Saturday, November 30, 2013

Saturday, Nov. 30

Last day of the month. The official start of the Christmas season begins tomorrow, though with the way I feel it might be a few days before I can think about decorating.

Coughed my brains out last night. So by 5:30 this morning, any hope of sleep was over. Stayed in bed, though, until Hubbie was ready to get up around 7:30.

Showered and dressed, then flopped on the couch again. Sis accompanied Mother to our house around 9 a.m., and we put a pot of chicken on to cook for soup. Mother diced the veggies for it, and I did the rest.

When the chicken was cooked, Sis added noodles, and we were ready for helpings of this soothing meal. After all the rich food of the past couple of days, the soup really hit the spot.

After lunch, Hubbie cleared away Thanksgiving decorations, and brought in and set up the two Christmas trees, while Mother, Sis, and I worked on a couple of Christmas angel crafts from instructions Mother and I got at the Extension Homemakers Holiday Open House last weekend.

One of the angels is made using what are called angel wing paperclips, which are large pretzel shaped clips, and the other one is made with Christmas wire ribbon. They are both cute, and could be used either as tree ornaments, or ornaments for Christmas packages.

After that, Mother and Sis worked on a holiday jigsaw puzzle, and I grabbed an afghan to hunker down on the couch in the den and read newspapers from the past few days. Hubbie watched a football game.

Later, we each chose what we wanted for supper...soup for Mother and me, sandwiches for Hubbie and Sis...and then we watched holiday movies from the Hallmark Channel.

Afterward, Sis accompanied Mother to her house, and we were not long heading to bed.

  

Friday, Nov. 29

Restless night, of course, since all I did was cough and sneeze. Didn't up until around 8 a.m., though. Hit the shower, had breakfast, than flopped on the couch until Mother and Sis came over.

Later, Sis and I prepared lunch, in anticipation of a visit from three granddaughters, and five of the great-grandchildren. We put leftovers in the oven, and then Sis made a big batch of boxed macaroni and cheese.

The kids arrived in time for lunch. After we'd eaten, we had a very good time visiting. Most of the time, the older children played in the yard, but we were entertained by a toddler great-granddaughter.

With this laryngitis it was difficult for me to talk....at one point, I tried to ask one of the granddaaughters if she had gone Black Friday shopping, but all I could get out was "Black Farty." Cracked Granddaughter up, though.

We visited until around 3 p.m., when the granddaughters decided they should get on the road home. We were so glad they made the effort to come up.

Later, Hubbie and I watched our favorite college football team as they played to a crushing loss...they came so close, but fell in the last minute or so of play. I'd recorded the game on DVR.

For supper, we all chose something different from the leftovers for supper, and then afterward we played several games of Skip-bo. Sis topped out, winning three games, while Hubbie and I each won one. None for Mother tonight.

Tonight,  I added water-faucet nose to my sore throat, cough, and laryngitis, so shortly after Sis accompanied Mother home, Hubbie and I were not long finding our way to bed.







Thurs., Nov. 28

Thanksgiving Day...hope it was a happy one for everyone.

We were up at 6 a.m., so I could get the turkey seasoned and into the slow cooker. Of course, the turkey was thawing at Mother's house, since there was no room in our refrigerators. We weren't sure if Mother would be up this early, but she was, so Hubbie fetched the bird, and I got it ready to cook.

I decided to take the advice of one of the ladies at water aerobics and put the turkey in a cooking bag. This turned out to be a disaster, since as soon as I put it in the slow cooker, the plastic bag touched the sides of the cooker and promptly melted.

Yikes! I needed to get the bird out of the cooker right away. I hollered for Hubbie, but he was in the sunroom and had difficulty hearing me. And I had difficulty hollering, since I had laryingitis. He finally heard me and stepped inside. What did I need, he wanted to know. "I need you to help me get this turkey out of the cooker!!" I bellowed. "The plastic bag is melting to the cooker."

When we finally got the turkey out, we spent time trying to scrape the plastic off the sides of the cooker, then I tore the bag off the bird and put it back in the cooker, with onions and carrots in the cavity. I added broth, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and she made the deviled eggs, and prepared a pickle and olives dish.

Meanwhile, I went upstairs to shower and dress, and then relaxed for a while. Sis arrived early, bringing cornbread dressing and homemade bread. Daughter-in-Law arrived soon after.

Hubbie had peeled potatoes earlier, and near noon, I removed the well-done turkey from the cooker, and let it rest while I mashed potatoes and made gravy. Sis sliced bread, and then we were ready to enjoy the meal.

