Organizing

Larry piles papers, catalogs, and whatever on the couch and coffee table. Today I gathered it all up and put the pile in a basket. It looks a lot better and gives Larry a place for his pile!

Planning

Index cards are my current favorite way to plan. One of those cards is for daily plans, one for seeds and plants I'm planning for this spring, and one for authors to check since I have a few credits on audible. When I finish one, I can toss it. Sometimes I have a shopping card out, too.

Busy

I cleaned a lot of stuff from the refrigerator and made a run to put it in the outside bon, wrapped a package, took a load of Christmas stuff to the basement, and made a small loaf of yeast bread. I also cleaned a couple of surfaces that had accumulated papers, etc. My internet connection is slow but I downloaded a book which took almost two hours.

Artisan Bread

The book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day calls for mixing all the ingredients at once, yeast and all, and letting it sit out several hours, then refrigerating it. This mix can be made into a number of things. When we got married, I didn't know how to cook. My decision to make yeast bread was based on having all the ingredients. I didn't know to use plain flour, so it was pretty awful. My mother in law was such a sweetie that she said it was good. I said it couldn't be right or nobody would make it twice. I had to beg her to tell me why the rolls were little and hard!

Bread

I love yeast bread. I stopped making it because it isn't on a low-carb diet. But Larry is buying artisan bread and biscuits, so I decided I might as well make it. So today I mixed up a batch of the five-minute artisan bread dough. It's in the refrigerator. I don't know if I'll like it. I know I like the yeast dough that is hand kneaded. I guess I'll see tomorrow.

Taking Down

I started taking down a few Christmas arrangements. It turned out that I needed to dust and vacuum the areas as I went. It doesn't seem long enough to have so much dust accumulate because I'm certain I cleaned it before I decorated. Oh, well.

Different

When I got to the hospital, I went to admin to sign in. Everything was different. The people were the same, but the office furniture had been rearranged. The sign in tablet wasn't there. The office manager said the tablet it in the gift shop, all of the volunteers will have keys, and the mail room is in a new place. So I hunted everything down and finally started feeling like I had a clue. It feels off to come in and find everything different.

Merry Christmas!

Some people didn't send Christmas cards this year. So, I wonder if they are sick or dead. A Christmas card let's me know they are all right!

Money

I see pleas for money for dogs, etc., on TV. I'm pretty sure those TV slots are paid for. They have workers who get paid. I don't know how much actually goes to help animals.

Rain

I drove the gator to check the rain gauge. It wasn't parked under the shop carport but under the shop porch. We got three inches of rain and a bunch of it was in the seat of the gator. I was wet with really cold rain collection. I was telling Larry about it and he said he did the same thing Thursday but didn't get mad at me. I told him I wasn't mad at him I was just mad.

Cherry Pie

This is mama's recipe except I used a refrigerator pie crust. I made my own pie crust for my last pie and it was tough. This one is better.

Roast or Chicken?

I wanted roast for Christmas but Larry wants fried chicken. So today I made roast with the trimmings and we'll have chicken for Christmas. I don't plan on anything fancy, but we'll have food that isn't on our diet so it will be special. The paper said we'll have a white Christmas, but the weather channel isn't agreeing. Lots of rain seems to be the projection now.

Unexpected

I was surprised that Ben won Survivor. Some seasons I don't watch until the end because nobody is left but the cockroaches. I thought Chrissy was going to win and I didn't like her or Ryan. I liked Ben but didn't think he had a chance. So he made it to the end and the jury didn't let me down.

Wait and See

My neighbor is convinced that this tax bill means we will have to pay more taxes. I asked which television channel he watches. He was noncommittal about it and named a local channel and "others." Larry said we will probably know in February when we see how much tax is deducted from our checks.

Difficulty Ordering

We've been trying to order fragrance tins for the candle warmers at the gift shop. She finally called them to find out what was wrong. It turns out that the website says to order in increments of six. But what it really wanted was for the total to be divisible by twelve. You'd have a fifty-fifty chance of that with increments of six of each type. But in addition, they wanted four of each kind although it said six. So we got our order placed, but Melody had to figure to make sure the total was divisible by twelve. If they want to make ordering difficult, they've done it.

