Saturday, December 19, 2015

Saturday Breakfast and then on to Chanute for Lunch

This morning I will have breakfast with Bob. I will pick him up at 7:20 and we will go to Sirloin Stockade for breakfast. Later, around 11:00, we will leave for Chanute to have a fish lunch with Tony and Gay. They have the rainbow trout John, my son in law, gave us some months ago. I was unsure how to cook it and it was frozen solid so I sent it home with Tony and Gay. Tony is a fisherman too. He is also a great cook. In their household, Tony does the cooking. It will be good to see them. They are caregivers for Gay's 98 year old mother and rather housebound. Every once in awhile Gay says she needs some "girl time" and I drive up to Chanute. It's about 50 miles. Well within my driving range. Gay is the friend I have had since I was 17 and she was 14. I am now 80. So as you can see, that is a long, long friendship.

I slept really well. I had had a very busy day. I went to town for cinnamon rolls at Utopia mid morning and visited with friends over the table there. Then I put together my meatloaf for lunch and set the table. In the afternoon after lunch I made my peanut clusters and put them into tins for friends. I want to remember to take some for Gay and Tony.   I gave one tin to Karan to give to Bobby M.  He is beginning to show symptoms now of his brain tumor. He was not feeling well the past two days. ....very un-Bobby like. Tragic! But life is full of tragedies. .....

More later....

We had a great lunch at Gay and Tony's and I had every intention of printing off the class newsletters when I got home and getting them into the mail. That didn't happen. First the printer would not work from either computer. and when I finally got the desktop to print, the laptop would not.. I never did get it to work. The desktop computer program keeps "not responding" when I use it awhile. Word quits responding and greys out. The mail program does the same thing.  I rebooted a couple of times to try to get it fixed but that didn't happen. I'd like to use the laptop to do this but now it won't print. I don't exactly know how I will get the newsletters done. I sent 71 of them out by e-mail and I still have 70 or so to send by snail mail.

Computers! Bah Humbug!

Friday, December 18, 2015

Friday and Up Early

I got up about 4:00 AM this morning. I got to thinking about the two pies I am baking for Christmas dinner at John and Leslie's and the Waldorf salad I plan to make as well. I did not get the makings for any of that at Walmart yesterday so I will need to do that before Christmas.  I need to look up my recipes and make a list of ingredients.  Also, I need to make my traditional peanut clusters this week for the tins I bought earlier. I usually would have those made by now. I am slowing down. I am giving one tin to Bobby and one probably to Marilyn R. I thought about that and could not get back to sleep.

Bob came by and ate some popcorn last night after his stint as a Salvation Army bell ringer but did not want to stay for the video of The Christmas Carol. He was cold and tired. We will watch it tonight or I will watch it alone.

We are supposed to go to Tony and Gay's in Chanute for lunch tomorrow. We will have breakfast at Sirloin Stockade first as usual. Today we will have meatloaf for lunch and the rest of the scalloped potatoes. I will fix a veggie and I have Bob's salad from yesterday in the frig with saran over it. I also have more pudding and cookies. That will be today's lunch. I took the rest of the three meatballs from Leslie over to Marilyn R's. with some of the scalloped potatoes. That was to have been her supper. I will also take her some meatloaf after lunch.

Sunday evening we are having Living the Questions at Joyce's at 7:00. I will need to pick up Bob and Gary for that. 

Sometime next week I will go back out to Walmart and get the ingredients for my part of the Christmas dinner. I need to make a list. Walmart is closing for Christmas at 2:00 PM on Christmas Eve.

Leslie contacted Denise (my niece and her cousin) to invite her and Dee (Denise's daughter) for Christmas dinner. I am supposed to ask Bob. Denise is to bring Braum's eggnog and Bob is to bring a relish tray. Jeff and Cyndi are coming too and Cyndi will bring food too. ..a dessert and perhaps veggies.

Maybe I can get my peanut clusters made this afternoon after lunch.

More later...

Lunch was good and after lunch I got my peanut clusters done. They are cooling and setting up right now.  I thought I had bought two tins for them but all I could find was one. I may check out the dollar store and see if they still have them. If not, I will have to make a run to V&S Variety and see if they still have them.  When they set up, I will stack them between sheets of waxed paper.

The parking lot at the Dollar General Store was full so I went back to V&S variety and they had some. I bought two more.  I got two filled before I ran out of candy. I may make some more later on and fill the other one. I want to take one to Tony and Gay tomorrow and give another one to Marilyn R.  or Bobby. Bobby is not feeling well today. I don't know whether he would want candy or not.  I guess I will ask Karan.

This is Bobby and Karan.

You can't see Bobby. I may find another one that shows him.
There he is! She said he wanted it! She is coming to pick it up! Bob A. came over this evening for popcorn and a Coke. We watched brooks and Shields analysis of the news but he didn't want to stay for the video so he went on home. I took my bath and sat in the recliner with Missy in my lap as usual and then I discovered that The Christmas Carol was on TV so I sat and watched it with Missy. Then I went to bed.