After we were stuffed and had cleared the meal away, we visited until mid-afternoon, when Daughter-in-Law needed to leave to travel two hours back to her home.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the evening watching movies.

Though I'd started the day okay...cough, sore throat, and laryingitis...I faded by 10 p.m. and was ready for bed.



Friday, November 29, 2013

Wed., Nov. 27

Woke up this morning with a cough and sore throat. I didn't feel all that bad, so I was excited that family would be here Thursday and Friday to help us celebrate Thanksgiving.

I skipped my exercises, though, since I know it's not good to force my body when I'm unwell. It wasn't long before I started getting chills, which weren't helped by the fact that Hubbie discovered our central heat wasn't working.

He immediately set up space heaters, and called the heat/air repairman. I bundled up in an undershirt, turtleneck shirt, and two sweaters, and then huddled in front of one of the heaters.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and once I gathered ingredients, she put together two dishes of bread dressing, which I ultimately allowed to over bake, when I nodded off to sleep. I'd set the timer, but I misjudged how much time was needed, so I should have been watching the oven more closely. Mother also peeled the eggs I'd boiled yesterday, so we could make deviled eggs Thanksgiving morning.

In the meantime, I put a ham in the oven to bake, and then posted messages to family letting them know I was sick. They seemed unfazed and were willing to come up anyway.

The repairman arrived pretty quickly, and discovered that one of the heater baffles was clogged with soot, necessitating replacement. He went back to the shop for one and returned soon. He said the soot could have been caused by letting the propane tank get too low. Even though Hubbie ordered the tank be filled when he saw it was down to 20%, the repairman said that since the tank is old, it could have accumulated water in the bottom, giving a false reading.

Anyway, we soon had heat again, for which I was grateful. The repairman said he would be on call all weekend, even through Thanksgiving Day. I'm thankful that there are folks like him who are willing to give up their holidays to be available for emergencies. And since today was the coldest yet this season, I felt that getting the heater fixed was an emergency.

Since I didn't feel up to much this afternoon, we whiled away the time watching Christmas movies I'd recorded on DVR.

When the ham had cooked and cooled, I sliced it and put it in the fridge. Later, we sampled it with baked sweet potatoes and helpings of cranberry sauce. We were tempted by the pies, but we decided not to cut them until tomorrow.

After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then we wasted more time watching TV.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tuesday, Nov. 26

Had one of those nights...woke up at 4:30, and couldn't go back to sleep. Got up when Hubbie woke at 7 a.m. Because I had a long day of cooking, I skipped my exercises and just went ahead and showered and dressed.

After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and we got busy in the kitchen. Mother sorted cranberries, and I put a pan of eggs on to boil. Then I washed the cranberries, while Mother peeled and diced apples.

Once the cranberries were cooked and cooling, we got pumpkin pies ready for the oven. Made three of those, which I baked over the course of the morning and into the afternoon. Then, Mother diced onions and celery for dressing, and I sauteed them.

Meanwhile, Hubbie ran errands, including a trip to the WDCS to pick up a few grocery items, including cans of cherry pie filling. When he returned, I baked a cherry pie. He also picked up a couple of pecan pies, because I don't make those.

For lunch, we had PB&J sandwiches and chips. Afterward, Mother and I watched last night's episode of "Dancing With the Stars," while Hubbie did this and that. This time, the dance contestant who was eliminated was the one we thought should be.

Following the show, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie and I ran more errands...to a business downtown to pick up folding tables and chairs; to an office supply store to get large paperclips for making a craft; to a dollar store to buy plastic snowflakes and ribbon for another craft; and to the WDCS for a few more groceries that didn't get on the list this morning.

Back home, I put dishes of rice and stir fry in the oven to heat for our supper. Served the meal with French bread. Afterward, Mother prepared a jar of mincemeat for a pie, put it in a crust, then fluted a top crust for it. I put it in the oven to bake, and it was done about 40 minutes later.

This has always been one of Mother's favorite pies, and a tradition on Thanksgiving, so I wanted to be sure we had one this year. Last year, she didn't have a taste for it, because she was still recuperating from bleeding ulcers. But she's well this year, so I'm hoping she will enjoy the pie.

Later, Hubbie accompanied her home, and then we watched one-hour shows on TV.

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The good news for me today was getting a letter from my family physician letting me know that my blood tests were all normal. I've been on edge about it ever since I was told that my white blood cell count was still mildly low after a second blood draw, and  my doctor wanted a third draw with further tests to rule out any potential underlying problems. So I breathed a big sigh of relief when that letter arrived today.





