Pot Bellied Stove / Water Cooler

anewstart22

sannferris wrote: »

Isabella, at my Trader Joe's store, the Peppermint Pretzel Slims are on a shelf with Holiday stuff above the freezer section. I couldn't find them on the regular chips and snacks aisle with all the other pretzels and had to ask for them. The Belgium Chocolate Truffles are also "to die for".

Umm, Yeah, that's 100% true.

isyvanek

Sheryl, thanks for sharing the tribute to Emily. It was amazing and brought tears to my eyes as well. Thanks for the info on where to find the mint pretzels. The fearless flyer I just got has a chocolate pudding pecan pie. It sounds pretty decadent - I think I will buy one of those also.

Anew and Sheryl, I have had the truffles before and yes, they are amazing!

The concert yesterday was excellent! The lead singer is also very active in the local music scene and organizes many of the local concerts. She mentioned a website called listenlocalradio.com where they play music from the local bands. I look forward to checking it out although we only have a computer in our study and I certainly don't want to sit in there to listen to music so I'm not sure how often I'd use it. I guess I could turn it up to hear it from the other room...

Dan did take me out to eat for a late lunch/early dinner afterward. I had a buy one get one free to a nice Italian restaurant. We sat out on the patio for a change (had the whole place to ourselves and it seemed very romantic). I ordered a dish that had fusilli pasta with zucchini, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, eggplant, and bell peppers. It was supposed to be in a garlic butter sauce but I switched it to arrabiata sauce instead. It was fabulous and I can have the leftovers for lunch one day this week. We came home with plenty of time to spare so we watched another of the old movies we had recorded - we watched "Gone With The Wind". It was 4 hours long so we took a couple of breaks to get up and move around (and snack!). Neither of us had seen it in a very long time. It was beautifully filmed and very powerful.

Anew, it makes me crazy that so often now we have to make changes to accommodate computer programs that are supposed to make our lives easier instead of being able to get the programs to fit our needs. This happens at work all the time when home office switches to a new program such as oracle that is supposed to make our lives easier and we end up doing all these crazy things to make it suit our needs. Urgh! (I don't know how to find a grumpy face emoticon).

I just got this e-mail from Granny:

I'm doing much better, thank you for your prayers.
"I still have a hematoma on my hip about the size of a grapefruit, but lots of the black and blue colors are gone. Some soreness left. I have been walking a mile or 2, and have gone back to my exercise class. Soon I hope to be back to normal. I feel like my blood count is almost back to normal."

I am so happy to hear that she is doing better and able to get back into her exercise routine.

OK, I'm off to get ready for church. Have a blessed day everyone.

sannferris

Good Morning. Isabella, I see the Emoji icon here in the reply toolbar and had to look at the choices. Too funny, this is my first attempt at adding any. looks like an "Urgh!" to me, or makes you clench your teeth in frustration. I agree, why must this computer frustrate us so much.

Glad to hear that Granny is doing better, I haven't heard from her.

Thank you all for your input about where to send the china, however, my sister wants it shipped to her house so we can look it over and take it with us to the wedding. When I ordered it last night, I see that there is a box to check if I had wanted it "shipped to the couples' home", so I guess that would have been appropriate, it's right there on the Macy's web site.

I'm having lunch again with Carol this coming Wednesday. I think that I'll start to clothes shop after lunch. I have nothing formal to wear to this wedding. Norma suggested that I get a long black skirt and a fancy top that I can wear with slacks later. I'll just start nosing around and see what I find. I may get lucky and find something at Goodwill or another thrift store. While I was at the Macy's web site, I checked there and absolutely can not afford any of their formal wear, not for a one time thing. Actually, my biggest expense will be shoes. I don't have any dress shoes anymore and usually wear black men's slip-ons for the added width. Norma said to find the black skirt long enough to cover my shoes and I should just wear what I have. At the reception, we'll be sitting and the table can cover me up. Norma teased me..."unless you want to be out on the dance floor, no one will know". She's knows that I never dance. We don't drink either, but her boys do, in moderation. There will be wine and I assume champagne. Norma and I will stay at the "sober" table. ha ha

I need another haircut again and really don't feel like doing it myself, like I have done for years before I got sick. The last two times I've paid to have it done, I went with my neighbor to her hair salon and paid over $20.00. I think I'll go back to Great Clips and only have to pay $7.99. I went there several times when I first got sick and couldn't lift my arm or make my hand work. I liked the way Connie did it and asked for her again. I wonder if she's still there, I think these girls move around a lot.

I know there was more I wanted to comment on, but I sure can't remember it now. Football on tv today, so John may watch some and I'll be back to check in here.

anewstart22

Good afternoon everyone, I was able to get some sleep last night and I feel rested. My feet hurt after the shopping today so I think I'm going to take a break with some ice packs in a few minutes, I just wanted to check in.

We went to Sam's club, haven't been there in months and I found white and dark dipping chocolate by Ghiradelli so I thought that would be perfect for my holiday treat gifts. Pies and cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. I figured I could dip cookies in chocolate too. We don't celebrate much for the holidays because it's only the two of us, but I decided to do something for my friends.

World Market and forgot my coupon for $10 off my purchase.

We also went to Petsmart so done with big town shopping for now.


Isyvanek-Concert and romantic dinner, that's the way to do it, lol. I love it and I am glad you got the chance to go. Sadly there isn't a lot of that romantic part available out here in restaurants, it's all big chains, extremely crowded and very loud. It used to be we went out to dinner in California and had great dinners out but here it's just mediocre. We once paid for what was supposed to be a very nice valentines dinner when we first moved here. It was triple what we paid in California for a real nice dinner and it offered far less. Actually I probably could have reported them for false advertising but I just decided to vow never to give them another dime. So we haven't had a nice valentines dinner out since we left California.

There is one great place that is only open during the fall/winter time here and the food is phenominal, but it's at least $200 or more for a meal. That's not something we do but once every four or five years, maybe an anniversary, lol. He's a french chef and a boat captain too! Wonderful ambiance and food, the first time we went we were all dressed up and he said "you are not from around here", I said "no, moved from California" and he smiled and said, "I could tell, no-one dresses like that here". I couldn't believe it when I took a look around. People were in jeans and t-shirts, and some were wearing ugly flip flop sandals, lol. Whatever happened to treating yourself to something real nice and not wearing jeans and a t-shirt? We stuck out like a sore thumb and everyone stared at us, we were so embarrassed. We have since thrown in the towel on dressing up, it's not something people do out here, so you just work on fitting in, lol.

Good news on Granny, I hope it continues to improve for her.

My husband says the same thing about new programs at work, lol. Isn't it crazy, supposed to be better and it only gives headaches instead. To get a frown face use one of these, : colons, and one of these ( parenthesis, placed together will give you the frown face.

I just redid all of the menus from the weeks prior when I first started, I removed recipes we didn't like and made a good running menu that wouldn't clash with the next week. I printed each one and will work on getting ingredient
lists saved for each of them and making sure I have the complete recipes saved too.


SannFerris-You can get some great deals on the clearance racks at the big chains, Macy's, Dillard's, JC Penny's, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, and all of them usually have some great sales on wedding apparrel and usually have a lot of very nice blouses and skirts. I didn't have any shoes for the wedding last spring either, my feet make it hard to find shoes that are comfortable but I found a fantastic pair of shoes from Dansko. They are a platform, but they are also on the list for Plantar Fasciitis, they are really comfortable in spite of my pain and the support for my feet is amazing. I have a high arch and there is built in support for that, the first couple times I wore them I could feel that arch support and wasn't sure I could handle it but I just wore them around the hotel we were in for a couple hours over a couple of days and my feet were perfectly in heaven.

These are called Dansko Sophie and the straps are adjustable so when I swell I can make them both larger and move them back when my feet are better. Lately I have not made them smaller because my feet have remained in some form of swollen for the last few weeks. I now have four pair of these in different colors, and I have 1 pair I wear around the house all the time. They don't keep the pain away but they sure help to keep it away, we just went shopping in big town, and my feet hurt after three hours, but without the shoes it would be just as bad within one hour, so I am doing well with these Sophies, and they are dressy.

