Best/Worse/What did I learn today? Chat with friends

NOBODY wants to see my ears! I think it's my worst body part! Love the ears the rest of you are sharing though!

Our little outing to the tea room didn't happen. When we got there, they were closed with a sign on the door that they were only open on W/T/F/S. :o( However we had heard that the place next door to it was good and it was open, so we ate there. Buckeye Jake's. I had a reuben and ffs. Two of them had fried chicken, one with mashed and one with fries and the other one had a brisket sammy with fries. It was all very yummy. Two had dessert. Lemon cupcake and german choc. cupcake. I was too stuffed!

Betty, I don't want you to send it to me, but when you're traveling south next month, please remember that I want a tube of that pain med you were using in MI. I forget the name.

Well, I've torn my bread for the stuffing and now I'm getting ready to clean the kitchen so I can mess it up again making a pecan pie to take to Lisa's tomorrow. It will be a small crowd of only about 12. She usually has a much bigger turnout. All the more leftovers to be sent home with us!!!!! YAY!

So glad to hear that it's finally over for Crissy....know she's relieved, too.

Betty, sure hope you're feeling better, and Katie, too.

LK, how lovely. How many does that make for you now? And how long was the sitting for that part that is finished?

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday when I got home. I had a ups box and I couldn't imagine what it was...it was part of my swap Christmas present. Awwww...how did she know that I'd love it!!!! ^_^ It came from Janice.

Here's an updated picture of the kittens. I'm really thankful. I called SISCA and they have a low cost spay/neuter program. It will only be $20 for Smokey (male) and $40 for each of the females (Neeky and FiFi). PLUS that includes rabies shots for all three of them. They are scheduled for the 14th of December. The SISCA lady said it didn't matter if Neeky was still nursing them, so all of that hassle of trying to keep them a part didn't have to be done....geesh. So happy about that! FiFi is on the left and Smokey on the right. Too bad it doesn't show Smokey's blue eyes, but they would have probably turned out red anyway!

Joyce, you just saved me! Forgot to shred the bread which I wanted to do last night!!!

LOVE the kitties, and that is a great bargain for spay/neuter cost. Our females are about $140 each and they won't do til have had all kitten shots.

OK, shredding bread.....

Can see you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving...
Do you buy pre-seasoned bread?? love it..

Joyce, could it be that Janice saw you cry that night in our hotel room in Frankenmuth because you dropped your bottle of wine entering the hotel lobby??? lol mouth watering here, I've been drinking candycane hot chocolate from timmies, can just imagine how yummy the chocolate wine would be.

I'll put the tubes of Voltaren on my list to pack Joyce..just bought another tube, expensive but boy does it do the job!

Glad you got the furries done, lordy, that is a good price.
We have clinics here that give needles for free and discount neutering/spading..mine are done
They sure are misbehaving, ever since Sailor died they have been giving me the what for..you know, Missy still hasn't slept by my side..Sailor was always on the floor next to my bed and Missy on the bed..no longer..

Odd night when Riley is home I do get company

I'm sure Janice did see my pouty lips that night! Bertie has put that wine in her coffee and she says it's to die for! The only thing with that is I can't drink coffee at night because it keeps me awake and I don't drink in the daytime! (OK, well at beer=thirty I do, but those days are gone). Guess I'll have to invest in some decaff coffee!

I've been sitting here catching up on threads I haven't read in a while and now I really, really have to get busy!

Oh about that does look good Joyce!!! I have the biscuits and cornbread baked for my stuffing and fresh beets cooking. Will start some other thing later today but now I need to run to the local market and get some thing we forgot yesterday. Never fails, does it? Kim is slowly recovering from her cold but one of the GDs is sick. Guess we have reached that time of year in the south.

