon.  This is just a warm-up for next weekend's epic blasts.  We got a good rain yesterday morning so no fires reported, but as the coming week will be dry, next Sunday we will blow leaves away from the house, run the sprinkler system, and lay out the hoses just in case.

Went to breakfast at our taqueria and feasted on pupusa with curtido, baked chicken, and a nopales salad with ricotta and fresh tomatoes.  Then came a plate full of wonderful chicken lasagna and a pasta, kale and sundried tomato salad.  We cried uncle and declined upcoming offerings of tamales, rice pudding, and various pastries.  Salvadoran food is amazing!  

[toomuchreality]

Dec 24, 2023 19:21:05 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Since DIL doesn't want white flour, I bought  King Arthur. I think Bob's Red Mill has a better one as this is brown.  It's just ground wheat so different. I forgot that I need to add more liquid to these when I bake. It's doesn't say so anywhere but it makes baked goods dryer. I made 2 loaves of banana bread and seem awfully dry to me. I wish I had added a few tablespoons of milk but didn't. I will make sure to add a bit more moisture to the cookies.

I'm stopping for a bit, showering and kicking back for about an hour.

I have deviled eggs made, the broth boiled and made for noodles, its good. Bread broken for dressing, turkey thawed and back in fridge. I baked the game hen since I didn't need it for broth, wrapped and put in fridge. Had to make a run for reynolds wrap, kleenex, and Crisco. 

I've cleaned my kitchen and will be ready for making cookies and noodles soon. It doesn't seem like it but been working all day. I'm thinking of prepping my baked beans and mac and cheese, but than I don't have room in this small fridge. I don't think I have ever had to cope with one so small. Hubs said had to use it till it quits. If we both get up here there is no way we can deal with this. The space won't fit a huge one but larger than this one. Ok time out for a bit.

Is it cold enough outside, to set things outside, instead of the fridge? We used to put things in our garage, growing up, in the winter.
Enjoy!

[zibazinski]

Dec 25, 2023 7:24:36 GMT -5 Opti said:

Dec 25, 2023 6:54:32 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Christmas Eve was pleasant enough. Found out DIL had a miscarriage earlier this month so there’s two of us faking happy faces. DS told me while we were walking their dog. DS doesn’t care about having a baby or not so he just picks up the pieces. At least there’s no pressure on her to procreate. I just wish she’d tried when she was ten years younger. 42 is a tough time to decide you want a baby. I’m spending the night then having Christmas morning with them. Then I’ll go home and they’ll go to another gathering. DD is working of course but she gets $2500 for working the holiday weekend instead of the person assigned to work it. So she’s not too unhappy about it.

Sorry for your loss. Will she consider adoption if she really wants a child?  Tough time to have a miscarriage with all the people buying gifts for babies and children. 

Doubtful. Honestly, they are probably both too old to even be considered for adoption and I don’t know if they want to.

[zibazinski]

But I did teach them how to use the clean cycle on the oven and reminded them to monitor it. I’ve never felt comfortable leaving it while it cleans and they have a cat and a dog as well. They both work from home so the oven can clean during the day and they can just wipe it down after it cools off.

[NancysSummerSip]

We did a nice long walk before the rain comes. I have meatball and bok choy soup on the stove -- not hungry for it yet, since breakfast was around 9:30.

Cleaned my dishwasher and did laundry and bathrooms. Dinner is pretty simple - salad and half a baked sweet potato for me, and DH gets the other half of the potato with a crabcake I made yesterday.

[Opti]

Dec 25, 2023 12:21:50 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Dec 25, 2023 7:24:36 GMT -5 Opti said:

Sorry for your loss. Will she consider adoption if she really wants a child?  Tough time to have a miscarriage with all the people buying gifts for babies and children. 

Doubtful. Honestly, they are probably both too old to even be considered for adoption and I don’t know if they want to.

I always thought doing emergency fosters over a weekend would be a way to give back to the community and have some time with kids. One of my bosses did this, I remember him rushing home one time as he and his wife would need to take care of an infant over the weekend.