I am looking for a pair with a lower platform for around the house and have a couple of pair that Dansko the company recommended to me. I just need to get the money to buy them first. But the Sophies are on sale right now for a great price at The Walking Shoe Company, I'll attach the link to the store. If you have one near you they will do a 3D picture of your feet and you'll find out where your feet are having the problems. One thing I found out was I walk with my foot falling inward and now have realized it's because of the Mortons Foot and the high arch I was telling you all about a while back. These shoes are great, I am comfortable and I don't have any problems with falling over like I did with my other shoes I had. The Dansko shoes don't come in wide but they are wider than usual and I have very wide feet, these are perfect for my width. Also, the sizing is European and I would wear in US shoe sizes what they call the number #39, but that doesn't fit, I have to go one size up to the #40 shoe size, I guess it's that way for most people with Dansko shoe sizes.

Here is the link to Sophie shoes. The ones on clearance are not returnable if you have them shipped to your house, but the ones that are regular price can be returned for a full refund. This is one of the reasons I haven't ordered the shoes recommended by Dansko, they are on sale and I don't know yet if I can wear them. The closet Walking Shoe Company is about 4 hours from here so going there won't happen. I had gone to the Tuscon location when we were on our way to California for the wedding, and I am sure glad I stopped, I am amazed at these shoes. I ordered my shoes early am and they shipped them out the very next day, I was so amazed at the service too.

thewalkingcompany.com/sophie?search=sophie


Well, you all have a great evening, I am going to take a break and get some ice packs going so I can get dinner done later.

isyvanek

Sheryl, I didn't even notice the little smiley face on the reply tool bar! That's where the grumpy face is that I wanted! It makes sense to have the china shipped to Norma also so that you can look them over, etc. I think it is very wise to check out the resale shops. You can find some nice stuff there and a lot of people get rid of formal wear or dressy stuff and they usually don't wear it very often. I found the peppermint pretzel thins but I'm not going to try them until next week when I get together with the girls. We are all supposed to bring a snack to share so I will bring those.

Anew, too crazy that the place you went to is so pricey and people were in T-shirts and jeans. Dan would have loved that though!

I decided to try my hand at grilled cheese sandwiches and trader joe's creamy tomato soup for dinner tonight. I've only made a grilled cheese once before and it didn't come out very well. My co-worker makes them all the time and told me what her technique is. She said "slow and low is the way to go". Dan is excited so hopefully it will work out. I'd better go get started.

Have a great week everyone!

anewstart22

Good morning everyone, haven't seen Mygnsac lately? How are you doing?

I got some sleep last night and have already done a lot in the two hours I have been awake. I packaged the shredded chicken for the freezer, froze the leftover mashed potatoes in single servings last night and packed those for the freezer this morning. I made a larger mashed potato recipe because I had some red and gold potatoes that needed used before they spoiled so I cooked all of them at once. I still need to pack the leftover gravy for the freezer and usually freeze it in a mason jar, then pack in a big zip lock bag to help keep air from getting in. I use the plastic lids instead of the metal ones to allow for expansion. This leaves me two meals of chicken, gravy and mashed potatoes, then two meals of shredded chicken, one for the Tortilla soup I'll make next week, and the last chicken package can be used for those chicken apple and raisin sandwiches I posted over in recipes. We had roasted carrots and onions with the chicken, gravy and mashed potatoes last night, I don't usually cook more than I need of a roasted vegetable though. Hubby has leftover potatoes, chicken and gravy for work today with his fruit, so he's a happy camper.

I froze the homemade flour tortillas we bought last Saturday because we won't be using them until this coming Sunday for black bean burritos. Those won't last until then and the store is too far away to just go for that one item when we need it. I have re-arranged my freezer again and pulled together the empty freezer bags that I use as a secondary wrap for the freezer to help keep freezer burn off the food. I always toss the actual bag the food was in, but I save the outer bag to reuse later and that usually ends up being tossed in the door and stuffed with the rest of them. They are all now in one bag of each size, and that made it easier to find what I needed for the packing this morning, it also uses far less space, and they aren't falling out when I open the door and try to pull just one, lol. I see lots of meals in there still waiting to be used this month and part of next month, I'm beginning to really like leftovers!

I have the chick peas on to soak for our butternut squash stew we'll have tonight for dinner with some crusty bread to dip in it. It's a new recipe, so we'll see how that goes, I'll post the recipe over in recipes. I'll be making less than the recipe calls for because I don't know if we'll like it yet. I'm still soaking the 1 1/2 cups dried chick peas the recipe calls for and will use half of them to make hummus.

Isyvanek-How'd your sandwiches come out? Your friend is right, low and slow, I'll post another sandwich recipe I came across and we tried the other night. It was very good and on rotation as well. You can use any bread you want on it.

I'm going to get my day going again, I'll check back later, I hope you all have a good day today.

anewstart22

deleted-added recipe here but moved it to recipes thread instead.

sannferris

Good Morning.

Ahh, grilled cheese, one of our favorites. Haven't tried TJ's tomato soup, I almost bought their split pea last visit, but I didn't do that either, since I bought the clam chowder. I will pick up the canned soups next time.

I am able to control myself with the pretzels already. I did that with the cookie butter too, a few years back. Bought it and ate the entire jar immediately, couldn't get enough of it. But, after that, I didn't binge anymore, I can eat just a little and put it away.

John's having trouble with the fluorescent lights again. He has changed the tubes, and the ballasts, so now he wants to buy new fixtures. I don't have a problem with the expense of buying fixtures, but I'm not sure he can handle doing electrical work anymore. We'll see what happens today. Maybe he forgot already.

Watched Downton Abbey last night, (and Doc Martin on Saturday night), they are repeating last season on both those shows to prepare us for the new season coming up in December/January. We will enjoy them again. Of course, with John, it's all brand new again anyway.

anewstart22

Good morning all, another nice night of sleep and I'm so happy for it. Last night's dinner was a definite bust because the flavor of the broth was not very good, well not very flavorful. I added a small amount of chicken bouillon and it helped some but I just could not get the taste to come together, and I didn't want the chicken broth to overtake the recipe again like it had before. That is some strong bouillon and I only used 1 1/2 tsp in 7 cups of water but you could taste the chicken for sure. It had a nice bite with the amazingly small 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes but that was about it. I think if the broth could be better in flavor the soup would be great but until that is figured out we decided to pass on the soup until then, if they make some changes.

For the first time I actually threw away the extra because we just didn't see ourselves eating the last of it, and it makes me sad to throw away food. I had used less water as planned but found I needed all 7 cups to make enough liquid for wilting the kale. That includes using only 10 ounces of butternut squash and only 1/2 of the garbanza beans I soaked and cooked, so I don't know how anyone would be able to use all of the ingredients that are listed on the recipe and still have enough liquid for the Kale to wilt into. I'll make some hummus later on today with the leftover garbanza beans, I look forward to that.

I did an inventory of the freezer and found that next weeks menu will be three leftover meals that are in there and the rest of the meals I already have most of the fixings for, which makes my shopping trip much cheaper this weekend. Last week I got that great deal on tuna and black beans and since I use a lot of black beans it works out great. Starkist tuna low sodium pouch .98 cents each and get the Bush's black beans for free, I sure like that deal.

I sure miss Trader Joes, there were some things we bought there all the time, like cheeses and artichoke hearts and the best were the sun dried tomatoes. I cannot get that stuff here, the sun dried tomatoes I get here are soaking in some really weird tasting marinade and they are so hard to chew they may as well go into a soup to rehydrate. I'd like some sun dried tomatoes that are easy to bite into and are just in oil, no flavored marinades, I want the flavor of the tomato to shine through and the tomato to be tender. That's the best for crackers, lol I also want artichoke hearts that are not overly flavored in marinade either, just give me artichokes in a light vinegar or even water. Smoked salmon is another one of those things Trader Joe's always had that was fantastic, nothing overly flavored, just perfectly salmon. I want to stack these things onto crackers and have some wine with my hubby, too many flavors combined don't fare well like that, lol. We used to do that once every couple of months out there in California, we have tried here, but we just cannot find the products to do it, we aren't happy with the products. We went to World Market this weekend and I had hoped to find something there but no luck there either.

