Good morning.  Can't believe I was up so early.  Before 5 am.  Definitely will be crawling in for a nap at some point today. Another warm one here.  I heard, though, that by the weekend cooler weather will prevail. I went to the mall yesterday and found some awesome sales.  It's nice to find things that fit me now.  In fact, a 1X hung off me when I tried it on. Thank you Weight Watchers.

I'm in the house now until Thursday morn.  Not much to do since school let out, and I don't have any money to spend, so I plan on taking out my paints and trying a Christmas scene.  It's been awhile so I expect to be a bit rusty.  Still wish I could find another class. 

Almost had a catastrophe here the other night. One of our dining room chairs has seen better days so I told Ralph just to get rid of it. Definitely need new ones all around, but that can wait until January. So because  we moved a chair out from against the wall to take its place, I decided that moving  the table back against the wall would make more room. But, the table wouldn't budge. Even Ralph tried. Finally he  looked underneath to see what was stopping it, and low and behold, the legs had lost their screws. It's a round, glass top table we had bought many years ago and all the legs are intertwined in the center and bolted to hold up the table. It was those screws that were missing. What a mess that could have been. And like Ralph said, everything happens for a reason. Company could have been sitting at the table having dinner when it actually collapsed. 

Made the most awesome pork cutlets yesterday.  Served them with homemade fries and corn.  Simple, but good dinner.  Cutlets and fries were baked so not unhealthy.

 
Whole wheat bread crumbs, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. (I love a lot of spices).

Have a good one.

Monday Morning This and That

And, so, Christmas comes to bless us!
Comes to teach us how to find
The joy of giving happiness
And the joy of being kind.

Gertrude Tooley Buckingham

Good morning everyone. As another week begins I wish you all a week that passes smoothly and is filled with love and kindness. It's going to be another spring like day here with rain coming later in the day. I'm off to the mall this morning. Old Navy had some darn good sales, and I want to see if I can find a little something to wear on Christmas Eve. Rain won't be here until evening so I should be fine. Besides, it's so warm out I don't care if I get a little wet. It's those 'cold' rains that go through your bones.

Had a rather quiet weekend. Managed to get all my gifts wrapped.  I used to love wrapping presents, but the past few years it has been a bit of a chore.  But I do enjoy everything else about Christmas--the aromas, the food, the lights, the candles. 

Got my Kindle Fire on Friday.  Great buy for $40.  Had a hard time getting it to work, though.  Couldn't get it or hubby's new tablet hooked up on the Wifi.  I'd been working at hubby's for weeks with no luck. Kept telling me I had the wrong password.  And when I tried setting up my Kindle, it kept saying authentication error.  Finally, after stressing myself almost to the point of tears,  I discovered how to find my Belkin home page and guess what. I was actually using wrong password. I remembered back to May when we were trying to install the Belkin.  Took me almost 4 hours on the phone with various techs, none of whom spoke very good English. They were all in India and had thick accents. I was almost in tears by the time I was finally forwarded to an English speaking tech who finally guided me through. All I remember is his saying the password is on the bottom of router and talking me into using it, but now I also remember Ralph telling me to use something easier. I must have listened to Ralph because I found the password I had chosen on on my Belkin page. Both fire and tablet are hooked up to router. 

I've always wanted to eat at Olive Garden but never did...despite working right down the block from one for 10 years.  And now I probably never will because the sodium level in their food is much to high for me.  So, I jumped for joy when I came across the following recipe--Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli--and with a few tweaks I was able to make it my own....and it was DELICIOUS.  

 Olive oil

Lean ground beef

2 premo hot Italian sausages

4 cloves garlic

1 onion, diced

3 carrots diced

3 celery stalks diced

3 Chicken bullion cubes

1 small can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

Basil

Oregano

Thyme

1 can red kidney beans

salt and pepper

Bowtie pasta

Brown meats in olive oil.  Remove from pan.  Add more olive oil if necessary.  Saute garlic, onion, carrots and celery for about 4 minutes.  Add meats, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, 2 cups water, bullion cubes, kidney beans, and salt and pepper.  Bring to boil and simmer until veggies are tender and liquid boils down some.  Add cooked pasta and simmer for a few. 

And that's about it for this morning.  Have a good one.

Friday Roundup.

 

When we work so hard at our preparations for Christmas,
we often feel cheated and frustrated when others fail
to notice the results of our efforts. We need to ask
ourselves why we are doing the things we choose to do.
If love motivates us--love for our families, for our neighbors--
then we are free to simply enjoy the actual process of what
we do, rather than requiring the approval and admiration
of others for the results of our labors.