[toomuchreality]

I celebrated with DD1 and her wife an dogs last night. They ordered dinner delivered and I paid or it, so no one had to cook.
I told DD2 I am not coming to her house, for a few more days. I don't want to get sick again, with anything. So I'm staying away. I thought about wrapping a gift or two, early this morning.
But I didn't do it.

I bought Muddy Mats for both daughter's back doors. To keep the dog prints off the light wood floors. They were supposed to arrive by Dec 25th. But I don't think they will. That's okay, since I'm not going to see them today.
I hate being alone on Christmas. But I'll get over it.

Enjoy, everyone!

[countrygirl2]

The turkey and now dressing is in the oven. All I have left to make is noodles and will wait about another hour to do those. I went next door and bought white flour, not trying to mess with noodles made out of whole wheat flour.

I wonder if son will show up, if he is sick as I have been. And it wouldn't surprise me if DIL stayed in Seattle last night. Little guy was wanting to open presents yesterday and DD is waiting. I told her if they aren't here by 11 or so she can open hers. this Christmas has not worked out well. Stuff is just crazy this year.

I hope the new year starts out better.

Would love to take a nap I could not get to sleep last night, I don't know how long I lay there trying to go to sleep but it was really late.

May call them soon to see what is happening.

[giramomma]

Trying to unpack/reorganize my bags of projects so the living room is a little more tidy around the desk that you can see the top of.

I have realized that I have separated one of my projects I have been working on for a long time, on and off. <sigh,> Which also was the project I was going to consider taking with me this summer when I go on my retreat. <sigh>. Not that I don't have other projects to work on. But I have to find them, and prep them. <sigh>

My retreat is 6 months. Which for normal people, is quite enough time. For me, not so much.

[Opti]

Had my chicken pot pie and some tater tots for lunch, And two chocolate chip cookies too. Waiting for my hair to dry more. Not sure if I am going to like my hair color. Tried light copper blond. There is one school pic of me with copper colored hair. I think we probably spent more time than usual out at beaches, pools, and outside generally.


Now I want to take a nap and rest. Less than three hours daylight left, so I will try not to do that.

[weltz]

[soupandstew]

Thank you weltz and Merry Christmas to you as well

[soupandstew]

Exchanged gifts with next door neighbor.  We are all going to die of alcohol poisoning and/or chocolate overload.  DH is putting Bailey's in espresso and eating Bailey's filled chocolates.  

This neighbor literally put lumps of coal on the doorstep of the house next to him wherein resides the nastiest imaginable cross between Scrooge and The Grinch.  DH said she's so tight and full of $$)%, that if you put a lump of coal up her A%, there would be enough heat and pressure to create a diamond.  You must remember DH has no sense of snark, and NEVER uses profanity 

[taz157]

Dec 25, 2023 6:54:32 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Christmas Eve was pleasant enough. Found out DIL had a miscarriage earlier this month so there’s two of us faking happy faces. DS told me while we were walking their dog. DS doesn’t care about having a baby or not so he just picks up the pieces. At least there’s no pressure on her to procreate. I just wish she’d tried when she was ten years younger. 42 is a tough time to decide you want a baby. I’m spending the night then having Christmas morning with them. Then I’ll go home and they’ll go to another gathering. DD is working of course but she gets $2500 for working the holiday weekend instead of the person assigned to work it. So she’s not too unhappy about it.

I’m sorry for your DIL.

Fertility is crap shoot! I had 5 miscarriages between having both my DDs. I had DD1 2 weeks after I turned 32 while I had DD2 3 weeks after I turned 42. I was never told why I kept miscarrying either as they all happened in the first trimester too.

[Opti]

Dec 25, 2023 12:50:46 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

I celebrated with DD1 and her wife an dogs last night. They ordered dinner delivered and I paid or it, so no one had to cook.
I told DD2 I am not coming to her house, for a few more days. I don't want to get sick again, with anything. So I'm staying away. I thought about wrapping a gift or two, early this morning.
But I didn't do it.

I bought Muddy Mats for both daughter's back doors. To keep the dog prints off the light wood floors. They were supposed to arrive by Dec 25th. But I don't think they will. That's okay, since I'm not going to see them today.
I hate being alone on Christmas. But I'll get over it.

Enjoy, everyone!