SannFerris-I like Downton Abbey too but it doesn't seem I get to watch it very often since there are usually some other shows hubby and I watch at the same time. He isn't much into that type of show either, so that might be part of it, lol. I love it though.

Well, I'm going to get my day started making some hummus, doing laundry and finishing cleaning the kitchen. I can only hope my feet will hold out for me. Have a great day everyone!

mygnsac

Good morning everyone.

I'm going to have to do some serious catching up on these posts. Just been real busy and haven't stopped by in a while. I did skim through them though and saw the post about Debora's Emily.

Debora, I'm so sorry to hear about Emily. I know she's at peace now, but it still must so terribly hard for you and your family.

As expected, work has been crazy busy. Tis the season to be crazy! I'll be glad to see the new year and get back to a normal pace.

Yesterday I worked from home and around 11 am I took a break and went outside for awhile. As I was kicking back I noticed a little white blur pass my yard. Well, Cisco noticed it and reported it to me! It was my neighbor's little white dog who got out of her backyard again. This is the third time, that I know of, that this has happened. I followed that little dog down to the end of the street. A neighbor down there saw me coming and shooed the dog my way. She finally came to me (took some convincing). Turns out she had gotten through a little hole under the gate at her house. They have another dog out there, but the hole was too small for him to get through. They had the gate locked and I wasn't able to get her back into her backyard, so I just place a large rock in that hole and then just kept her at my house until my neighbor's daughter got home from school. Cisco didn't know what to make of that little dog in his space all day yesterday. At one point dad laid down to take a nap and Cisco and the little white dog joined him.

I made a pot of beef stew this weekend in the slow cooker. Used up the last of that chuck roast that I bought last month. That sure turned out good! Beef, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, cooked in chicken broth and thickened with corn stach.

Our weather has finally turned colder. We're averaging low 40s and high 60s. Loving this weather. I was so sick of the hot summer weather. We got some nice rain Sunday morning. Hoping we get lots more! The lawns are starting to green up around here now. It doesn't take much for them to recover.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day. I'd better get back to work!

P.s. on the emojis, in addition to those in the tool bar, you'll find lots more if you type a colon followed by a letter (like :a or :b, etc.) you'll get emojis that start with that letter.

sannferris

Good Morning.

Marcie, it's so good to see you, I know this is your busy time of year at work, but thanks for popping in.

I misled you a bit regarding Downton Abbey, John did not watch it. We watched Doc Martin together, but I watched Downton in one room while John watched football in another. He would not be interested or be able to follow Downton. He doesn't even follow the whole story line of Doc Martin and is always saying that he can't understand what they're saying (combination of the Cornish accent plus John is hard of hearing), but he laughs and laughs at the mannerism of the main character. I love to see him laugh.

I'm going to lunch with Carol today. I sure look forward to my lunches out, it's so much fun to visit with her and get out of the house. John was thinking of going with me so we could stop at Lowe's after and look at lighting fixtures. I'm all for getting him out of the house too, even though that changes our conversation at lunch. I unload on Carol about John and I don't want to do that in front of him. But, he already changed his mind. He told me last night that he won't be going with me.

I talked to Norma last night and Mom had a very good doctor's appointment yesterday. This new kidney doctor had taken her off some medications and reduced others about 6 weeks ago and yesterday was the follow-up. Her blood work looks a whole lot better and her kidney function improved from 25% to 30%. Getting rid of some of those pills that she's been taking for years really did a lot of good. This doctor believes whole foods can replace meds. Yay!!! He's a SMART one.

I talked to my cousin about the grass-fed beef yesterday. She had found another source, but thanked me for the info. She said maybe next year, we can go in together. She also would like to try the grass-fed pig. I love pork too, maybe we can go in together on that also. I'm still waffling as to buying any this year for just John and myself. I wish I could figure out the quantity of meat after cutting and packaging, so I can be sure that I have enough freezer space. I don't have a chest freezer, but the freezer compartments in the two refrigerators are fairly large and I have a waist high upright freezer that I had in my apartment from years ago (and it's still running like a charm). Right now, it's filled with TJ's goodies, I like having those easy frozen meals that I can pop in a skillet or oven and just add on to. Chicken and vegetable fried rice, chicken chow mien, spinach lasagna, etc.

Time to refill my mug. Talk to you tomorrow.

anewstart22

Hello everyone, I have a very interesting thread over in the message boards regarding the same post I made here about the FDA wanting our opinion. My opinion, their opinion, we all have opinions and ideas but it sure is hard when you are trying to have your opinion understood when the masses don't want to take the time to try to understand your opinion. Do I make sense? Yes, oh good, lol.

My day has been kind of slow, I was able to get the dishes done but my feet are at that point of wanting to hurt so I a saving them for making dinner later.


Mygnsac-It's sure good to see you here and it was so nice of you to chase down the neighbor's dog for them, then hold her at your home and keep her safe. I think my husband said it was only 49 degrees here this morning with a high humidity, I too am glad we have a cold front coming through. It's 1 o'clock and a beautiful 78 degrees out there. Thanks for the tip on Emoji's, I never knew that.

SannFerris-I hope your lunch was good and your meat purchase ideas sound great. I wonder if the company can tell you how many cubic feet you will need for storage if you buy it just for you?

I'll check back in later, have a great day everyone.

anewstart22

Good morning, I have now had some sleep for a couple nights in a row and it's such a relief. I am going to work on getting my bedding washed today and I'll make some fresh homemade condensed mushroom soup I can toss in the freezer for a few soup days in the coming month. I find if I make it condensed, without all the broth and the little amount of dairy added it saves freezer space.

I made a double recipe of turkey swedish meatballs last night so I could add a meal to the freezer for later. I must have altered my gravy recipe somehow, because there was far too much gravy when all was said and done. I have plenty of gravy for the swedish meatballs meal going in the freezer, and I have an extra gravy I added to the freezer last night for another meal. I had not added the greek yogurt or parsley, so I could effectively use it as a beef gravy for something else. How strange that was.

Well, not much else to say, I sure miss seeing everyone post and hope I haven't kept you all so busy that you decided to run away. Please come back!

Wait! I have to come back, I received an email from Gathered Table, the lady who started the company last eveing. She was thanking me for adding my own recipes to the site and in basics said she was happy to see that someone was really utilizing the site to it's best ability. She then proceeded to say that I could talk to her if I ever had any issues with the program or had any questions. So, well you know what happened from there. I emailed her back and explained that I would be leaving the program unless they could get some fixes done regarding the issues I was having. I laid them all out for her to address. We will see how that goes since my previous attempts have not gone anywhere.

sannferris

Good Morning.

Anew, wow, talking directly to the owner is great. I hope she listens and makes the adjustments that you need. I don't think there's such a thing as "too much gravy". ha ha ha ha

Yesterday was wonderful, Carol and I talked and talked and talked. We met up at 11:30 am and didn't leave until after 2 pm. I had a new omelet called California Chicken, it had chicken, bacon, tomatoes and avocado, and jack cheese. It was good, but I won't order it again, I didn't care for the chicken in it. I'll check the menu for something else that has tomatoes and avocado and a more traditional breakfast meat. This one did have bacon, but not very much. I ordered a side of country gravy for my hashbrowns, they have the best gravy at that café.
Carol is still having such a hard time since her son died. After talking to Carol and also Dawn (Dandydawn), losing a child has to be the most devastating loss, so much more so than, as an adult, losing a parent. Dawn's daughter Laura died about the same time as Carol's son. Even after these 2-3 years, I can see the pain in her face and hear it in her voice like he just passed. She said that it's so hard for her to go to their house and she absolutely can not enter the family room, where Larry lay in hospice and died there. She does go over there all the time for the grandkids, but I gather it's mainly to pick them up and drop them off, she doesn't spend time in that house.

Anyway, even through some sad topics, we had a great visit. She needed to get out of the house too, her husband is retired and drives her nuts sometimes, being home all the time. She wants him to get another part-time job or any activity that will keep him busy for a little while and she can have some alone time. He had a part-time job for the last couple years working at a school cafeteria. It was perfect, he was out of the house from 9am-1pm, weekdays. He got laid-off last month.

