SIMMERING SUNDAY

[CathyS]

Harriet thank you so much! I was really close on the spices, but not the cooking time. I remember making it a few times back then. 2008. Wow!

[Nancy]

I am thinking I already posted here today but I guess not. Watching the game. Had lunch with soup and leftovers. Let the hens out later today not as much sun for some reason.

Journaling & qt done.

I am not feeling all that productive for some reason but that is okay as it is a rest day for me h simmered clam chowder soup was good for lunch.

Spent some time looking for an app that was for tablet notes not a phone one finally got one.

[Sunny]

Good afternoon everyone! It is a quiet, relaxing day for dh and me. Dh talked to ds#2 earlier this afternoon and found out that dfam will not be coming today. Ddil has eight assignments to finish in nine days. She's getting close to finishing and it's a lot of pressure on her.

I'm hoping Kathryn has a good trip this afternoon. Best wishes, Dee, for a good visit and dinner with dgd16 and her foster family. It would be nice to hear that Lady M and her dfamily's Thanksgiving Dinner at church was not uncomfortable with the cold weather. And everyone who has had snow and wet weather... safe travels if you have to be on the roads!

Elizabeth....that is a marvelous experience at the concert with dd12, lots of good memories for you both!

Dh has been baking Christmas cookies this afternoon with some holiday music playing in the background. I have been doing miscellaneous odd jobs from room to room. I have also checked the calendar for the week and dealt with emails; deleted some, marked a bunch as spam, etc. I have had both ddogs keeping me company.

Yesterday ds#1 called to say they weren't coming, but would like if Papa and I could come to their house. We had spaghetti with meat sauce for supper.

Lady M.... I saw your post re the cholesterol. I changed the settings on MFP to track cholesterol and according to MFP on the 1200 calorie diet the daily goal for cholesterol is 300. So when shopping for groceries we look at labels and try to stay between 5 and no more than 20 mg per serving. (I guess I should have put this in the Health thread)....

This has been sitting here for a while....I need to post it!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Sunny: thanks for the good wishes on the travel. So far so good. We are about 75 minutes from our dinner stop. Dd's godparents are driving down from there city to meet us at an intersection point for a dinner visit. Then we drive another 30 minutes or so, park the car and take the train and subway to the hotel in Toronto.

I'm exhausted and both of us have had headaches all through the day. Really loving the heated seat in the car.

There was another beautiful snowfall so I started the day with my usual Snow! Snow! exuberance. Church went well and coffee hour was a lovely time of fellowship. CM had a choir practice starting at 1:30 so had her lunch with her too and we heated up our lunches and sat down at a table after most everyone left. I didn't even notice the 2 year old belonging to the coffee hour hosts pulling out a chair and sitting next to me until her parents were calling her name. She saw us eating and assumed it was another church potluck so was sitting there waiting for someone to supply her with food!

My service in the afternoon went well. Meant to take off quickly but there were people who wanted to talk.

Then we were had 3 stops before hitting the highway, our sister church to put up a sign, our own church to drop off our music bags and the general store (who are storing the guitar for us since the churches aren't heated enough for it.)

Dd will have passed us on her way back home about 30 minutes ago. I invited her to dinner but is 3.5 hours from her home and dsil needs to get up early for work in the morning so they couldn't make it this time.

I have a few projects with me for the trip including one for in the car, but was just too tired so have been just daydreaming with occasional chatting to dh. I had a hymn from today as an earworm and finally put on XM Sirius satellite radio on the Christmas channel and we are enjoying that now. Christmas music is so wonderful!

[Lynlee]

yes - simmering here today. temps in 90s i/l 100s.
I need to get some food simmering, LOL to simmer in the sun. They will be quickly baked I think.
Sending warmth your way.

Need to move. still to dress and eat.
Need to attend to financial matters today - appointment in 2.5 hrs.
govt is changing the rules 1/1 and I need to know whether to change my super or not.

[Harriet]

They didn't need me to sing today, so my work and effort in getting ready was unnecessary. I've learned that being the "substitute" in this new music situation requires selflessness and patience!