Not a fan myself. Does it count as alone though if I have an active Moon Shadow and a curious Crestie? The latter ambled to the front of the cage and hung on the glass waiting for sprays of water.

[Artemis Windsong]

Receiving calls from grandkids and calling some.  My DS and DIL are having 22 people for dinner.  We'll try to FB call them.

Our dinner was left over turkey from Thanksgiving, Stove Top Stuffing, turkey gravy and party potatoes.

My favorite gift is H. doing the dishes for a month.  Yay.

I got him neck pillows as he sleeps in his chair.  It will make his neck more comfortable.  Actually, I got 2 as I forgot I'd already ordered one.

So far.  A very merry Christmas.

[NastyWoman]

Pooped and ready for bed after a day that started at 6am. Nothing more fun than Xmas morning when Santa is still real but it is exhausting.  Add in that, because DDIL and DS2 always make sure that this day is special for all of us, I always cook Xmas dinner* and you can see why I'm pooped, done for, ready for bed at just 9:30. I'm not the only one either - I am the last one to retire tonight.

* this is 100% my idea and I've been doing this for years. I want DDIL/DS2 to have at least one meal where they can just to relax. It is the only meal I cook while here - they spoil me while I'm here.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Relaxing with Harriet and Sheldon on my lap.  Presents opened and the remote controlled T Rex was a huge hit with TD.  Kitchen cleaned up from making eggs Benedict this morning, along with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  Pies are made to take across the border later this afternoon.  

[soupandstew]

I am desperately sleepy.  I really needed a nap after losing a couple of hours of sleep last night but DH had other ideas so I'm going to be struggling to fix dinner and stay awake until 9.  I also expect some leftover fireworks to wake me up.

[TheOtherMe]

Kitties are in my lap.  Going to take out the trash and recycling and then do genealogy this evening.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Today has been weird. I expected it to be weird, but all of a sudden I am sad about it. I miss being with my family on Christmas Day. Especially my Mom, children and grandchildren, but also my Aunt, uncle and cousins and even my brother. And my Grandma, even though it’s not possible to see her on Christmas any more. With me feeling the way I’m feeling right now, I can’t imagine what Mister must be feeling. 

He is napping right now. I asked him a few hours ago if he’d talked to his children. He said no, he hadn’t heard from them. I will refrain from commenting on that.

Regardless, I am happy for everyone else, including posters here, that have spent today in whatever way has meaning. Even for people that don’t celebrate Christmas, if today was just a regular day, but a good one, I’m happy for that too.

[countrygirl2]

Dinner was good, I have it all put away but the turkey and dressing and that needs done. I'm pulling the meat off the turkey and DIL is taking the bones to make some noodle soup.

So need to get back to that. Son is watching a football game and playing with some drum sticks he got little guy. Christmas was nice. Son is feeling better and I'm still coughing but much better. 


And grandpa got to watch us opening gifts, he enjoys that.  And I miss him. 

[soupandstew]

Dec 25, 2023 16:33:29 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Today has been weird. I expected it to be weird, but all of a sudden I am sad about it. I miss being with my family on Christmas Day. Especially my Mom, children and grandchildren, but also my Aunt, uncle and cousins and even my brother. And my Grandma, even though it’s not possible to see her on Christmas any more. With me feeling the way I’m feeling right now, I can’t imagine what Mister must be feeling. 

He is napping right now. I asked him a few hours ago if he’d talked to his children. He said no, he hadn’t heard from them. I will refrain from commenting on that.

Regardless, I am happy for everyone else, including posters here, that have spent today in whatever way has meaning. Even for people that don’t celebrate Christmas, if today was just a regular day, but a good one, I’m happy for that too.

Thank you for the space in your heart that lets you share your feelings with us, and accepts our feelings without judgement too.  Your wise words often speak to what some of us can't yet or ever put into words 

[empress of self-improvement]

It's been a decent couple of days. Had some friends over for Christmas Eve dinner and we exchanged gifts. They know me so well. A couple new skull things and cat things. Went to inlaws for today and the triplets' presents were a hit. Thank God because they were all bought last minute.
This year's gift theme for me was apparently hats. I got 2 new winter hats. Last year it was blankets. The sad part part is the people giving them to me have never met but they all think alike! Scary. My sister gave me a gift bag of junk food. At least she didn't give me anchovies like our parents used to. Seafood makes me gag but they would buy me canned anchovies. Never figured that one out.