After lunch, I had planned to start looking for a formal dress for the wedding, but since we sat in the café for so long, I didn't have much time. I had told John I'd be home about 4 pm. As it turned out, I got home after 4:30, fortunately, he lost track of time and wasn't worried. I had a Trader Joe's platter of holiday cookies and a couple bags of the Peppermint Pretzels and a thank you letter that I wanted to drop off at Vancouver Rehab. I had cancelled my last appointment with the physical therapist last June because my Dad died and I went to California. I never went back, so I wanted to tell them why and how my summer was so busy with family. And, especially to thank them because I could not have done everything this past summer, moving Mom and cleaning out the Pasadena house, without their help in getting back the use of my arm. I talked to Kim, the receptionist, but was not able to see the therapists. I trust my letter to them says it all. So, since rehab is right next to the mall, I stopped in there, but did not find a dress. I'm still going to check out the Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrift stores. I did stop in at The Walking Company at the mall and found great shoes. Felt good as soon as I put them on and I told the saleswoman to help another customer so I could just walk around in them for a longer period of time. With my terrible feet, I fell in love with these shoes and bought them. I had planned to buy a dress first and then shoes, but now, I'll find a dress to match my beautiful new shoes.

I did some grocery shopping and stopped at Subway for a sandwich to bring home to John. That was my day.

anewstart22

SannFerris-Yay!, you got new shoes, you are halfway there. I am so happy you found shoes for your feet, we all deserve a nice pair of shoes that treat our feet nicely. May I suggest you just wear them an hour or two each day to get yourself used to them, even though they are comfortable? Now, for the dress, I am pretty positive you will find something to suit you somewhere, after all if I did I would hope anyone can, lol.

It sounds like you had a heartbreaking lunch today and I am so sorry to hear they are having so many difficulties with their losses. It also sounds like you were able to get alot done today, I am sure those ladies over there enjoyed all your goodies and your letter of thanks. I am pretty positive they don't get much reinforcement often.


I accidentally made mushroom soup, not condensed so guess what I am having for lunch?

I haven't heard back from Gathered Table yet, I hope they are looking into things over there.

anewstart22

Has anyone seen this? If you are in the Pacific Northwest or Texas you/we are in for some hard weather. I'm going to post this in another post within our group.



businessinsider.com/biggest-el-nio-killer-la-nia-coming-2015-11

sannferris

Good Morning.

Hey, what's with the "new look" of this page? Things look different and it just happened over night. Or did I just not notice this yesterday? Am I that out of it? I don't like change !!!!!!!

I'll have to read your link Anew, our weather forecasts so far have said that we will have a mild winter.

I'm having trouble getting my comment to type properly, dropping letters and entire words. Is it my keyboard? or this new change on the site? I'm tired of going back to make corrections, I'll be back later.

anewstart22

Good morning everyone, it's been a busy day for me, I have my shopping list ready with the coupons sitting aside. I'll get 12 cans of Play Doh for the Toys for Tots or Angel tree this year for only 88 cents total. We have a coupon from my store on toys for $3 off $10 purchase and the Play Doh has an in-store Q for BOGO.

I can use five of those coupons toward the deal as well, they call it piggybacking but it isn't stacking. You aren't allowed to stack coupons but you can have as many coupons accounted for on the products you are buying. Isn't that cool? So, the $3 off Q will attach to my basket purchase and one can, then the other 5 in-store q's will attach to 10 of the 12 cans. What a deal. Stacking means using an in-store coupon on 1 product and then using a manufacturer coupon on the same product, that is not allowed.

I just froze a bunch of green onions I chopped up that I won't get used in time before they go bad. I can use them in casseroles, soups or omelets. I can't use them like fresh though, they get tough in the freezer. I did not know you could do that but a web search surprised me. My freezer is really starting to pay off for me because I am putting the work in to know what is in it. I have that list and add to it and take away as I go. It has really worked out. I only need about $20 of food from the grocery store this week because my freezer is my buddy this week, lol.

I have decided to buy more frozen veggies instead of fresh because I find I can't use everything I buy before I have to toss it in the freezer anyway. I have I like plain frozen veggies I can plan into meals. I find I can't get through the fresh spinach and the lettuce because my husband is having a real hard time chewing fresh salad with his dentures. So, I think I will just slow down on salads and focus more on singular foods for him. I can make cucumber and tomato salad with green onions and avocado. He can eat that without too much issue. I can freeze spinach for smoothies though.


SannFerris-Yeah, this page looked like this yesterday when I posted. I don't get it either and I don't like it either. Your not out of it, lol. I am having problems with it too.

Go to our other threads within the group and take a look at my post there on El Nino, looks like a really bad winter and I am on the Texas coast. Not looking very good for hurricanes on the gulf and atlantic coasts. My senior year high school annual is titled "El Nino" because it was an El Nino year. I remember a lot of rain that year in East County San Diego, lot's of flooding in the Lakeside area near the dams. Anyway, my thread over there has the link to the Weather Channel as well with more information.

Hope everyone is having a great day today!

arobed53

Hi all. Lots has happened since last week so this will probably be long. I spent Thursday night (12th) and Friday with Emily in the hospital. Thursday she was full of smiles. The nurses gave a bath and washed her hair so lovingly. Biggest concern was her blood pressure which she has never had trouble with before. Report on her echo didn't show it to be long term happening so they sent her home with a blood pressure med and were to monitor it. When Jim got up to the hospital after school, she was ready to head for home. I rode with them and went to fill her prescriptions after we got her in the house. Ralph came in that evening and brought our blood pressure cuff to use until they could get one for her in her size and we went to the school play and then home.

Saturday morning Jim called us about 6:30 and said Emily wasn't breathing. They called 911 and after about 30 minutes they got a heartbeat and they took her to the hospital. We dressed and headed that way after Jim called so were able to be at the house with the kids. Jim and Lori went to the hospital and finally made the decision not to do drastic measures since the DNR was not current. Looking back on the week and her g-tube leakage, the signs were probably there that her body was having lots of problems but no one saw it. We all thought she was getting better. They came back home and the rest of the family came in. Derek brought pizza and we all ate. Lori got a call about things left at PICU so I offered to get it. It was two pillowcases and a shirt. I told them she had passed away - in her years, most of the nurses knew her so that was hard to do. During the afternoon, Lori got called from the place wanting them to donate is possible - 30 minute conversation with some questions that were out of place but they agreed and her eyes were the only thing able to be used. Her nurse of five years took it hard too. Our pastor met with them Saturday too.

Both Thomas and Lucy wanted to still do the play so we went to see it that night. The school took up an offering to help with the expenses. I had always hoped when they moved here that Jim would move to the school Lori went to but this school stands with them well. Parents at the daycare have donated to the funeral expenses, meals from her co-workers, etc.

Everyone still came for dinner Sunday and that afternoon Jim and Lori met with the funeral home. None of his family felt able to come so things moved quickly. Visitation was Monday evening, burial and the memorial service were Tuesday evening. Because she was so bent, they were able to get a smaller casket, they only needed 4 pallbearers so used her two brothers and my two sons. Visitation was nice - not too crowded and Emily looked so nice.

Monday and Tuesday during the day, I kind of did regular stuff. Jim and Lori planned the whole service and did a wonderful job. They had the burial before the service and though they would watch the casket be lowered but the set-up didn't really allow it and they were glad. Seeing the coffin closed was harder than they thought. They set up a table with pictures of Emily and some of her favorite toys. The service was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful little girl. We sang Jesus Loves Me, Katie read a poem - called "My Sister". Lindsey read something she had written and then Jim got up there and talked. Then the pastor had a mediation and then a slide show of pictures of Emily - they had more than they thought they did. Afterwards, brownies and ice cream were served - Jim used to take Emily to walks to Spangles and get ice cream - sometimes Emily got a little taste. I'm glad they DVD'd the service so we can have a copy and I can send one to Jim's family and my sister who couldn't come. (If anyone would be interested in reading what the girls read, let me know and I'd share but know I'm a bit biased).

During the service (although I didn't know it till afterwards), one guy there came close to "dying". He had a burp and didn't want to burp and make noise and didn't want to go out cause Jim was talking. He started to pass out. Emily's pediatrician just "happened" to be sitting close behind him and reached up and didn't find a pulse so they quietly got him out and the movement was a good thing for him. His wife didn't find it funny but as he came to, he looked at the doctor and asked if he was a doctor. Yes he was. He asked the next person who she was and she said a nurse. Then he asked the next person who she was and she said a mortician. He said - good, I'm all covered. He's doing fine now.

