Merry Christmas

I hope we can all remember the reason for this holiday as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. I wish for you all many blessings this year and next and I hope you make many happy memories and are together with family and friends. I look forward to continuing to read your blogs and sharing with you all next year.

Two days til Christmas

Well, I went to my doctor yesterday for another fill. However, he didn't want to give me another fill at this time. When he found out I was back on the Prilosec since the last fill he said he would rather not. He said he didn't want to risk my getting sick again like the last time. I did lose 6 pounds in the 6 weeks since the last fill. I was pleased with that since I had gained 8 after my unfill. I am almost back to where I was in June. It's like I lost 6 months of my weight loss. Anyway, I am not overfilled at this point and can eat without getting stuck every time. The doctor also said to come back in two or three weeks and he would see how I was doing and reconsider. So I made the appointment for one month out. I am ready for Christmas now. My baking is done. I am , however going to make a dessert for Christmas Day. We are going to our friends house who just moved here to Oregon, for dinner. They also invited some other people from church who didn't have any plans for dinner. I thought that was very nice of them. We have decided to go up to the Portland area on Saturday to visit my grandsons and great grandson. I will bring all the goodies I baked for them and personally deliver them. I was going to deliver them last week but I got this cold and my baking also was put on hold. I don't think they'll mind getting the cookies and stuff the day after Christmas. Well, I need to start my day now so I can deliver the homemade baskets I made to some friends. I made Blackberry Jam, Santa Maria Style Seasoning, Chai Tea mix and two kinds of biscotti. Almond-Anise and Gingerbread. Then its off to the gym. I only made in there twice last week because of my cold. Did I mention I went to urgent care on Sunday morning? I already had what felt like a sinus infection and then the cold was moving into my chest. The last two years I've had a cold that did that and lingered for weeks until it finally went away. I got what is called a Zpack. You take two pills the first day and then one a day for the next 4 days. I have 2 pills left and my cold is almost non existent. I love Zpacks. I can't believe I suffered the last two colds I got. Have a good day everyone and if you are in the areas getting loads of snow, please be careful.

One Week and Counting.......

There is precious little time to get the rest of my shopping and baking and mailing of packages done. I know, I know I'm retired and have no excuse for not being done with all of this. I did get my cards mailed yesterday so that's out of the way. I have a package to mail to my step-daughter and step granddaughter. It's not ready because my hubby (not that I am shifting the blame, mind you)wanted to wait to get the things we are sending them. Also, I ordered some goodies for them online and they haven't arrived yet but I am going to send them later when they do come. I send money to my grandkids since I have no idea what they want or need. They like that better anyway. I made my Chai Tea mix yesterday and Santa Maria Style Seasoning. I am also making two kinds of biscotti to go along with the chai tea and some other cookies and dipped pretzels, etc for the grandsons. I read a blog called The New Me and she said on today's entry that it would be a miracle if she doesn't gain weight in the next two weeks. But, she is working out 6 days a week. I think that fact alone will help her to keep the pounds off. I am struggling with the same thing. I haven't gone to the gym at all this week because I came down with a cold on Monday and was feeling terrible. Today I am feeling better and plan to go and work up a sweat. I am also going to start baking when I get home. I should be able to get the biscotti made today. I need to go to the Dollar Tree and see if they have any cellophane bags left to package the biscotti in. They have such cool packaging items there and the price is unbeatable. I already have my Christmas presents from my hubby. I told him I wanted a good set of pans and he instantly ordered them online with free shipping. They came on Tuesday. They are Calphalon Unison pans. If you go here you can check them out. We agreed not to get each other anything for Christmas since we usually get what we want during the year. But he has been bugging me to get some new pans for a couple of years now. I used them last night and I love them. They have 2 kinds Sear and Slide and they are all non stick and oven and dishwasher safe. I also bought myself a little gift of an electric tea kettle. It gets the water hotter than the microwave which is what I was using. I know now I have nothing to open on Christmas right? So he got a new camera for himself, that is probably what his plan was all along. lol I have an appointment next Tuesday for an adjustment on my LapBand. I need just a tweak here and there and I should be ok. I may regret doing it so close to Christmas but I wanted the soonest appt I could get.

Time to get my baking and stuff done..........