Was waylaid by a lady who wants to provide fruit baskets for all the Angel Tree children. (?) Because of her insistence that I stop and talk about that, I missed the chance to get back to the fellowship hall to the tree and encourage others to accept a child for whom to purchase a gift. I was so sure that all the Angels could be chosen by now. Sigh. A few more taken, but a few left.

I told her that the minister was the person to talk to about extra gifts. That's nice and all, but if we'd known we had all these resources to provide, maybe we could have accepted more children. Sigh.

Ds29 and my green-eyed boy dropped by. he is a total Thomas the Tank Engine boy! Also while ds was here, dear aunt of the daily aprons called and I let him answer so they could chat. That was nice.

Bundle of joy - ddil's last appt the dr told her all was "textbook". Nice for her to hear. Her hips are beginning to ache quite a bit, with long days working at the hospital on her feet. Dr. suggested prenatal yoga. Interesting. He said he couldn't be more "sold" on it for his patients. Her sister knows a lot about yoga and has promised to go to the prenatal yoga classes with her. (Potential baby name is lovely, btw - we'll see. They could change their minds of course.)

Ds brought his new truck for us to see. A new Ram in Graphite color. Not exactly the black to match his trailers for his side-line business, but it will look very nice with them. He tried to purchase a sensible used one at first, and narrowly missed being cheated by an unscrupulous dealership who falsely portrayed a truck as fine and provided (possibly false?) "car-fax". But since he was considering partial loan amounts on it, his bank checked, too. THEY discovered info that it was labeled as a known "lemon", in the same category as a salvaged vehicle. Bank called the BBB. Wow.

[DeeClutter]

We've been enjoying Christmas music on our Sirrius too, Kathryn. Most of these are older and we're really enjoying the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Englebert Humperdink, and on and on. Love it.

Evening went well with gd16 and her 'family'. Of course dd and the foster mom have been good friends for a number of years. My spaghetti sauce was a big hit. She wanted me to package it and send it home with her. I'm sure I can't duplicate it as it was bits of this 'n that I brought down from up north as far as sauce etc. It was good! Of course one thing I did was put it all together after cooking the sausage & ground beef last night and let it cook for a while. Let it set in the fridge overnight and put it in the crockpot this morning. Have to say it was yummy. Have to write down what seasonings I put in at least. Might not matter what canned sauce I use I'm thinking.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

After I signed off last time, the snow started in earnest and we had a difficult drive for about an hour or more. Then a wonderful dinner with the godparents. We are now on the train and will be for almost an hour.

It is nice to be out of the car and let someone else worry about the weather, although at the moment there isn't much snow, just wet.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Settled in the hotel. It was a relatively smooth transfer here from the train station (no elevator at the main subway station, though so we had to carry the bags down.)

Bought milk and cereal for the morning. Dh is to meet in the lobby at 8:15, that's 8 hours from now. Off to bed and hopefully to sleep. The walks and the train ride helped both of us shake headaches that had been with us all day.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! Another late check in. Church activities done, pictures from the concert printed and picked up, lunch and ice cream done, DD's room picked up, more church activities done, and DD12 delivered to the X. One interesting effect of the concert described last night: DD brought her guitar over, to try out the picks she got at the concert. She still remembers the songs she was taught at the school guitar club several years ago.

Here's what I still need to do: feed some cats, add one paragraph to the church website, email pastor's wife for some pictures for the site, pack lunch for work, get breakfast set out for tomorrow.

It will be a busy week:
Monday = get food for work potluck on Friday and youth group on Sunday, find out if DD will be going to viewing Tuesday or staying with the X
Tuesday = viewing for a friend's husband (he was only 47!!!)
Wednesday = funeral for same, then dinner gathering for same. This will require me to drive to work instead of taking the train.
Thursday = Girls' Night Out with DD12 (won't be as exciting as the last one), followed by cook for work potluck
Friday = potluck at work (may drive in), Bunco
Saturday = usual cat clinic + lunch with friend, cook for youth group on Sunday
Sunday = usual church activities + possible delivery of Operation Christmas Childe boxes + feed youth group

DeeClutter: Why don't they just get a new transmission? Much cheaper than a new car or truck.

Everyone: If you want to read about a wild night/parenting milestone, read yesterday's description of the concert with DD12 on page 3. Hint: I saw my first mosh pit and got to be a groupie.