I got to bring one vase of flowers home cause they couldn't figure out how to have it safely. The flowers have been opening slowly and it makes the house smell good.

Wednesday the kids went back to school and the parents to work. Ralph and I went in and got our car inspected and got it tagged and talked to the eye doctor - he said give the eyes more time to adjust to the new glasses. In the afternoon I went to Lori's and took her clean laundry. I got more to bring home and did little things for her - threw away Emily's feeding bag, did the dishes, cut up a pineapple. Most of them went to church. I finished things up and headed for home.

Thursday I took Ava to speech, had the afternoon at home - worked on more cleaning and was here when the guy came to look at the furnace. He found a bunch of water in it so it's running better now and hopefully, the rest of the moisture will burn off. The house never got below 63 but hearing the furnace run was nice especially since tomorrow is only supposed to get in the 40s. In the evening we went to the boys' band concert. Of course, Jim and Lori were both free to come. This morning I did my errands, worked here in the afternoon and went to a wedding at 5. Very nice - bridesmaids wore tennis shoes for their shoes - comfortable and kept them from being taller than any of the groomsman was my guess. Meal afterwards was green beans, potatoes and a smoked pork chop and then of course, cake. We went through the receiving line and then home and it was only 7. So my list is ready and I'm geared up for tomorrow - think I'll be home all day.

Well, this is probably enough for now. I'll let you go and hopefully get back a bit sooner.

sannferris

Good Morning, late morning.

John is rearranging the firewood for the woodstove, getting ready to bring more wood into the house. It's cold, 33 degrees this morning and ice on all the animal waterers. College football is on and I have a minute or two to visit here.

This new page set-up brought to my attention that I'm named as a group leader. Thanks Marcie, I didn't notice that before, if it was even shown before. All the names of members that appear up top that are asking for an "invitation" or "remove", I thought I was already "friends" with them. Maybe not, maybe I see them because they are a member of this group but not necessarily of me, personally. I'll wait for some guidance before I start clicking on anything.

I got a nice email from Granny, updating me on how she's doing. Pretty much the same as what she has told Debora and Isabella, getting better, but still has a hematoma on her hip. Walking more, but not yet back to how she was doing before her fall. The neighbor behind the complex has llamas, so she had lots of questions for me regarding them. I guess she had told her friends that she visited me and I have llamas, so they keep asking her questions as if she should know all about llamas.

I had a strange experience at the doctor's office yesterday. I received a phone call Thursday afternoon, from the office receptionist, asking me if I could come in to fill out a form and they need my signature. Could I come in later Thursday or Friday? I chose Friday so I could plan better and run extra errands while I'm out.

sannferris

I was having such a hard time getting that last paragraph of my comment typed, I posted it and closed out everything, did a restart and will try to continue now. I didn't have trouble with email this morning or yesterday, but this site is giving me fits.

Anyway, after I made the appointment, I received insurance approval in Thursday's mail for a referral to Mount Hood Medical Center in Portland. I have never been to that medical facility and I don't know why I need to go there. So, yesterday morning, I called the insurance company and was told that my PCP had requested approval for gastroenterology. That's all the info she had, just that it had been approved. Since I was going in to "sign forms" anyway, I just waited for my appointment and planned to ask about it when I got there. I'll make this long story short. Turns out that I never did sign anything, the forms they referred to was an annual update of info for insurance, so we went through my entire medical history and meds all over again. Gotta keep the insurance company happy. Then, I found out that my Primary requested that I get a colonoscopy, solely because my Dad died of colon cancer. When I was in for the flu shot, she told me that technology was so advanced that a stool sample can tell them if there a problem in the colon. Even though the stool sample came back negative, she wanted to be on the safe side. I told her that I wasn't adverse to having the procedure, but my breast cancer surgeon said that I can't be intubated because of the paralyzed larynx. After we talked awhile, she said that there's a blood test that can be done in lieu of a colonoscopy, so we went that route instead. If the blood test comes back negative also, we'll drop it. What a confusing mess. But, I am thankful that my doctors are so concerned for my well being.

I better post this before I get so frustrated and lose the whole thing.

isyvanek

Hi everyone, I don't really see what's different with the site. It looks pretty much the same to me??

Marcie, so nice to hear from you. We figured you were really busy. Very nice of you to save the little dog next door. Hopefully they plugged up the hole so he doesn't escape any more. I'm surprised you didn't get a pic of your dad and Cisco napping with the little neighbor dog. Thanks for the info on the emojis.

Debora, you've had a lot going on as usual. Glad to hear the service was so sweet and that everyone is holding up pretty well all things considered.

Sheryl, The TJ creamy tomato soup is in a box and we usually get a couple of meals out of it. We just pour it in a giant mug and sip it. It went really well with the grilled cheese sandwiches. They turned out well but I would put a third slice of cheese in next time and use maybe a sharp cheddar. The jack cheese was pretty mild. Very happy to hear that your lunch went so well and that you found such a great pair of shoes. I was telling Dan that we should get your Downton Abbey discs back to you soon so you can watch the last episode again before the new season starts. Nice that you are able to watch it now on TV. I'll still send them back to you in a couple of weeks though. We have 2 more episodes to watch. Dan watches with me. He loves it! He thinks it is a very intelligent, well written, well acted show.

Anew, I've really been enjoying having leftovers for 2nd meals too but it seems I still manage to spend a lot of money on groceries each week getting all the fresh stuff. I really need to figure out how to cut back. It is cool that you heard from the owner of the Gathered Table. I will be surprised if she doesn't address at least some of your issues with the site. Perhaps she is gathering info on what the possibilities are before she responds. My grilled cheese sandwiches were a success as I mentioned above but I would put a third slice of cheese on next time. Dan was very happy with them.

I am going to my friend Jami's house tomorrow to dye our hair so I did most of my grocery shopping today. I was surprised how crowded the stores were. I didn't think about the fact that people would be shopping for Thanksgiving today. I stopped at Chick-Fil-A because I had a coupon for a free sandwich - no purchase necessary. Couldn't pass that up. I like their spicy chicken sandwich and I got a side of coleslaw so I paid $2 for lunch. I programmed about a dozen hallmark movies so I can get my smaltz fix. I think we'll watch one tonight. I'd better get going - hubby is waiting.

arobed53

Not a warm day (only up to 40) but the sun shone and it looked pretty out the window. I was only out to take out the trash and get the mail. I got the kitchen floor mopped (I won't say how long it has been since I did it). I hung up my one clothes pile and through all the short sleeved tops in the wash since I won't use them much now. I straightened up Ralph's piles of papers and magazines in the bedroom. I can't get rid of them but at least it looks better and I could vacuum some of the floor. I finally took care of the pop cans from last Sunday so it took all week to get things done. I like it better after I straighten but it's easy to put off. With my fitbit, sometimes fitbit gives virtual badges. This week I got the Japan badge for having walked the distance across Japan since I got my fitbit (1869 miles). It is keeping me moving.

Sheryl, glad you got your peppermint taste of the pretzel slims and could control your eating. They'll last longer that way. I've never eaten and artichoke (that I know of ) but marinated things are good. Did Norma and Simon's children get along well? It was good for her to have a break. I would have said it was proper to have it sent directly to their home (even though we don' t do that around here) but it will be fun for you and Norma to see it. Glad your mom made a decision and it is a good one for Norma (and you).

Anew, fun that you got to go out for breakfast with your friends. Smart planning - enjoy what you like for breakfast and keep the rest of the day lighter. The menu planning thing works so well for you and you are figuring how to make Gathered Table work for you. Nice that they are working with you although with all your knowledge now, you could do a lot of it on your own.
Oh my, your talking about leaving stove burners on made me go check mine. I'm still getting used to the knobs for the burners on my stove. I hate to make marks on it (even though it is mine) but I might so I can better see the line that points to where it is at. I left a burner on one day cause it was straight up and down but not the right up and down.

Isabella, turning up the computer would work well. I've done that. Nice BOGO for a restaurant. You are good at finding deals like that. Been a long time since I watched Gone With the Wind. I read the book too.