Wishing all a safe, healthy Thanksgiving. Just make sure if you over eat, you enjoy every mouthful! :-)

I do not buy seasoned bread. I use Italian bread and a loaf of wheat, mix the two and add my own ingredients for the stuffing. Two years ago almost identical to my family one....but with apples and raisins in it....and it really made the stuffing "pop" with flavor. The kids love it now...wouldn't eat much before.

Sounds yummy, I do add few cranberries and apple as well, then when deboned I take gravey and bits of turkey and add to dressing to make moist..not fond of dry stuffing..

Joyce, can see that the cooler temps has brought you inside. How nice for you all to have a 4 day weekend.

Marion, with more coming down with a cold will you still all be meeting up?

Suse/Suse where are you, missing you

Well, it started out that I was to be alone for Thanksgiving. Boys working and some traveling but friends called from Lansing and said they were coming down on Thursday and leaving on Friday.
The the boy working said he would stop by after work for leftovers and the boy from Detroit said he and girlfriend would come down on Saturday and go home of Sunday. So as it turned out I have to get ready for overnight guests for two different times and fix a large dinner for us all!
I do love it though. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Going to take advantage of the boy being her this weekend and he can get down the Christmas boxes from the top shelf of the closet and help me put some things up. I make it a point not to put any Christmas decorations up until AFTER Thanksgiving. I think it gets slighted as it is.
Big talk around here about stores and places being open on Thanksgiving so employees have to work. Black Friday is one thing but Thanksgiving day is a whole different thing!

glad you are having company Janice, would hate to see you alone.

Did hear about shopping Thanksgiving, did say that only after 8pm, but still, family time is important and shopping could wait don't you think?

re: tearing bread.......... several people here cut it into cubes and were advising me at what temp the bread should be to cut easily. I told them..........'only ever tore bread, as that's the way my Dad did'. Sure is something that can be done while watching TV........!

Janice - nice that you're having company!!!! And really good to see you posting!! How's Stacy?

Betty - sorry to hear Missy still isn't happy. They really do grieve, then even after they forget what it was for, I'm sure they're now in a "rut" and don't get back to the old routine. (((Betty)))

Went to another Job Search Workshop, and it was good. A bit confusing, as I'm not sure how to apply it. I had a "funny"......... Yesterday we drew banners of our "barriers in our lives". Today they held them up and we were to run through them, breaking the banner/barriers. I "drop kicked" mine and tore it quite soundly LOL I know, it sounds like we're only having Fun, but there is much of it that's very serious business.........

All this talk about Thanksgiving is making me hungry. I love turkey!! Hope everyone has a Thanksgiving that they want, guests or not. Betty I think you and I should slip across that border and get us a turkey dinner. Just dreaming ,couldn't leave Diesel and Quill but the idea is a great one to think about.

Have done all the wood I can do until the guys come to cut and split next year's wood. All that is left for me to do now is once a week move the week's wood into the carport from the pile. On a cold, snowy night I sure appreciate being able to stack a week's worth of wood close.

Crissy I hope this a Thanksgiving for the books for you!!! Sounds promising and I was so glad to read you were smiling. Its been a long haul for you and I hope all of the legal work is over.

Going to try and drive myself into Kingston tomorrow for my mammio. Since I haven't had one since 2008 I thought I had better get it done. The last time I was there was just before the wheels fell of the wagon of my health and then Warren's.Have an old neighbour on standby just in case the dizzies crop up.Sure hope I can do it - these dizzies are undermining my confidence in a big way. I have always prided myself on taking care of myself so this has been a setback in that area.

Can't remember if I told you but I bought myself an earlly Christmas present - a new oil tank. For heavens sake this one is just 11 years old and inside the house but is leaking. Insurance wants it switched out every 15 years or they won't cover you here ( I think being on the lake has something to do with it too) and since it costs as much for new as to fix it, it might as well be new. So this fall I have had to put in a new water softener, now the oil tank and all of the smoke alarms went kaput the same week. Remember when they used to build things to last forever!!