[soupandstew]

Dec 25, 2023 16:38:44 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Dinner was good, I have it all put away but the turkey and dressing and that needs done. I'm pulling the meat off the turkey and DIL is taking the bones to make some noodle soup.

So need to get back to that. Son is watching a football game and playing with some drum sticks he got little guy. Christmas was nice. Son is feeling better and I'm still coughing but much better. 


And grandpa got to watch us opening gifts, he enjoys that.  And I miss him. 

Your DIL taking the bones to make soup reminds me of years back when DH and I went to his Thanksgiving family reunions. The guys always fried 3-4 turkeys and after dinner we gals gathered in the kitchen to pick off the meat and fight over the bones because we ALL wanted them for soup.  Nothing better than slow-simmered turkey bone broth with veggies and noodles

[chiver78]

Dec 25, 2023 17:39:06 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

Dec 25, 2023 16:38:44 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Dinner was good, I have it all put away but the turkey and dressing and that needs done. I'm pulling the meat off the turkey and DIL is taking the bones to make some noodle soup.

So need to get back to that. Son is watching a football game and playing with some drum sticks he got little guy. Christmas was nice. Son is feeling better and I'm still coughing but much better. 


And grandpa got to watch us opening gifts, he enjoys that.  And I miss him. 

Your DIL taking the bones to make soup reminds me of years back when DH and I went to his Thanksgiving family reunions. The guys always fried 3-4 turkeys and after dinner we gals gathered in the kitchen to pick off the meat and fight over the bones because we ALL wanted them for soup.  Nothing better than slow-simmered turkey bone broth with veggies and noodles

ohh.....that's definitely the thing I miss about not going anywhere for Thanksgiving the past few years. my sister's SIL hosts her huge family, and mine is invited by default as my parents have basically become her and her DH's surrogates in recent years. SIL, sis, my mom and I all kind of have our own 'jobs' as far as packup/cleanup goes. I actually change my shirt to a junky tee, don some gloves, and demolish the carcasses in removing as much meat as possible. my BIL fries a ~14lb whole bird, the hostess roasts another full bird. they used to fight over who had to clean the carcasses, and when I realized if I did it, I got dibs? no prob!       I love using the fried turkey bone broth to make risotto, the depth of flavor is absurd. 

[chiver78]

yesterday and today have been more or less relaxing and peaceful. we've spent a bunch of time on the couch binging an Amazon tv series from s1e1 to current. I'm actually upright in the kitchen rn, waiting on the IP to finish cooking some BSCB for the pups. white rice and green beans are cooling so I can pack them up. 

I was bummed earlier, I realized it was mid50s here and sunny. I would have absolutely loved to have the canal paths to myself, except LD isn't allowed yet. nuts. so instead, I threw them in the car and we took a scenic drive of our old stomping grounds, following the coastal road everywhere possible. we avoided the road to Woods Hole and cut across to head toward the greasy spoon Chinese place near M's house. I put in a takeout order and had a cocktail while I waited for it. I had a couple bites of garlic baby bok choy and a big bowl of pork fried rice with bean sprouts while watching a cheesy chick flick when we first got home. I have leftovers for days lol.... I'll be heading back downstairs once I pack up the pup grub. I think LD called it a night already. Punk is shredding a paper bag I gave her while we're up here. 

merry xmas to those of you who celebrate, and happy Monday to the rest of us. may we all have been able to rest some from the hectic and shitty past few weeks many have had, and here's to a peaceful end to 2023. 

[Anne_in_VA]

Today was really nice.  We opened gifts this morning then went to SIL’s for Christmas dinner.  It was a madhouse with about 20 or so people including a bench of kids.  The food was great and it was awesome watching the kids tear into their gifts.  Some of the older kids played games and the younger ones played outside.  

Home again and chilling watching a FBI marathon.  Had some leftovers for supper.  Tomorrow we leave to go to DD’s and Christmas with the grandkids.