At long last. Winter is here. We got a small amount of snow last night and is supposed to snow more tomorrow. It's sunny now, so it won't last long, but it was extremely beautiful this morning. I started a post and saved it to draft to come back to, and now it's jumping between blogs and won't let me access the Elegant Blessings stats page again. Grrr...I thought that last time I signed out on one blog but that doesn't seem to be working this time. So, here I am, hat in hand. Posting all of it without stopping this time. lol
I am in the middle of a flare up of my chronic back problems again. Earlier this week, I stepped through a resin furnace grate on the floor-- leg went down about a foot into the duct and I fell face first. Managed to not break anything (thank goodness), hit my head and torqued my shoulder when I landed. Pretty much caught myself and didn't slam face first, so my glasses were just a little bent not broken. My wrists and hands hurt like hell for a couple of days. And I feel all jammed up about the neck and lower back. Last night I started having muscle spasms pretty bad. Finally found a position I could sleep in for a bit, but locked up my hips and I'm hobbling. Was supposed to go to a family Christmas breakfast and didn't make it. Couldn't get my pants on. Even my deranged family frowns on that... lol
I have been a baking and nut brittle making fool the past week. Got 4 packages mailed off to the northern plains (Wisconsin MN) and the eastern seaboard (MD) . Got what little shopping I was doing done, but most everything is home made this year. Even finally got some decorations put up..a little tree and some doodads here and there and a couple of wreaths. Have to go pick up the golden turkey this afternoon...it's being killed and dressed as we speak. A local farm that grows nice healthy turkeys and charges an arm and a leg. We are trying it this year, and it better be fantastic. lol It's costing 3x as much as I usually spend. If it's really out of this world, maybe we will raise our own for next year. My buddy that convinced me to do this said I would never be able to eat store frozen turkeys again. We'll see.
We're having a friend over for Christmas Day dinner. He has no family and has been here before on holidays. A big sweetheart of a guy. I will make him a Xmas stocking full of goodies and share a little love and kindness. We'll eat like big dogs (me, hubby, son and him) and then watch some Xmas movies while we sleep off the tryptophans. lol
So, today I am trying to get the laundry done, clean up a little and do most of it tomorrow. I do need to seriously wash all the slipcovers and vacuum the furniture that these dogs have coated with shedding hair. I have a dehydrator full of celery to unload and jar up. (Celery was .69/head at Aldi's so I bought 7. ) I did finally vacuum the furnace filters (it's ancient--don't ask) and with any luck will get the aquarium cleaned. That's about the gist of it for today. Hope you all have a serene and happy holiday and don't let yourselves get too crazy and caught up in the madness. It will be a quiet time here...watching as the days slowly get longer and the quiet fills the house.
Happiest of Holidays, from all of us here at Honeysuckle Hill....
Counting down a strange and uncomfortable year... between opportunities for growth and eye opening horrors...between joys and sorrows.... between lives and deaths. This has definitely been a year for the books. And I, for one, am not sad to see it go.
We are in the middle of an influenza epidemic here in the middle part of the country. A local high school has suspended classes with 20% of the students out and many of the teachers. We have had it here on Honeysuckle Hill as well. It's Influenza A, they said. Whatever that means. I am on the trailing end of it (I hope) and the Irishman had a milder case of it, but maybe his wasn't flu, but just a bad cold. With all the coughing going on around here, it sounds like a TB clinic. I have been suffering through it since the 18th of November. Slept a lot the first week and then just yucky and snotty and grumpy since then. lol And no, I didn't get a flu shot. And if one more person asks me that I will scream. Hear ye, hear ye... ANNIE KELLEY NEVER GETS A FLU SHOT. And probably never will. And NO, I don't get a pneumonia shot either. Or the shingles shot either. And if I ever die from these things, feel free to stand at my grave and shout that you told me so.
I have a million things to do, so I decided to try one more stalling technique and come here and write. lol My office is such a mess I cannot see the desk calendar. I have minutes to do for the upcoming assembly on Sunday and haven't even started it. I have 2 dishes to make for a potluck tonight and it starts at 6:30 (we have to leave here at 6) and it's almost 1:30 and I haven't started that either. It's just a simple cake and a pan of scalloped potatoes. And I do want them warm for the trip, but still. I have raised procrastinating to a new art. My living room is a cluttered mess. My dining room table is covered [again] with crap. I have been just sick enough to do very little these past couple of weeks. And guess what ?? No one has died, and it's still waiting for me. lol I haven't got out any of my Xmas stuff-- but I often wait until about the 10th of December to do that anyway, since I leave it all up til after my birthday, which is the 12th day of Xmas. Probably Monday I will do that. Have done a minimum of Xmas shopping. Doing mostly home made stuff this year. Did get a little something for the Irishman, (Both of us really). My son has already emphatically stated that he wants nothing from us. NOTHING. lol So, I will make him some granola and some chicken jerky. And he will love it. Will send a couple of boxes north and east of some homemade goodies to family. That's it. Merry Xmas y'all.
I'm using my home canned potatoes for the dish for tonight, hope it works out well. I've been making a lot of pantry meals lately.. trying to stagger one dish meals with regular meat and vegetable meals. I made a gallon batch of granola yesterday for himself. I need to get the bread machine going too...ran out of bread yesterday. After the first I am going on a low carb diet and try to shed some poundage. But himself will not ever quit eating bread. So there's that...it's not hard for me. Pasta and sugar are the hardest for me. Hence not even considering doing this until after the holidays are over. I need to learn to make some low carb alternatives to bread and maybe even pasta. Who knows.
The world is in an uproar. All the wrong people are leaving government service and all the wrong ones are staying. The tax scam bill is a travesty. Paul Ryan stated today that they will work on "reforming" the entitlements programs in 2018. Maybe the gods will send a tsunami/earthquake/tornado/flood and knock DC off the map. I have been purposefully not listening to any more news/politics than I can avoid. It just makes me sicker. These treasonous bastards are destroying this country, all to line their own pockets. And that is all I am saying. And I am scared.
Okay-- I guess I better get in the kitchen. Wheat bread, scalloped potatoes and Oatmeal Spice Cake are awaiting me. Happy Pearl Harbor Day people...
