Howdy all y'all. It's terrific Tuesday! It's the 12th day of Christmas, and the tradition would be to have twelfth cake, but I don't have a recipe for that. It's probably too rich for me anyway so I shouldn't be eating it. I will have some panettone in lieu of that.

And it's finally time to have that runoff election here in Georgia. We voted absentee, a few weeks ago, so don't have that on the agenda, thank goodness.

Yesterday I received the first grocery delivery of the year, and today will be the second, from a different source. There is no ONE store that has all the things I want, and there are sometimes outages anyway.

I have two pounds of ground beef thawed in the refrigerator that I need to do something with today. I think Eduardo may be plotting something. Hmmmmm.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Howdy all y'all. It's wonderful Wednesday! It's cold and clear now, at 30 degrees, and should be a cool, partly cloudy day, and a slightly warmer night than this past one.

Lunch yesterday utilized some of the ground beef, ending up as cheeseburger chickpea rotini, that turned out delicious. Dinner was chili Frito pie, in lieu of taco Tuesday, and breakfast this morning was a bowl of chili. Lunch is looking likely to be chili too. Great food for cooler days.

Thank goodness the special election is over. The amount of election mail (both email and US Mail) I had been receiving was staggering. We got at least two or three times as much as I remember getting over the main election in November last year, a good chunk of it asking for donations. I think they threw plenty of money at this special election and didn't add any of mine to that pot.

I think I need to get started on some laundry today. As always, the grocery list seems to grow, and I will have to get out for cat food within the week.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Good morning!!

Jo, I just love your attitude! Never Have I ever said the words I am ready to go back to work!! I am glad your daughter is going to get her vaccine. Some of the nurses down here are not taking it. I am surprised at that. Hopefully most will. Grocery workers and truck drivers are certainly heroes in my book! Seeing how testing came down, I am content to wait for my turn at the vaccine to trickle down. Maybe we will see a change in 6 mos. I hope. Ed, you did that stretching of that ground meat quite well. All great choices, yum. Irene, you will have to work on getting a picture of Sammie on here. ( I am laughing as I have no idea to do it myself.)

What a mess in Washington. I am embarrassed and really saddened by all of it.

Rain expected all day. Cozy day to be at home!

Are any of you getting rid of your adobe if you have some things downloaded with it? Just curious what you are replacing it with. Some of my older stuff used that and I do not want to lose things. The new plug in's will not retrieve anything from adobe. Any thoughts??

Take care all. Stay safe and sane. Only half kidding...

Good morning.
I am thankful to Stacy Abrams and the people of Georgia for helping to keep our democracy. Some in DC showed their true colors yesterday, and they were not patriotic. A lot of people in the USA need to stop believing the lies and appreciate our freedoms and responsibilities. I am thankful that we have enough people that want a democracy and not a dictatorship. I'm right there for invoking the 25th amendment. This perversion of what our country stands for can not continue. The last 4 years have been appalling.
Yesterday there were new records for covid cases and deaths. It's like Pearl Harbor or 911 every day. It didn't have to be that way. I am thankful for our scientists and health professionals. I may be preaching to the choir, but I had to let that out.
I hope you all have a good day. Stay safe, stay healthy.

No. There is a right and wrong side of the law. It does matter what side you're on.

Well, I decided to add enough to make the delivery order, and they are only substituting one thing. In my opinion, the substitution they chose is not really a good fit, and were I the one picking, would have simply omitted the item and delivered the rest of the order. But I did not specify "no substitution" on that item and I can eat what they are sending, so I will just live with it I guess.

I ordered one11.5 ounce package of Smithfield Boneless Hickory Smoked Pork Chops, which generally contains four or five chops. They are substituting an 8 ounce Smithfield Anytime Favorites Hickory Smoked Boneless Ham Steak instead.

As I said, I can certainly eat that, but it's ONE piece of meat, not four or five smaller, almost perfectly sized pieces. And while ham IS pork, it's not really the same flavor profile as a smoked chop.

Oh well, it's all good I suppose.

In my last order from Kroger, they made an accidental substitution because the picker wasn't paying close enough attention. I had ordered some fruit cups, packed in 100% juice, and they sent the right fruit, but packed in light syrup. The calorie count and carb profile are actually the same, but we prefer the ones in fruit juice. They don't taste quite as sweet as the ones in light syrup, but taste sweet enough to satisfy us.

I thought about making a complaint and if I had, I am sure they would have refunded me the cost, but as we will eat them, and it wasn't an egregious error, I just accepted it.

FIRST WORLD problems, right? I am grateful that I can get my groceries delivered at all and I always have the option to mark any item to allow no substitutions. It just never occurred to me that they might substitute a ham steak in lieu of pork chops. If I order those chops again, I will remember to mark that for no substitutions.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

I think some of the newly added and suddenly increased delivery options had some start-up problems, and I have read of other friends receiving, early in the game anyway, some at least slightly messed up orders but in all case they were able to get the payment amounts corrected.