Guess Diesel was doing me a favour by digging out the bulbs. I had forgot the wrap them in chicken wire so the chippies and squirrels would have run off with them all.Quill is favouring one of her legs. Her hips have been bothering her for quite some time so I went online and got her something that people who have dogs with the same problem recommend.Imagine that Diesel tackling her every time she moves when we are outside doesn't help the poor little girl.I hate to see her in pain.

Mary, how many pies are you going to make? I can't remember the last time I made one. My oven is lonely I am sure. Positive I heard the cookie sheets call out "Remember me" when I was in the laundry room yesterday.

Love the tat LK. Such nice colours as well as a beautiful design. Talented son you have there.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Dianne

I know we Canajuns don't have our Thanksgiving now, but I agree - all this talk of Turkey is making me Want Som!!
Poor Quill........... what did you buy her?
A new oil tank is a Good thing, Dianne!

Hi Crissy!! Hope you can get back to viisit us now and then.......

I don't think that people should have to work on Thanksgiving........ mind you, if they want to "lose themselves in work" to work through something, maybe it's a good thing. I can't see that there would be many shoppers, or enough to warrant having the stores open, do you?

Gray Thursday is the new start of Black Friday here. Grandson has to be at work at 8PM Thursday...store opens at 9PM and he will work til 5AM Friday morning, 6PM to midnight Friday and Noon to 10PM Saturday. I think his Thanksgiving will be get up, eat, sleep, eat and go to work....but he likes the money and there is so much for him to spend it on...grin.

I am tearing bread also (French Bread), but to make pear bread pudding rather stuffing. DH prefers oyster dressing rather than bread/corn bread, so making brown rice with oysters,mushrooms and almonds. Also gonna try a cranberry, raspberry and orange compote with shortbread for dessert.

Oh Jean, the pear bread pudding sounds wonderful. Do you share recipes? I have never met a bread pudding I didn't like then to add one of my favorite fruits........wow!!

Susan, Black Friday is the largest shopping day in the US. And most years we have a "cyber shop" day on the Sat/Sun/Mon following Thanksgiving. Some places do a 1/3 or more of their annual sales between midnight Thursday and 6PM Sunday....it is a very big deal and shoppers will line up hours before a store opens to try to get the biggest bargains. It can get wicked crazy and even a bit dangerous.

I too have never met a bread pudding that I didn't like. lol Interesting kind Jean! Love oyster dressing too but always ended up making the bread/sausage/onion stuffing that is everybody else's fav.

That's some long hours your DGS is working Jean but eh, as you say its good money and he likes to spend it. He is lucky he is able to do so and I am sure he realizes it. In my rural community the number of paying jobs for teens on 1 hand and of course relatives get first chance. No wonder so many of the teens in this area are just not motivated to do anything - they have no chance to expand their horizons or fulfil their dreams. When I think about it it was much the same in the rural area where I grew up. I was the only girl in my high school class who wasn't married, engaged or pregnant. They all thought I was the odd ball because I was moving away from home to go to university.

Susan I bet that drop kick felt good! Sometimes a action like that is just what you need. Did Bob have to do the same thing?

Betty how are you feeling tonight? You should get your iron checked. I have a very high iron level and actually have to have blood taken from me a few times a year.Dull headaches are usually 1 indication my iron levels are getting dangerously high.

Question, with Thursday being Thanksgiving do most places of work ( obviously not retail and food industry) stay closed on Friday?

I am very happy to share Marion...it is a ridiculously simple recipe and yet Sinfully good. Grin This recipe makes 12 servings and is cooked in a preheated oven at 325 degrees.

Moon's Pear Bread Pudding
1 loaf of toasted or stale french bread,
broken and soaked in,
2 cups milk

MIx:
2 cups milk (you can use 1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream if you prefer)
3 eggs, beaten
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
2 TBS vanilla (or 1TBS each vanilla and almond extract)
1 and 1/2 cup diced pears (with skins)
Pour over soaked bread and mix well.