Monday, November 25, 2013

Monday, Nov. 25

Br-r-r.....cold morning, with freezing rain. Decided to skip water aerobics and snuggle in bed until around 8 a.m. But I did do stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she worked on her puzzle, while I dressed and grabbed my camera to go out and snap some photos of ice-covered autumn leaves on trees, a feather-fluffed bird sheltering on a bird feeder adorned with icicles, and a pumpkin turkey coated with ice.

I really should have been doing some housework in anticipation of Thanksgiving, but I've come to believe that it's important to seize the day. An icy day this early in the year is unusual, so I just had to go out and capture it. Then, of course, I had to upload some of them to my social network page.

I did manage to do a few things around the house, like ironing the table clothes, but not much. I stayed occupied, though, doing this and that unrelated to housework.

After lunch, I gathered veggies...yellow squash, carrots, onions, celery, bell pepper, and banana peppers...for Mother to cut up for making stir fry.

Around 1 p.m., the cable guy came, because our land line caller ID has not been showing up on the TV screen. This necessitated that he go up to the office to check the modem. Drat, if I'd known he would be going there, I would have tried to clear a path, since there are several boxes of stuff from the bathroom scattered around the room, some of my clothes flung over a chair, and pairs of shoes out of the closet. The computer area is none too neat, either.

But, the guy seemed not to notice or care, Hubbie said, because he was a bit shaken after leaving the last place he worked. Seems that while he was there, the daughter of the home owner announced she was going to take a bath.

A few minutes after she'd gone into the bathroom, she screamed. Her mother tried to get in, but the door was locked. So she prevailed upon the cable guy to get the door open, which he was only able to do with a coat hanger.

He suggested that maybe an ambulance should be called, but the mother said that the girl had suffered an epileptic seizure, and she was sure she would soon recover. The cable guy was relieved and anxious to leave after that, but the mother begged him to stay until her husband got home. He said this was one of the strangest experiences he's had while on the job, and it unnerved him.

He replaced the modem, which of course didn't bring back the caller ID, so he thinks he'll need to replace the cable box. But it will be a few days before he can bring one to us. In the meantime, he urged us to watch whatever we have recorded on the DVR, since the new one will be blank.

Later, I prepared the stir fry and served it with rice, and slices of warm French bread.

Afterward, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then we watched TV for the evening, including a 2004 PG-13 movie called, "Ladies in Lavender," starring Maggie Smith, and Judy Dench. In the 1930s, two elderly English ladies who live together in a seaside cottage find a young Polish man awash on the shore.

They nurse him back to health, and along the way discover that he is an extremely talented violinist. Even though he is very young, one of the old women becomes half infatuated with him, and gets jealous when a beautiful young woman artist enters his life. Add to this the fact that an older doctor has his cap set for the young woman, and things get complicated. Good movie.







Sunday, November 24, 2013

Sunday, Nov. 24

Up around 8 a.m., but skipped my exercises again, as usual on Sunday. Did the usual Sunday morning things, including a few loads of laundry. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and then he went to the grocery store for a few things. Mother busied herself clipping coupons for Granddaughter, while we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving shows on DVD.

Lunch was simple...leftover lasagna from the freezer that I popped into the oven, along with a dish of canned green beans. Mother spread French bread with garlic butter, and I heated that in the oven, too.

After lunch, I gathered supplies for Mother to work on creating a graham cracker cookie Christmas house, using a small milk carton. While she did that, we watched a couple of Christmas movies from the Hallmark Channel that I'd recorded on DVR.

In between movies, I switched to a local TV channel to keep track of a winter weather advisory. It's just too early to think about freezing rain, sleet, ice, and snow. If this is any indication, then the persimmon pits have accurately forecasted a particularly nasty winter.

At least this current nasty spell is predicted to be out of here by tomorrow afternoon, so the Thanksgiving weekend should be okay, if cold.

Later, for supper, Mother wanted fried eggs and toast, so I fixed them for her. And Hubbie made French toast for the two of us. Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I watched repeat shows on TV, since we've watched everything else I'd recorded on DVR.

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Note: I'm glad our black cat didn't decide to dash outside again tonight like he did Friday night, because I'm afraid he'd have gotten a cold-weather shock. As usual, we didn't notice he was gone for a while, and it was dark by the time we missed him. Hubbie spent quite a bit of time outside, flashlight in hand, looking for him.

Finally, he showed up, and gratefully allowed Hubbie to scoop him up and bring him back inside. That silly cat just can't learn! He's determined to dash out, but then he realizes that he doesn't like it out there, where his coat isn't thick enough for the cold weather, and where the outdoor male cat does not appreciate him.