Sheryl, yay on a fantastic lunch with Carol. Sounds like it's good for both of you so hope you can do it regularly. I hear you on not wanting to pay so much for haircuts. I've gone to Great Clips (or one like It) various time - but not for a inexpensive as you can get but I enjoyed my last haircut. YDD and family gave me a certificate to a local girl who has done by hair before. It was nice cause she also washed my hair and styled it - never looks as good as the day it gets done. Yay on finding shoes so quickly. At least you have some time to look for clothes.

Anew, yum on the grilled cheese. Haven't done those in awhile. You make my mouth water. Glad you've been getting some sleep. I can't imagine not being able to sleep. Glad you can make the adjustments whatever you body is letting you do. How do you keep your freezer so organized - I start out good but it doesn't stay that way.

Marcie, so good to hear from you. I knew work was keeping you busy. I miss you though.

Sheryl, yes the pages do look different. Guess we'll all adjust to the changes. Nice to do such a nice thank-you for your physical therapists.

I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers with the loss of Emily. I just heard from my sister that they are just doing comfort care for her husband now so may have another funeral in the next few weeks.

Hope you all have a good Sunday. At church, it the day the families bring the shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child so that's always fun to watch the kids bring them to the front. Will put on the pork tenderloin before I head for bed. Sweet dreams.

anewstart22

So, this is an informative post, if you think I should start another thread outside of PBSWC regarding it, I will do it. But I think for those of us who are chatting here about the problems we are having with the site changes it is good here. Here goes!


Anyone having problems with MFP playing videos automatically and having it interfere with your use of the site? I do, a huge problem with Script hangups on Mozilla Firefox and the videos constantly reloading the page. I can't do anything until all that stops, but sadly the videos don't stop, and the script hangups don't stop, so it's a constant battle for me. Well, I have the complete fix for Mozilla Firefox without locking down everything like Adblock does. Adblock blocks way too much stuff so perusing the web is difficult to do. These steps below will help you to use MFP and any other website much easier, and it will save on your internet bandwidth if you are paying for a limited amount each month.

So, both of these steps below are for Mozilla Firefox, the very first link tells you how to stop the videos from automatically playing on any web browser, just pick the one you use. How to fix videos from auto loading on your web browser if it's not Mozilla Firefox? Or Scrips hangups, I don't know, you'll have to do a web search. You can type into the search box, how do I fix Scripts from hanging up (and add your browser name).

I found part of my solution was to "Disable Hardware Acceleration". The link below is to a computer website guide on how to fix things and they are trusted by McAfee, I am sure other places are too, but I use McAfee, and I get the nice big green check mark next to their web address link.

cnet.com/forums/discussions/browser-freezes-and-unresponsive-script-messages-389408/

And

This link is to an article on how to stop videos from automatically playing on the web pages you open up. I don't know about other browsers, but doing this on Mozilla Firefox makes it so I can play a video if I want to and when I move to another page on the same website videos are blocked from auto playing.

So, essentially I can still see the videos I want to see, and still have my programs intact, I just get to pick and choose, which is a good thing, because these auto play videos on MFP cause my computer to continually reload the page. When the page continually reloads I can't type into the threads very easily. This is a huge part of the problems I am having with MFP. This will also take care of the other websites from automatically playing videos when I open the pages.

See here how to stop videos from autoplaying

consumeraffairs.com/news/how-to-stop-annoying-internet-videos-from-autoplaying-082514.html

This link is for the scripts that keep hanging up my Firefox on MFP. I don't think I have problems with that anywhere else, this add-on for Firefox fixed my problems with that I think. I will let you know if I have anymore problems, but so far so good. It puts a little sheet of paper emblem in your toolbar that you can turn scripts on and off on any website you visit. MFP is now blacklisted for now while I test this out and I can always turn it back on just by clicking the sheet of paper in my toolbar. This is only for those that use Mozilla Firefox, you'll have to do a search for your own web browser if you aren't using Mozilla Firefox. I don't think it's necessary to blacklist every site you go to, just the problematic ones. I know I need to use scripts on certain sites, like Gathered Table and my grocery store website.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/yesscript/

I hope this helps those of you who have problems like I have here on MFP. To help MFP get the funding they need to run the website via ads, I will play one ot two videos per page so they get the revenue.

anewstart22

Arobed53-It sounds like Emily's service went well, and sounds like a beautiful celebration of her life. What a funny story on burp guy, guess he was all covered with a doctor, a nurse and a mortician. That read like a good joke, lol, a little humor during a sad time, seriously though, I'm glad he is ok. I'd love to hear about what the girls read during the service and I bet it was very thoughtful. It looks like you've been keeping yourself busy getting things done too, that should help keep your mind occupied.

Sannferris-I posted some helpful links about problems I am having here using MFP website, it might help you to figure out what is going on and how to fix it. My page looks like a very narrow page with lot's of add space to the right. Now that I fixed my problems I am not having any trouble typing into the threads, but I did notice I had to turn on Scripts to be able to edit that post on how to fix things. I might leave it on and see if my Disable Hardware Acceleration trick worked. It might be what the problem was for the Script Hangups I was getting. I am not getting any now, so I think I will leave Scripts on by unclicking the black paper sheet in my toolbar and see what happens. If it starts to hang up again I will just click it back to black for blocking until I need to unblock for editing my posts. Now that you are thoroughly confused, lol!

I'm glad Granny is doing better and hopefully that hematoma will high tail it out of there soon. Glad you got all the medical testing needs worked out for the better.

Isyvanek-The site is really strange, apparently for me and for Sannferris-I don't know how her page appears but mine is a very narrow thread area so reading it is more like reading a narrow paragragh all the way down the page like in a magazine. It's really hard to read and especially hard to type into since you can't see but two lines of print in the area to type into. My problem was the videos which caused the page to continually load over and over again. It interrupts the use of the site and you can't type into it while the page is reloading. It also caused my computer to crash often so I had to start all over again. Between that and the Scripts problem I was having it seems to be much better, only time will tell, but this page being so narrow is very annoying. So, I am typing this in my "Notepad" so I can copy it and paste it into the teeny tiny little typing area because it is much easier than trying to do it within the thread.

Your tomato soup and sandwiches sound really good, another "wish" I had Trader Joe's around here, lol. Definitely using sharp cheddar cheese will enable you to enjoy the sandwich much more without having to add more cheese. One of my tricks to making grilled cheese is to shred the cheese first, then butter one side of the bread, put it into the hot pan and then pile the cheese on. I pile it in the middle, then try to move it toward the sides so it's on the bread and off the pan. I do all sandwich bottoms first then I add the butter tops. This way the cheese melts really well and if any cheese happens to slip down the sides, well, it just tastes really good, crunchy and salty. This is one time I like to taste salt, when the cheese is crunchy outside the sandwich.

Grocery costs are definitely high here, although I get some great deals now and then, I always watch for the 25% off meat that has to be sold that day. I just make sure to bring it home and portion, then freeze it that day. It saves us a lot of money that way. I have found that I have to buy as little in the fresh produce dept per item I am buying. That way I can try to get things used up before they go bad, by having a ready made menu I find I am not over buying too much in the produce dept anymore. I can make a list of what I need according to my menu and this has helped to really bring the buying down. I only bought carrots, onions and bananas this week because I already had salad fixings and other fruits and vegetables and I didn't need potatoes this week. I had to peel some of the lettuce off the head I had in the refrigerator and toss it, everything underneath was perfect so I separated it into two salad meals and a little extra for things like sandwiches.

Carrots are good for a very long time in the refrigerator, so I don't worry so much about those, it's the fresh tomatoes, fruits, and leafy greens. Oh, and the avocados, I am so unhappy when my avocados go bad sitting there waiting for me to use them I buy them, they aren't ripe but two days later they have all these brown spots all over the inside and they taste bad. So, although they say not to put an avocado in the refrigerator, I have found if I bring them home from the store almost ready to use and put them in the refrigerator, one week later I can pull it out and use it, alot of the time they are perfect inside. So, I am not wasting $1.50 on them anymore which makes me very happy.