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Thursday and a Doctor's Appointment

I don't think there is any particular reason for me to go back to Bartlesville to see Dr. Eslicker this morning but this is my annual checkup so I guess I will go. Bob wants to go with me.  So I will pick him up at 7:30. My appointment is at 8:30. The last time I went, Dr. Eslicker found a small skin cancer on my face and took it off. So, since I spent my misspent youth sunbathing, I imagine I should go.  :)

Then I will come home and put those meatballs in the oven and add some milk to those scalloped potatoes and warm them up in the microwave.  I'll add a veggie and ask Bob to bring a salad. I have pudding and cookies for dessert so we are fixed! Thanks to Leslie!

This afternoon I will put together the meatloaf and set it back in the frig.  Then tomorrow I will bake potatoes and put a veggie with all that and we will have some more of Bob's salad. I bake that meatloaf in the microwave. We will have that on Friday.

I slept well last night. That's probably because I had such a wild day yesterday. I got up about 4:30. I was afraid if I went back to sleep, I might oversleep. So I just got up. I don't have anything planned for this afternoon so I can rest up then.

More later....

Those meatballs and scalloped potatoes were wonderful! I took the little we had left over to my neighbor, Marilyn R. and she was delighted too.  I kept some of the scalloped potatoes and we will have them with the meatloaf tomorrow with a veggie and the rest of the salad. I also have some pistachio pudding and cookies for tomorrow's dessert.  Our veggie was peas.

Anyhow, I am doing the blog and Bob is reading the newspapers. Since I spent so much time gone yesterday he didn't have an opportunity to read either of them. 

Oh yes, my daughter's new mom Corgi, Mini, is having problems keeping up with her 5 puppies.




She just gave up and rolled over.  Poor thing!

Bob has gone to ring the bell for Salvation Army. Afterward if he comes back, we will watch The Christmas Carol. It's part of my Christmas tradition. If he's too tired afterward we will watch it another evening.

By the way, Dr. Eslicker's physician's assistant took some early stage basil cell cancer off my left ear. It will probably get sore. She told me not to sleep on my left side until it heals. It's not even sore now.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Wednesday Again

I slept very well last night! The house was cool so maybe that had something to do with it. Anyhow I feel rested.

I have been working on my Christmas cards. I don't send out many but I refuse to quit sending them out. Last evening I printed off the envelopes for my class newsletter. When I finally get it finished, I will try to send it out as an attachment to e-mail to those classmates who have e-mail. I will have to send it out one at a time because it's eight pages long. Even at that, some may not be able to open attachments.

I have one classmate who remarried last May and she wants to contribute to the newsletter so she is holding up my being able to get it sent in time for Christmas.  Maybe I'll send her a Christmas card and remind her.

Today I will just piddle around. I have the apartment clean, have most of my Christmas cards and Christmas letters done. Maybe I will get the cookies made at last since I have no other plan for the day.

More later...

Sure enough. I got peanut butter cookies made and Bob came by and had a cup of coffee and  a cinnamon roll. Then he had a cookie. He will be back shortly for lunch. We will have the chicken tetrazzini again and applesauce with a veggie and mixed fruit with banana for dessert. We will also have a cookie or two. :)

Tomorrow we will have meatloaf and baked potatoes with a veggie and salad. Maybe we will have pudding and cookies for dessert.  

More even later...

We did have our chicken tetrazzini for lunch and I had just enough left to take to Marilyn R with a biscuit.  We had a short visit.

About 3:00  my daughter called. She had made up her sweet and sour meat balls and had too many. She was having a staff party. And she wanted to give me the rest.  I quickly took Marilyn her dish and took off for Leslie's. I got there about 3:30 and then she had some scalloped potatoes she also wanted to share with me. So, I got the sweet and sour meatballs (which I will bake this noon) and scalloped potatoes. I will put a veggie with them and Bob can bring a salad.  We will have pudding and cookies for dessert. We will have the meatloaf tomorrow with baked potatoes, a veggie and some more salad.  Then we will have the rest of the pudding and cookies. Wow! I will have lots of food to share with Marilyn R. too.

I had looked at our Wal Mart and the extra large Wal Mart in Bartlesville for cranberry colored cloth napkins. Neither store had any. While I was eight miles from Independence when I left Leslie's, I decided to give their Wal Mart a try. So I drove on to that store and what do you know! They had them! So now I have four. I had bought the last two at our Wal Mart a week or so ago.

Time was flying by this time and I had agreed to meet Marilyn L at the Presbyterian church at 5:00 to help her set up for the PINCH meeting. By this time it was almost 4:00 and I still had to drive back to Coffeyville and put that food in my frig. Luckily, I had already put the party perk in the car and my fancy crackers for the meat and cheese tray Marilyn was bringing for the meeting.

I got to the church at 5:00 and helped Marilyn put together the room we were going to use for the meeting. The meeting, which was to be an hour long, turned into two hours in length. Then I stayed to help Marilyn clean up. I got home at 8:00 or soon after and took my bath and placated my annoyed cat by sitting with her in the recliner until 9:00.