Ellyn Sanna 

Good morning everyone. Looks like another spring like day. I'll take it. I have a long walk this morning to the post office. It's good for me, and I don't mind it in the warm weather. But, it all has a trade off. I heard that by mid-January winter will start hitting us with a vengeance. Sure, just when school is set to begin again.

Not much else is going on now. I'm just about ready for the holidays. Cards are out, presents are bought, tree is up and house is decorated. I still have cookies to make, but that won't be until Christmas week and dinner to plan. I am leaning towards Italian this year. Last year I served a Spanish feast with recipes straight out of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. No one even knew. 

Not much else is going on now. I'm just about ready for the holidays. Cards are out, presents are bought, tree is up and house is decorated. I still have cookies to make, but that won't be until Christmas week and dinner to plan. I am leaning towards Italian this year. Last year I served a Spanish feast with recipes straight out of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. No one even knew. 

Well, aside from Church on Sunday nothing else planned for the weekend.  Will be cooking two meals on Saturday.  I realize now after having to rush home and cook last Sunday I need always to have one dish in the freezer just for those times...or days I just don't feel like cooking.  Have a few presents to wrap this weekend and then my time is free to do whatever I please. Sounds like a good time to light a few Christmas scented candles and just sit and watch the twinkling of the tree lights.  Life is good right now.

Have a great weekend.

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.

Taylor Caldwell

Good morning everyone. Looks like we are in for another nice day. Today I am off to the Kings Plaza Mall to take advantage of the sales. 60 percent off in Old Navy, and I still have my sons to buy for.  I'm not much for crowds so I am hoping that, being a Wednesday, it won't be so bad. It's easy to get there. Only one bus. But it is a long journey so I'll have some reading material on hand.

My back has been bothering me the past few days, but is somewhat better today so, so with an arthritis aspirin, I should be okay. Realized last night that this is a fibro flare going on. Pain in my knees, shoulder, and wrists along with my back. In my case, it feels better when I keep moving. Maybe that is because I'm spending time focusing on the pain. Besides, Ralph finally remembered to get me the small cart that I can take on the bus. So, I'll be okay.

 

I've got some homework to take care of for an online class. I enrolled in a math class yesterday, took the pre-test and promptly dis-enrolled after the second question. How did I ever pass math in the first place? Also looked into enrolling into a Holistic Health and Healing course for certification. That's been a dream of mine for years, but I'm not sure I can afford it. All depends on what kind of break in fees they can give me.

 

I'm in need of a jacket.  Since I lost over 43 pounds, my coats are hanging off me.  They are all 3X.  I wasn't planning on getting one until I reached my goal, but I've been feeling funny going out with my coats hanging off me.  Hubby, trying to make me feel better, said this is the way they wear their clothes, the bigger the better.  My response, "Yeah, but I am not a teenager anymore."  So I ordered a nice red jacket through Amazon. Couldn't resist.  It was 73 percent off.  Well, they ended up sending me a vest instead.  I complained and they told me to send it back and they will send me the correct item.  Guess what????  They sent me ANOTHER vest.  Boy am I furious and I told them so.  Told them they'll get these vests back and cancel the order altogether.  

 

Have a good one.  Talk to you all tomorrow.

Tuesday Catch up

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

Burton Hillis

Morning all.  Looks like another stay in day for me.  One of my packages delayed and should arrive today.  That's okay.  My back is not so good, and I really don't have the money to go running around.  It's not like the summer months when I could pack a lunch and spend the day in the park without spending anything more than bus fare.  Now, let's see.  What else has happened since I last posted.

Pathmark closed last week, and the pharmacy had referred me to a Rite Aid which was a bus ride followed by a 9 block walk. I was told that all I had to do was call the pharmacy and have it transferred to a Rite Aid of my choice.  All well and good, but, Pathmark neglected to tell me that they had cancelled out my two refills. Totally not necessary, and I think they did it on spite because I had complained.  Good thing I didn't just go to the pharmacy on pick up day to do the transfer.  Oh, what a pain in the butt it was getting a new RX.  When one's doctor is a part of those new health care centers one cannot directly reach the doctor's office.  Instead one reaches the main office and they reach the doctor for you.  Only trouble is you never know if they relayed your message because no one ever calls you, and being that this was my BP medication I was concerned about I sent two emails and made three phone calls.  All in all, the stress of getting those refills was enough to raise my BP.