I used some of those frozen chopped green onions in our scrambled eggs this morning and you never would have known they were frozen prior. When I make scrambled eggs I add the eggs, milk and seasonings to the bowl and let sit on the counter to come to a better temp, usually about 15 minutes or so. When I cook the eggs I usually start the pan with the butter and I add the fresh chopped green onions and cook just a minute or so, this helps the flavor spill out into the eggs, then I add the eggs and scramble. This time I threw in the frozen chopped green onions to the egg mixture and let it come to the same temp as the eggs before I cooked them and it was perfect. The flavor of the green onions wasn't really throughout the eggs, but the flavor of the onions was spot on, and the texture was perfect, so I will definitely keep freezing green onions I can't finish before they go bad. Green onions may be cheap, but I hate throwing money in the trash just like the next guy or gal.

I hope Gathered Table gets that fixed but I'm getting good at organizing my food really well so I might not need them much longer. I'll do a post on that in the future, maybe it will help others to save some money too,. Edit: Well now I see I am posting below in response to Arobed53's question on how I keep the freezer organized, lol.

Arobed53-Do you not have marks on your burner knobs or is it a little arrow that points the direction of the knob? If it is a white arrow, what about painting it black so you know where it's pointing? How strange that you can't tell where it's pointing. My problem is just forgetting I left it on low to heat the water, to soak a pan, so it's easier to clean. It seems to me they should have made it easier for you to know where your knob is positioned and if that is the case you could call the company and ask them if they have an easy fix for it. Who knows, they might send you some knobs that are properly marked.

As for the freezer, I have a 14 cubic foot stand up freezer as well as my refrigerator freezer to use. The refrigerator freezer doesn't hold much but that huge Ice maker and I have two shelves, one is fast freeze the other is just regular. Then there are two baskets below, one holds a 10 pound bag of good ice(I don't use city water ice) and the other basket holds my husbands cold ice pack lunch bag that keeps his food much colder throughout the day. That is needed here with our hot and humid weather, his food stays cold and safe to eat when he is ready. I pretty much keep the two shelves open and available for flash freezing things flat to toss into the bigger upright, I also use it for anything I want to take somewhere and can separate it out before I leave. I find I don't forget those freezer items if I do it this way. I have a list I made so I know exactly what I have in the upright freezer. I have the shelves organized using those $1 plastic shoe boxes I buy at the Dollar Tree, I don't use the lids and each one is marked with a black sharpie what goes there. Turkey, chicken, hamburger, sausage(I include bacon with the sausage container), pork, etc. Then on my list I write exactly what I have in those containers, for example, chicken could have ground, thighs, or breasts, boneless or otherwise, and I write how much of each I have. 4 thighs, 2 breasts, 1 lb ground chicken, the date it should be used by, etc.

I have been doing the same for my fruits and veggies in the freezer as well. For my pre-cooked meals I have thrown in there, I mark them on the list, how many meals are available from it (meals are always separated) and where is it located in the freezer, top shelf, door, behind what? Then as I use them I mark it off the list. I will give a link to some worksheets you can print that I am using, they are free to print. Finally, I did the same thing with my pantry, and when I add something new it goes to the back of the stock, and I do the same for adding to the freezer so I use those older things first. I also have a new freezer list I am building so that when I add something new to the freezer that item is last on the list, I will use what is at the top of the list first, so it doesn't go bad.

Now, I have never, ever in my life, been this organized regarding the freezer or the pantry, this is a very new thing for me in the last few weeks. I have done this over about 4 weeks time, not all at once because there is no way I have time or the ability to stand that long, lol. But by doing it over time I have a great handle on our foods in this house, I cook from scratch so that is a lot of singular food items to list out. I often found myself writing a list for the grocery store so my husband could stop on the way home from work. I would look at my pantry, refrigerator and freezer to decide what I was cooking. 90% of that time I had no true idea what was in that freezer because it was so unorganized, and I found myself tossing many things because I discovered them when they were way too old and freezer burned. That's when I decided to use those plastic shoe boxes, because I could stand things up in them to make them easier to read the label and generally see what each item was without having to pick up and entire stack and try to rifle through it. It also allows my freezer to have that air space it needs to work properly. Now none of my air fins are blocked in the freezer because those plastic containers keep everything contained within them, well, for the most part anyway. I have found I removed one of them from the top shelf so that I could stack flat ziplock bagged items that I flash froze in the refrigerator freezer first, such as, gravy, shredded chicken separated into meals, etc. I have a 1/4 cookie sheet pan I leave in there and line with new thin food wrap foil to flash freeze things flat. The flat items stack well but those are also items from pre-made meals that I have on my list, so I know what is in the stack.

I have decided to shop the way I used to, such as, purchase extra meats(turkey and chicken we eat most) when they are marked 25% off because they need to be sold that day or the next day. Purchase more frozen veggies to have a variety of them on hand for meals so I buy less fresh produce I have to freeze anyway. I can still cook frozen green beans the way I do fresh, I just have to leave them frozen when I toss into the hot skillet and let them cook away. This saves me time and money in the long run and my feet thank me for it, lol.

I can plan menu's according to my freezer and pantry list so it is essentially like using Gathered Table, only with them you are just adding meals to make your menu and the recipes are all right there if you add them. I can find all the recipes I need, so don't think I really need Gathered Table anymore, it has helped me to become more organized though, so it was a cheap lesson to learn and use in the long run. I'll keep it a couple of more months to get some more menus and really get the meals we eat more often on the list so I know I will continue to give hubby what he likes. As for now, this weeks menu is all foods I already have here, mostly freezer meals, so I didn't have to buy much at the store this week. What a huge savings in time and money, this week I bought a chuck roast which I don't normally buy because of the expense. I could swear chuck roast used to be like $1 per pound or something, but I haven't bought one in years. Man $3.97 per pound is expensive and I bought the smallest they had, it was still $12.00! Yikes! I also bought two 1 pound packs of 93% ground turkey at 25% off that I tossed into the the back of the freezer inventory. I guess that helped to pay for the chuck roast we'll enjoy sometime down the road.

And finally, I have finally told my husband I didn't want him rummaging through everything anymore, he is just like a kid and goes through everything, moving it all around and then I can't find what I know I had in a specific place. He does this everywhere, in the kitchen, the freezer, refrigerator and pantry, the dishes, even the bathroom, aye aye. So, after 16 years of marriage I decided it was time to change that, I told him I wasn't spending all that time organizing so he could come in and take it all apart. So I showed him around, and asked him to please ask me if there is something he is specifically looking for that he can't easily find, and I will show him where it is for the next time he needs it. I re-arranged the refrigerator so much it drove me crazy, this stuffed behind that, just because he was hungry for something to eat. Now I have some of those plastic shoe boxes in there too (also without the lid), one shelf has two boxes, one for defrosting things from the freezer and it's marked with a sharpie what it's for. I wash it often and always after defrosting something that leaks into it. The other is marked for things like peanut butter, jelly, pickles, and it's marked too, they are easily removed from the refrigerator to get what's needed out of them. Sometimes I have turkey thawing and chicken thawing at the same time so that shoe box really comes in handy.

The shelf above holds another plastic shoe box that is marked "leftovers", so he knows that's where he'll find his lunch or other things he can eat if he's hungry. The other shelves and the door are mine and mine only, I choose what goes where and he is not allowed to move anything. lol. He sees where his apple juice or mayo is, or whatever else he needs, like his fresh fruit in the bottom drawer. This keeps me from losing the avocado I set in there two days ago, or the package of tortillas I put in there two days ago. Just so you know, I do 99% of the cooking so it is essentially my kitchen, lol. Like the garage is his and I helped him organize that too. Now he can easily move around in there and find what he is looking for, he does a really good job of keeping it organized, the cars are taken care of, etc. He's great at numerous things, just not keeping tornados out of my kitchen, lol. It's amazing how clean his desk is, I just can't leave anything on it, because he will stuff it somewhere and ask me where I put it, lol. Aye Aye Aye. Too funny sometimes.