Sale

We went to Hobby Lobby to look at their Christmas stuff on sale. Everything was 66% off:) They didn't have a green pencil tree. They had white, gold, and silver. I had decided not to get one because I don't like how Larry is decorating. When I told him I'd changed my mind because he doesn't seem interested, he said it was fun when the kids were at home. I told him I thought we should still have a life even though there are no kids in the house. He said we have one, it's just different. But he's interested in decorating outside. I'm glad for lights, but that's about it for outside for me.

Christmas Decorations

I'm usually enthusiastic about Christmas decorations. I was going to print out a discount coupon and go to Hobby Lobby to get a pre-lit pencil tree. But I was looking at St. Nicklaus with a skull beside him and my nativity set with a rifle in front of it and decided why bother.

Hearing Aid

Larry was watching Larry's Country Diner. He likes it and keeps taking it off of mute so I can hear something. Mostly I just remember all the times I wanted to read him something and he was rude to me. But tonight an old entertainer said he and his wife have been married for 52 years and she insisted he get a hearing aid. She had told him she was proud of him and he replied he was tired of her, too. That was funny to me because I've had some of those conversations with Larry before he got his hearing aid. We still have problems communicating because if he doesn't have them in, I have to yell. If I've made a mistake and they're in, he yells back at me. I wonder if he knows how difficult it is to decide if talking to him is worth while.

Greenhouse

I have been rearranging my greenhouse so a few pieces of fitness stuff would fit in there. So I got the things arranged and noticed that the floor looked awful, so I mopped it. The guy came to plant the pollinator seeds. I don't think he's finished, but he got a good start. To get to one of the fields, he has to go through a neighbor's field. It's planted with soybeans. They didn't want him to go through the field, but we eventually settled on driving through the sparse edge. I was glad the conversation was on the phone because it didn't sound friendly towards the end. But it was ok, I guess. I'm glad that part is finished.

Tests

I had two tests scheduled this morning at an imaging center. I got there early and they took me immediately. The tests were done and I was back in time to eat lunch...fish on Friday:) The tests they do every few years don't upset me. I tried to tell them I didn't need a bone scan since I don't break anything when I fall. They weren't impressed. Anyway, tests when something is wrong have a whole different impact.

Exercise Peddler

This is for using while seated. It can also sit on a table for arms to use. There is a knob to adjust the tension.

Today's List

My Christmas cards are finished. I ate my oily fish and three pieces of fruit today. I ate more than just those things, but those were the things I put on my list to make sure I ate them. I bleached a load of whites (that's a once a month chore) and went to the bank. It wasn't a bad day.

Dry Eyes Diet

Today I ate a can of sardines. It's a fatty fish and is supposed to be good for people with dry eyes. I bought several cans of sardines, and I have tuna and salmon (canned...I hope it isn't necessary that the fish is fresh). I need to try to eat stuff on that diet six times a week. I don't know if I can actually do it, but I don't want to use drops longer than I have to.

Addiction

My iPod worked on the way to the hospital and at first when I got there. Then I turned it off when I stopped to talk to somebody. It wouldn't come back on. It was awfully boring not being able to listen to an audio book while I was there alone. I wasn't alone the whole time, but I'm in the habit of listening to a book whenever I'm not actively listening to somebody else. I thought at first it could be the earbuds, but when I got home I tried different earbuds to no avail.

Breakfast

Today I had a ham/cranberry roll and fried egg for breakfast. I don't think it was wonderful, but I should be able to eat it for breakfast several times before I toss it. I started Christmas cards around doing the laundry.

Buns

I made yeast rolls filled with ham and cranberry sauce today. I meant to add shredded cheese but it hadn't held up well in the refrigerator so I tossed it. The rolls were all right, but I kept thinking that for the same amount of effort, I could have made cinnamon rolls. I don't guess I'll make it again.