Whew! I was exhausted! So I went to bed.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

A Very Busy Tuesday

Today at 8:15, I will pick up Bob and we will go to Independence to deliver our cakes and then I will take him by his sister, Betty's home so he can visit her. I will go get my hair done. After we are finished, we will go back to Bartlesville so we can eat again at Pies and Such.  They have great sandwiches that are made with homemade bread...toasted. Then their pies are out of this world!  Anyhow, I don't know what else we will do while we are there....probably nothing. He gets sleepy in the afternoons since he takes a nap. I may just come on back home and begin addressing envelopes for the class newsletter for those who are not online.

I slept well last night. I did wake up about 4:30 and just got up. Just lying there is nothing I like to do.

John and Leslie's little dog, Speck, had her puppies yesterday too. I haven't seen them. I saw on facebook that they were being born. Speck is a cross between a rat terrier and a jack russell.  Hoover is a registered Corgi. So they will be a strange mix.  He impregnated both Mini (who is also a registered Corgi) and Speck, a half breed.  Maybe I will stop by and see those puppies too.



Here they are. I took this photo off facebook where Leslie posted it. She says at this point Speck had four and wasn't finished yet. She ended up with six. We did stop by to see them before we went on to Bartlesville.  They are so cute!

More later...

We had a good lunch at Pies and Such.  Then we went shopping at their Wal Mart in Bartlesville. I finally found a nice looking wreath for my dining room storage door.  Bob bought a belt.

We came home and I spent the afternoon addressing envelopes for my class newsletter. I addressed 78 envelopes with my computer.  So 78 people will get an eight page newsletter from our class members.  The others will get one attached to e-mail.

Bob came over this evening.  We watched the news.   

Monday, December 14, 2015

Housecleaning Monday

Well, it's started. I have cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors and am almost ready to vacuum. I have a load of laundry in the dryer to fold out first though. I also have my cake baked and it's on the rack cooling now. I will ice it later.

Mondays are always busy.

I need to go to the market after awhile too. There are three or four things on my list. I need some of them for my lunch. We are having  Chicken Tetrazzini today for lunch.  Bob will bring a salad and we will have a veggie.I have some spaghetti but not four ounces. I also need green onion, mushrooms and sliced almonds. I have the rest. I want to get some mixed fruit for dessert too.

I slept well last night. I awoke the second time at 5:15.  I think I got up twice in the night briefly.

I am looking for a good study for our Church School class. If I find a good one, I will buy four or five books for us to share in class. I like one called Living the Questions but it's pretty progressive for some of our people. (it's just right for me though) :) I found one called "Saving Jesus from the Church...How ro Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus".  We will check it over Sunday. It's by Robin Meyers. We have studied some of his books in the past.

More later....got to get busy!

I got my cake iced. And the others brought me theirs.

I got everything done and even had Marilyn L over for lunch. I did some more shopping this afternoon. I was looking for Christmas napkins but couldn't find what I was looking for.  I settled for some I had had for awhile. The cloth ones I wanted for my cranberry colored tablecloth were gone at Wal Mart. I bought the tablecloth online since it's so hard to find a 60 inch round tablecloth. I have three now for the round table. One is green, one is cranberry and one is tan. That should be enough for awhile.

Anyhow, I was also looking for some Christmas place mats but was only able to find one. I would like to have found two but I waited too late.

My Christmas cactus is beginning to bloom. I took some photos of it and will post them here. Leslie gave that plant to me for a gift a couple of years ago.

This one shows the blooms well. They are just starting.

This is a better view of the entire plant.

More later...

We invited Marilyn L over for lunch. We had a good visit.  The dinner went off well. We will eat that meal again Wednesday.  We had plenty of leftovers.

Bob did not come over this evening. He got his cake in the oven late and by the time it came out, it was too late. I will pick him up in the morning to go with me to Independence to deliver the cakes and then while I get my hair cut he will visit with his sister, Betty. After that, we will go to Bartlesville to eat at Pies and Such.


Sunday, December 13, 2015

A Big Sunday

It was another big day today. I got up about 6:00 after a kind of fitful night of sleep and immediately started feeding Missy and myself a breakfast and then put together my coffeecake for the Church School class. As soon as I got that in the oven I wrapped the gifts for the new baby at the trailer court. I presided at church today and also led the church school class. Marilyn R went with us to church today and she took gifts for one of the children too. Bill spoke at church and he always gives us something to think about in his messages.  After church, Leslie was gone on call so John took the little girls and went to McDonald's or Sirloin Stockade. Karan and Bobby had a Christmas dinner at Bobby's church so they went there. Phyllis and Bob and Marilyn and I went to El Puebleto. Then I took them home.

I came home and sent out my Congregational letters. After I got that finished, I read awhile. I cleaned the kitchen and was about to bake cookies when Bob came over to read the paper. He stayed until 7:00 so I didn't get the cookies baked. After that, I took my bath and sat in the recliner with Missy...same routine every evening.

Keith, my older son, called and we had a nice visit. Scott had called last night. It was a good day and I am now ready to go to bed. Tomorrow is house cleaning and laundry day. Plus it's also the week we bake cakes to take to the First Christian Church in Independence on Tuesday.

So goodnight all!