Pour 2TBS melted butter into a 9x9x2-inch dish, add pudding mixture and bake 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.
.
1/2 cup peeled pureed pear (set aside for the sauce)


Rum Sauce
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
6TBS butter or margarine
Rum to taste (or you can use rum extract)

In a double boiler heat sugar and butter until the sugar is dissolved. Add beaten egg, stirring quickly and blend thoroughly add pear puree, blend and remove from heat. Add rum to taste and serve warm over pudding. (again you can use rum extract, but the rum adds a nice depth to the flavor)

It is tasty Dianne. i hope you will give it a try. Here I usually double the recipe and then divide it into loaf pans...that way I can partially bake 3 of them to freeze. (partial baking helps keep the egg/milk mix from separating when you thaw it....and ya get warm bread pudding every time. I puree up extra pear and freeze it in small containers for sauce for the frozen puddings. A thin slice of lemon on top of the puree, then covered with plastic wrap and a tight fitting lid helps keep the pear from turning brown in the freezer)

It certainly won't hurt him financially. He is a Freshman in college, and all the schools close on Wednesday and reopen on Monday. Lots of time for him to sleep on Sunday...grin Most business offices and government offices are closed Thursday and Friday as are a lot of service type businesses.

I know very well about Black Friday for years. I know that people have been trampled to death, on the worst years.....
Bob doesn't go to the workshops I do, because he isn't disabled.

I have some great bread pudding recipes. One is a microwaved one - Bread Pudding with a Whiskey base, and a Souffle/whipped cream topping... yummmmm!!

Oh Joyce, that wine is to die for, I tried it at Frankenmouth, and it was delicious.
Hey Janice, glad to hear your having company for thanksgiving.
Dianne, sounds like you have a bunch of wood cut already, do you primarily heat with wood? So sorry to hear Quill is not feeling good. Hope the meds you got, work for him.
I don't know about the others, but Todd works for the government, and the base shuts down on Friday.

Yes Betty, I did get the box of books, thanks so much!

Thanks for asking Dianne, am doing the 'aaaachhhooo' every few minutes..bound I'm not going to give in.

Cutting workshop wood, doing the snowmen first because its easy cutting..using the band saw for that, yikes, really concentrating..have to stop after every snowman body because the fire alarm goes off..(normal-sawdust and heat) going to have some major vacuuming and dusting to do..Mary, did you say you were lending yourself out???

I also have a bread pudding done in microwave, sooo good, especially when cream and ice cream tops it..now you've made me hungry for turkey and all the fixings, did that Sunday, now you've got me wanting bread pudding..might try Jean's recipe..hard though just for one..might try it then it's something I can bring to family Christmas gathering..did tell you boys thought I shouldn't cook, take it easy so got invited to Jeff and Julie's, will miss leftovers though! the other day she was making turtles, one of Jeff's favorites..glad I don't live closer or I'd be twice the size..lol

off to cut more wood while I still feel energetic

Dianne, you'll feel so much better having done the wood before the really cold weather arrives and it's snowing and blowing..what do you think about our weather so far??? yep, did tell me I had to get rid of blood a few times a year..might be part of the problem. How old is Quill??? Hard to see one of our furries ailing.

Joyce meant to tell you, think it was in Cincinnati that they had a regional dog show and Sharon's dog (new to the shows) won all the prizes as well as best in show..thinks there were 195 dogs represented. She is thrilled. Now she's off in a few weeks to Georgia and then also to the big Florida Show..tried to find a day we could get together before Christmas but between her schedule and my schedule it's doubtful..perhaps in the new year.

I was the only one in the office today, did some snoozing, watched movies and a bit of hand sewing.

Linda Kay, glad the box arrived, still more on its way..sending it Nov.30th when I do the workshop mail-out. I enjoyed working for the government, always extra days to be had!!!!

Jean, you must be so proud of that grandson...Gray Thursday, think it's the first time I've heard of it.