Too Cold

I'd planned to do some baking today but the kitchen was too cold for me to get up any enthusiasm. I was pretty sure that when I started cooking, the kitchen would warm up. But I didn't do much. The copper pan I bought yesterday was excellent for its nonstick quality and didn't mess up the texture of the fried egg. I kept thinking of how plastic the egg on tv looked, but it was about as perfect as a fried egg gets.  I looked at the reviews on Amazon and wished I'd gotten it there as they come with glass lids if desired. I didn't see just the glass lid so I could fit the pan with a lid without buying another one.

Copper Skillet

I've been frying an egg every morning and it is sticking to my black iron skillet. I'd thrown away my last nonstick skillet because it was not nonstick any more. Today I got a copper skillet. I want to know how long it works. So this post will document the time I bought it.

Post Appocalypse Stories

Post Apocalypse stories are interesting to me. The idea of people working together for survival is interesting to me. I read Emergence by David Palmer a long time ago. In that one, people developed powers after the event. In Nora Roberts's new one, Year One, Chronicles of the One, it's kind of like that. People developed powers, some good, some bad. But the idea of finding people to work together to survive the situation is the same. Well, Nora Roberts doesn't have as many bad words as some.

Dry Eyes

I went back to my ophthalmologist today to check on my eyes. We had this long discussion about medication. I told him I went three weeks ago because I wanted to know if my eyes were infected. They weren't so I didn't want to use the medicated drops. I'm using otc  liquid tears occasionally. He said use the liquid tears more frequently but my eyes are in good shape, come back in a year. He agreed that people over medicate and a healthy body is the best plan...eat fruit and vegetables. That discussion went better than some I've had with doctors!

My Squash

I have a friend who is always thinking somebody got a better deal than she did. She takes little packages of stuff from the table, looks for freebie coupons, etc. Wednesday she looked at my tray at lunch and said her squash didn't have red stuff in it. I looked at my tray to see what she was talking about and told her that my squash was sliced pickled peppers. The red stuff was pimentos from the olives. I ate the olives but not the pickles...too much vinegar! She laughed and repeated that my squash was peppers.

Eggnog

Well, I usually look longingly at eggnog around this time of the year. But today I bought a quart of it and added wild turkey to it when I got home. I just made a glass of it and didn't put near as much wild turkey in it as the container suggested...1:1 was going to end up two cups and really strong. So the glass I made wasn't as strong as the suggest recipe, but it was still really strong for me as I don't drink much. It was really good:) Happy Holidays:)

Business

The Supreme Court is hearing the case about the baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. I really think that is a ridiculous case. Nobody should support a business which is rude to them. If somebody refused to let me place an order, believe me, they'd never get my business for any purpose from a birthday cake to whatever else they put out. My friends would find someone friendlier to buy from. But the Supreme Court? Really?

Books and Places

When we moved to Germany, part of why we wanted to go was to see places we'd read and studied about. We enjoyed going to cathedral, museums, and palaces. Now we are back in the states and I enjoy reading certain books because of the character and plots and others because of the setting. Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo is set in Bruge, well, the first book is. Bruge is an absolutely wonderful town. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone is mostly set in Florence. Florence is also a great place to visit. The history of those places is interesting, the architecture is wonderful, and rereading those books is sort of like revisiting them. There are other books with place associations that I enjoy, but those two pop to mind easily.

Back to the Doctor

It was time for Larry to see the doctor again. It had been three months. It wasn't a great visit but she said to come back in two months. She is still talking dialysis but not yet. Getting old and feeling like you are falling apart must be awful.

Book Food

I was reading A. American's survivalist series and they mentioned fried mush and how good it was. I looked it up and decided to try it. The reviews looked OK and I like cornmeal. So I scrambled some sausage and made it. It was prettily awful just sliced and fried. It is edible with a fried egg topper, but I won't be making it again!

Car

My car is fixed. EJ replaced the hood and the paint looks good. I was worried that it wouldn't match the rest of the car, but it looks good. It took a while, but now it is fixed.

Kumquats

The box of satsumas had a bag of sour kumquats, too! I like them a lot, but they burn my mouth on the outside. So I've only eaten two.

Satsumas

Satsumas are easy to peel and virtually seedless. They are sweeter than tangerines. They are kind of hard to find in most places so Larry called and ordered a box. It arrived today. I don't know how much the fruit cost, but the postage was fifty bucks!