I am sitting here with my notepad and pen making a list of the cookies I want to bake. I don't usually bake too many different varieties. Last year I made several kinds and mailed them off to my two grandsons and they were thrilled. Their mother had taken off to California just before Christmas and I don't even know if she baked cookies at Christmas. It made my heart feel good to be able to do that for them. I want to do it again this year but I'll be taking the cookies to them this time and will also see my great grandson again. So...I need to decide what to make. I also like to make special things in my kitchen to share with friends. I am making a seasoning salt this year. I got it from my sister-in-law a couple of years ago and I use it all the time. Along with a couple of varieties of biscotti and my chai tea recipe my friends will be happy. My friend Eileen who just moved here from SoCal has been baking since Monday. Now, I've heard her talk about her baking for years but I had no idea the extent she goes to every year. She bakes anywhere from 30 to 40 different cookies and gives them to everyone from the paper delivery person to neighbors and friends alike. I went to their house yesterday and she already has probably 15 different cookies made. She has this really old cookbook probably from the 50s or 60s and in it she has recipes taped on the pages that she has acquired over the years. I was really impressed and amazed. I also tried one of the ones she made and it was good. Well, I need to get back to my own list and decide what I need to buy to pull this all off.

It's still very cold here. But there is rain on the way and that will warm things up here. Yesterday hubby was out making sure our motorhome was not suffering any damage from the freezing weather. We have a little heater going in it and I think he even turned on the forced air heat last night. Luckily our tanks were empty so we didn't have a frozen tank which can damage pipes and such. Okay, back to the list now.

The tree is up....

Well, I finally have my Christmas
decorations up. It's been 5 years since we've gotten them all out and I have so many since our last house was much larger that I am also decorating the bedrooms and baths. Last night we put our tree up. It's artificial and has the built in lights. It's always so fun to figure out which plug goes where on it. Hubby gets so frustrated and after much swearing and trial and error........Ta da!! It is all lit and looks stunning. Now I just have to decorate it. I went to a new decorator store in our town the day after Thanksgiving with my sister-in-law and we found what looks like grapevines wrapped on the tree they had on display. They had none other than the ones on the tree so they took them off for us and we each bought three of them. They looked so pretty on their tree. I can 't wait to get them on ours. I'll take some pictures once I finally finish. It better be soon because I need to start my baking too. I don't know how I did it all when I worked full time. I feel like I am being pulled in 5 directions at once. Part of the problem is going to the gym so late in the morning. I can't seem to get out of the house until around 10am and then I get home around noon. Just in time to fix lunch for Bob (hubby). Then I get sidetracked doing something or other and before I know it, it's time to fix dinner. I need to start getting to the gym at around 8. Well, the temperatures here have been colder than I've ever felt them since we moved here to Oregon. It is usually in the low 40s during the winter. Once in a while it dips into the 30s but it's been so cold this past week. Yesterday it was 12 degrees in the morning and only got up to about 30 here. Brrrrr!! Right now it's 14 degrees. We are getting a blast of air from Alaska and there are no clouds to hold the heat in. It's very dry as well. We usually have fog and clouds even if it doesn't rain but it's been sunny and very cold for the last few days. It's supposed to only last until the weekend. We got a huge cauliflower from someone at our church on Sunday. He brought in a truck full of them and cabbage too. I actually got two of them but I gave one to my neighbor. I made cauliflower soup yesterday. It was so delicious. My husband won't even try it. He is anti veggie. I told him it tasted just like the potato cheese soup I make but he wouldn't even try it. Oh well, more for me. I will freeze it in small containers today. Now I need to do something with the cabbage. Maybe stuffed cabbage. That sounds good, only he won't eat that either. Boy, the things I have to put up with!! LOL
I made an appointment for another fill. It isn't until the 22nd. I just need a tiny bit I think but I am doing pretty well otherwise. Need to finish my shopping and get the packages sent off today.

Well, our guests left for home yesterday. I took down the Thanksgiving decorations and they are all laying on my dining room table now. I have to bring the boxes in that they are stored in and also bring in the Christmas decorations. I am doing some laundry today. We went to church this morning and after stopping for some lunch got home about 1:30. It is very cold outside today and overcast. Yesterday the sun shone all day but it was pretty cold. I am feeling a bit sleepy. I woke up at around 4:30 this morning and now I am pretty tired. I might have to take a little nap to rejuvenate myself.

On Friday we bought a Blu-Ray DVD player. My brother in law connected it to the tv. It was nice having someone else do that since I am usually the one who does that. We signed up for Netflix and our new Blu-Ray has a wireless connection so we should be able to instantly download movies for viewing. I have to check that out to see if it does work. Well I think I'll take a little power nap now. Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving

As I have a housefull of visitors, I haven't had time to post or even read your posts. I will try and catch up when everyone is gone this weekend. I wanted to wish you all, and your families a happy and healthy holiday. I hope you get to spend time with those who mean the most to you and that all your favorite foods are there for the tasting. I'll be back to see how everyone's holiday went. God Bless