This little purse doesn't look like much, but it is something I shall treasure for the rest of my life.  It belonged to my mom, and she used it on Sundays to hold her donation for the church.  My daughter, knowing that I attend every Sunday, sent it to me.  This past Sunday I carried the tradition onward. I shall never forget it on a Sunday.

What a surprise this was! One of my Facebook friends crocheted this tree skirt for me.  It's awfully large and must have been lots of work for her, not to mention the price of postage to mail it.  It is so heavy.  How awesome a friend is she to do something like this for me.

My palm tree died not too long ago.  We did everything we could for it, but couldn't save it.  Hubby had bought one for his sister, and that one died as well.  Turns out that these big outlets by lots of these palms because they grow quickly and can be sold cheaply.  What they don't tell you is that this type of  palm will only survive in hot and humid areas such as Florida.

Have to be so careful when you buy things.  My Money Tree has really taken off, and we have transplanted the third time. Do you see how tall it has gotten?  Awesome.  And finally....

Can you believe this?  Who in their right mind is going to spend this?

Have a good one.

Monday Morning This and That

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

 Good morning all.  School is out, and I find myself looking forward to the upcoming semester in February.  Not going to take so many classes, that's for sure.  I know my limit now.  At 68, soon to be 69 I am not the spring chicken I used to be.  Won't be going out much this week.  I have so many more to get gifts for this year, a wonderful feeling, so I did most of my ordering online through Amazon.  Will be staying here waiting for packages to arrive.  I had my daughter's and her hubby's sent directly to them, but this is a surprise for my grands and great grands so I'm having them sent here, packing them in a big box, and sending them off.  A little extra work, but I just didn't want packages going to them directly from Amazon.

Speaking of family, my granddaughter called me 'grandma' instead of 'Mary' the other day.  That brought tears to my eyes.  How long I have waited to be called that.  My daughter sent me a bracelet that belonged to my mom, and a little change purse that she took to church every week.  I shall cherish them. 

Had a pretty awesome weekend.  After running around all week I'd planned on staying in on Saturday, but UPS had messed up the delivery of a gift from my daughter, and rather than stress her out any further on the day of her phlebotomy test, I took a walk and picked up up.  She passed, by the way, and is now going for her internship.  So proud of my girl.

Later Saturday, my goddaughter/niece messaged me and asked if she and the children could attend church with me.  She is feeling so depressed and alone since her mom passed, and basically, you might as well say we are all that is left of my ex's family aside from the greedy sister in Florida.  So she drove all the way from Queens, and we all attended church together on yesterday.  Afterwards, I took them out and treated them to MacDonald's...big spender that I am, lol, but hey, MacDonald's isn't that cheap nowadays and being on a limited budget, I was rather relieved when the kids all chimed in that that was where they wanted to go for lunch. 

Hard to believe that the holidays are right around the corner.  Time has really gotten away from me.  Sometimes I just wish it would slow down a little so I could enjoy it.  My tree is up and my house decorated.  Three days of work for me.  It's not like it used to be when I could do it all in one day.  Have to take frequent sit-downs now that I am getting older.  I've most of my gifts bought, only have to get for the boys now.  Sort of overwhelming.  From buying for 4 people to now buying for 15, but I love doing things for my family.  I'm just so grateful to have them all in my life now...except for my eldest son.  He's not coming around, and I kind of don't expect him to.  Nothing much I can do but pray.

Well, as far as Weight Watchers goes, I am nearing that illusive 50 pound mark.  43.6 pounds gone now.  No more 3X for me.  I'm down to 1X.  One day I walked into the store and saw a gorgeous dress hanging on the rack.  Glad I had my sunglasses on because tears came to my eyes.  Not that I wanted to buy it, but the fact was, if I did, I could have and it would have fit.  No more leaving the store disappointed because I am too big for what they have.  I am feeling so good about that.

Well, that's about it for today.  I've so much to say but that will have to come another day.  So glad to be back amongst my friends.  I am blessed to have all of you.  Thanks for being there and worrying about me.  It means the world to me.

Apologies to All

Just disappearing is never nice, and for all those who were concerned, I am so very sorry.  Should have at least posted something to let you know I was okay.  I just took on a bit more than I could comfortably handle.  Along with the classes I was taking on at Brooklyn College, I also enrolled in some online classes as well.  Had several of them going on, and with tests, essays, and readings, I had little time for anything else.  So now, the semester is over, and I have completed all but one online course, so I hope to be back to regular blogging.  Have so much to talk about.  So much has happened.  Please bear with me and once again, forgive me for the disappearing act. I have missed all of you.