I haven't thrown away any old food because it was lost in weeks. I have a funny story to tell. My husband loves cheese to snack on, he pretty much eats it everyday when he gets home. He always breaks into what I have planned for a meal. so I put what I needed for this weeks meals in a ziploc, and wrote on it "Don't Eat". I set his whole 1 pound chunk right on top of my meal cheese and he got a giggle out of it when he saw that. He exclaimed, "Don't eat?" and laughed and asked if he could eat the last of the grueyre cheese, "yeah go ahead", lol. The problem is he goes through that cheese drawer and really throws it into turmoil so I asked him again to stop doing that, "please put things back where they were when you began digging". I have cheese, extra butter, nuts, etc in there and I fix that darn drawer everyday, aye aye, lol. He really doesn't realize how much time I spend reorganizing his tornado(s), lol.

I baked some of those bacon and green onion corn muffins to toss in the freezer for quick bread with chili. He really likes those, he already had some last night when he got home, he said, "umm, I smell bacon", lol. I doubled the batch using only 12 ounces of bacon though, and put 9 each into two 1 gallon ziplock bags for meals, and 9 in another 1 gallon ziploc with a big ol' smiley face and a "You can eat this!" marked on it. I showed it to him and he giggled again, but at least he knows he can get into the freezer and eat those when he wants a snack, or wants to toss one in his lunch. I do the same for his little cheesecake snacks I make for him in muffin cups. He likes to have them in his lunch, they slowly thaw in his cold bag and are perfect at lunch time.

Okay, now that I have thoroughly taken every minute of everyone's time, I hope you all have a great day, it was 40 degrees this morning with a cold brisk wind, now it's 59 degrees at 3:00 pm. I sure enjoy the cooler air though.


This is the website for a great list of planners for everything life. I found this site to be very informative and the bell went off in my head, lol. I saved the websites to my tool bar so they are easy to find when I want to print another sheet.

This link is for food related items.

organizedhome.com/printable/menu-meal-planner


This is the main page and you can see all the different planners available to print.

organizedhome.com/printable

anewstart22

I have found that if I want to edit a post I made within the 60 minutes time allotted I must un-blacklist MFP from the Scripts little sheet of paper in my toolbar. If I don't un-blacklist them, I can't open the options to edit the post. Since I made the other changes to my computer I think I will leave them un-blacklisted to see if the Scripts hangups continue to stop occurring while using MFP.

I am also having zero problems with the page reloading constantly. I believe it's because I stopped the videos from automatically playing. Wow this is much nicer.

Sannferris- I also notice if I make a post and then go back into the edit screen I get a much larger typing area. Maybe you could do that too? Maybe type in something like, "Be right back".. Then we would know you are busily writing a post for us?

arobed53

Good day here - didn't get real warm but it wasn't windy. Good morning at church and evidently the noon meal was enjoyed. My only leftovers were a little bit of pineapple and quite a bit of Waldorf salad - used black walnuts so not a favorite of many. Everyone left around 3 and it's been relaxful since then. I didn't have any microwave popcorn so I tried doing some in a paper bag but used miniature stuff and burned it "good". So Ralph made kettle corn in the popper which was really good. Jim and Lori only had to drive one vehicle cause they bought a van on Friday that seats 7. They'll sell the handicapped van now. They said this was an expensive week cause they paid for the funeral (lots of donations toward it thankfully), bought a washing machine and a van plus postage on the shoeboxes.

Tomorrow I'm babysitting Maggie in the morning so have to be at their house at 7:45 and Katie has an appointment she wants Alan to go to also so they'll drop their kids off about 9. Hopefully, it all goes okay. Need to finish figuring out what I need to get for Thursday yet so I can finish shopping when I have an appointment on Tuesday.

Anew, I use Google Chrome and I don' t have any videos on my page. Very thankful now that I hear what you go through. It will save you money if you don't have to stay with Gathered Table for a long time, but they were a great way to get you started. I have some containers (dish pans - need to add some more I think) in my freezer too and they have helped but like when I brought the two 12 pound hams home, I had to move stuff around to put them in. And I'm not very good about labeling. And I have tried lists but wasn't good about marking things off. Maybe you'll rub off on my as time goes on.
Yes, there us a gray line on the know but it's a light gray so I might go over it with a marker. I don't think I'll bother the company - it's just a learning curve from my old knobs where it was very obvious.
Any beef is expensive now. I was able to get the roasts I had last Sunday for $2.99 a pound and yes, they used to be a lot less. Love the story on your husband rummaging through things. Smart way to make he doesn't eat something you want. Using some containers in the fridge might be helpful too but I change what's in there so much. Most of condiments are on the door shelves. You have great organizational skills. I do do fairly well at keeping things used up. I'm with you on not liking to throw food out.
That's a great website. Just would take time to go through it all. You've talked about adblocking stuff - I wonder if I have it - someone helping me with my computer may have put it on. Not going to mess with doing anything about it cause don't want to mess anything up.

I have my list made for tomorrow so guess I'll try and work my way through some emails until bedtime. Sleep tight.

anewstart22

Good morning, it's around 8:30 am, just happily woke up a few minutes ago to a bold and brisk 49 degrees. I love this weather now because the house is well insulated and it is the one time during the year that I can wrap myself up with blankets or wear a sweater in the house to be warmer. The a/c is off, it's good, it needs a break from being on at least 360 days out of a year because the humidity has to be removed from the house. No heat needed right now, the semi-loud hum of the fan I use to blow the a/c around the house is off, and it is just down right comfortable in here at 68 degrees. I can hear all the weird noises the upright freezer makes, lol. This will only last a couple of days before the heat and humidity are back when the cold front moves on, so I will enjoy it while I can.

I feel like I am back home in East County San Diego, I love it too, because I get to reminisce about my home town and all the things I used to enjoy there. I really enjoy the brisk air, bundling up in bed and have the humidity out of my thoughts for a while, lol. The bonus is having slept through the night again and my feet seem to be getting a little healing too. I fall asleep with socks and those ice packs on my feet, and then as the cold treats my feet the ice packs begin to warm up, and I wake up with my feet in a caccoon of warmth. Hours of that seems to be helping and when I can't sleep it isn't easy to get those foot treatments. I just have to remind myself not to stand on them too long or the pain comes back really bad.

Arobed53-It's so funny you mention not being good with lists regarding the freezer, it was your mention of your daily lists that got me to thinking about lists and looking for them, lol. You see you inspired without even knowing it. One thing I am doing to make sure I label everything is to write on the label, or on the container or bag the item is going into before I put that item into it. That way it is marked, then I am writing it on the list before it goes into the freezer. I make sure to take an inventory of what is going into the freezer and how I am separating it into meals. Then I pull the necessary bags or containers and begin labeling, then pack.

I was forgetting to check off what was on the list too until I found the specific list I am using from the website I posted to you, "Freezer Inventory". That list has a line of boxes next to the item name and you put one slant for each item, and then when you take it out of the freezer you finish the "X" with the other slant. Now you know that item is out of the freezer and unavailable to use. That is what made it helpful for me to keep inventory properly in the freezer, those little half X's. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration to get more lists going in my life, I was a late bloomer since I only made shopping lists, lol.

Have a great day everyone!

mygnsac

Hi all.

Short work week this week. Yay! I'll have Thursday and Friday off. Dad and I are going to go to the same place for Thanksgiving that we went to last years. It's a restaurant called Seasons 52. We really enjoyed it last year.

I'm not having any issues using this site. I wonder if you need to upgrade your browser? When I have a second, I'll go over to the website help post and see if anyone has talked about it over there. Have any of you reported the issues you've been having?

Sheryl, I forgot to tell you I had made you a leader. These senior moments of mine are sure piling up. Just disregard the Invite-Remove. Never did figure out why they are still there.

Debora, Emily's service sounds like it was so special. How scary that that man stopped breathing! But he was right, he sure was covered!

Anew, you deserve time without humidity! I don't do well when it's humid, but luckily we don't get much of that here. I remember it well though from when we live in Indiana from 1980-1982.

Isabella, I've never gone to a Chick-Fil-A. They are building one nearby though so I may have to check them out. I hope you enjoyed the movie. I recorded a spooky movie this weekend called The Others. I was halfway through it before I remembered I had already seen it. Knowing how it ended kind of took away the spooky-factor.

Well, back to work. Have a lovely day everyone!

mygnsac

Lots of complaints on the MFP Forum Feedback post and on a post someone else started. Looks like the are working on issues in the Groups.

MFP Forum Feedback. If you have something you want to report, go to this post.

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