Spoke with Jeff tonight, he was shopping on-line, Lord knows what he's shopping for but couldn't wait to get off the phone so he could save more $$$$

yummmmmmy love the sound of that Pear Bread Pudding

lol what a great snowman, Betty! How tall will he be?

Yes Betty I am extremely proud of him. As I have mentioned before, he has lived with us since he was 21 months old. He graduated this spring Cum Laude and qualified for both a state grant (TOPS) and a federal grant (PELL) for college....they pay all his tuition and books/fees. His TOPS is an Honor award and pays up to $2990 per semester as long as he maintains a 3.0GPA. And his PELL grant is about $1100 per semester as long as he maintains a 2.0 GPA. He is very proud to be able to pay for his college himself as a result of "Grandma nagging him through high school". GRIN

What did I learn today? Well, to break through my "barriers" - personal and work related. Mostly personal. It's amazing how we hold ourselves back through misconceptions we taught ourselves over the years........

That is quite the achievement..what is his major, and to see that he even works part time..that little one has his head straight on hs shoulders!

Susan, snowman I'd about 30" tall

pretty tall, but oh-so-appropriate height! Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Sounds as though you are enjoying these workshops Susan.

Well, just tucked myself in..I'm better early morning..don't want to use band saw while I'm yawning..if I was using the scroll saw I'd get a pinch if I nodded off, band saw, there goes my fingers..

See, I could hear you all tell me to call it a night.

Night night, good Lird willing, we'll gab tomorrow!

Waving to all onthe Thanksgiving eve....

I enjoy the camaraderie, but mostly I enjoy learning more about myself.......

Hello To All !

Betty - I will definitely be over to clean.... rate I'm going I'll hit LK's house by 2014 and can get yours by 2016....LOL...

Congrats to Sharons Dog ! Same one that keeps on winning, right?
Jean... Kudos to your DGS... what a great young man.... Yup folks make the rice dressing around here... I miss my Stuffing....a non - Louisiana thing I suppose... interesting tearing the bread I've never heard of that. Mom usually used bread crumbs. Thanks for the pear recipe.... Dad and DW gave me a jar of canned pears... maybe I can use those?

Dianne.. don't like the thought of you getting dizzy like that... does it come all of a sudden? Maybe get someone to drive you... Too funny how everything always breaks down all at once. is it cosequin you are getting fo rQuilll ? we have used that before...

Susan sounds like the breaking through the paper felt real good...

Hugs all...

HAPPY Turkey Eve !

Mary

I wonder if canned plums would work?

Yes, it felt good - actually quite an emotional thing... surprised by my reaction

Dianne - how are you feeling tonight?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...
Sure hope your day is perfect!!

Mary, no, this is one of her pups..she sure knows how to pick best of liter

Off to cut wood. Lol

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!!! Hope it is a wonderful day for you filled with happy memorries and good things to eat.

I got my Santa Warren box from Mary!!! But I won't open it just yet. Norm has a lump under his right arm that will be removed by the surgeon on Monday so we will wait until after that to open. I want to be in a very happy frame of mind and I will be then. I'm amazed at my own patience that has grown this past year!!!

Our prayers will be with you both Barb!!

You do have patience, usually I'm opening packages at post office lol

Want to stop in Elmvale on the way to work, need rough saw cut wood for stars, banners and hands..worse comes to worse it will be a trip into Midland tomorrow afternoon

Hugs coming your way Barb

Thanks Betty and I'll pass one on to Norm as well......

Morning everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am so thankful that I have so many friends here!
Barb, also sending out prayers to you both! ((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))

Happy Birthday BJ! Hope you have a great day!

Hello To All and Happy Thanksgiving To All !

Many Prayers headed your way Barb ! So glad you got the box.... :o)

Happy Birthday B.J....nothing like having most of the cou try off celebrating with you.

While you are all cooking up a storm I'm sitting doing binding on Melanie's placemats..earning brownie points with DIL.