I am just about always flexible enough to make sudden last minute changes, if necessary. So if I had ordered something that I wanted to prepare for dinner that same night, and it turns out they don't have it, Eduardo is always on hand to throw something together from available ingredients.

Today's order arrived and everything (except that silly ham) was exactly what I ordered. The worst thing that has happened so far on any of my orders was the time they sent a dozen eggs, and 7 of them were broken on arrival.

As it was clear that the breakage had occurred during the delivery process, I just changed our meal plan for that night and we had a crustless quiche-like dish for dinner, which used up all the severely broken eggs, which I was able to extract from the carton with minimal mess, fortunately.

6 were broken so badly that pretty immediate consumption was required, or just tossing them, and they went into our dinner. The 7th was just barely cracked and the inner membrane was still solid, so that one could wait for a day or two.

While we did enjoy Eduardo's quick fix on the problem, I did complain about that and got a refund on the price of the eggs, and they applied an additional $5.00 credit on my account, that would automatically go toward my next purchase.

Since we did end up eating the eggs, I felt kind of funny about complaining and getting the refund, but felt they should have a record of the problem.

For all I know that driver may have had a history of delivery issues and they may have needed to find him another job in the company that would be a better fit. I saw him on the door cam so know it was a man.

Every other delivery has been handled with due care and diligence.

Hello.

Cold, wet, windy and breezy. It feels much colder than 44 degrees at the moment.

Perfect indoor closet cleaning day and baking day. I made old fashioned molasses bars. Fun memory from when I was a child.

Eku, sorry I was so apparently unclear. I meant whether you had voted Dem. or Rep.- it was all disgraceful and so ugly. No excuses to cross a moral line that should be quite apparent. Other than the occasional lead foot on a nice summer day there is not much disobedience in my body.

Many complaints apparently of ordering and stealing of food by 3rd party deliveries. Fast food and restaurants included. Horrible! Glad you all have not had that happen. Ours seem good in our area.

Hi Jo and Irene! Take care all.

Howdy all y'all. It's satisfying Saturday!

It's cold and cloudy this morning but we are looking forward to a sunny day with a high in the lower 40s.

Not a lot on the agenda today.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Howdy all y'all. It's sumptuous Sunday!

It's cold and clear right now, but should warm up to a partly cloudy 49 degrees for the afternoon.

I might take one (or both) of the vehicles for a spin after it warms up a bit.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

Good morning;
I have and eye appt. this morning. The office sent me a link to answer Covid questions and then sent me a e-pass to show at my appt.
I am fussy about what I buy for groceries, so I don't want anyone else picking out my groceries.
One of the employees in our meat dept. tested positive for Covid. All employees in that dept. were sent home for 10 days and are required to get tested prior to returning to work.
All I can say is that I am appalled at what went on at the Capital and am glad that arrests are being made.
Vix-I hope your rash gets better soon.
Have a good day!

Good morning.
Yesterday, I tried some hydrocortizone cream, then some triple antibiotic ointment. Thanks, Jo. Today the rash is a little better and I am trying aquaphor ointment.
Good luck with your eye appt, Jo. I like to pick out my own groceries too, especially produce. I hope your coworkers in the meat dept. are ok. I'm glad arrests are being made too. We need follow through and consequences.
Ed, I'm glad you always have a positive attitude. I strive for that, I know it's a choice. I think I usually do pretty well.
Partly cloudy and 26 degrees here with a high of 42 expected. I have a load of laundry to put in. I made some beef and cabbage stew last night. It was pretty good.
Have a good day, everyone. Stay safe and healthy.

Good morning.
Currently 29 and sunny with a high of 44 expected today. It was pretty when I got up this morning with the sun glimmering on the frosty grass.
Yesterday was a bad emotional eating day again. Will get back on track today. Planning on making chicken soup. I did some laundry yesterday and sat on my front porch in the sun for a while, with a jacket on...the sun felt nice and warming.
Ed, I've lost track of days...it's good you do Lilo's shot on the same day every week...I was doing that with cleaning, but recently got thrown off, so have to reset that.
Jo, I hope your eye appt went well.
Irene and Jan, hope you are both doing well.
Have a good day, everyone.

Howdy all y'all. It's wonderful Wednesday!

It's cold out there and is only expected to get to about 47 today, and overcast, with a small chance of rain.

I may pop out to a grocery to look at those few things that I do just have to pick out for myself. And perhaps get some broccoli since Kroger didn't have that to deliver, or the green peas that I wanted.

Oddly, they wanted to substitute Honey Bunches of Oats With Real Strawberries in lieu of the Grape Nuts that J wanted, but I was able to request that they just omit that, as I don't really think that there is a substitute for Grape Nuts, aside from Kroger brand Nutty Nuggets.

While J would have eaten the Honey Bunches of Oats With Real Strawberries, we would not have been terribly happy with that substitution. They were able to remove that item before they finalized the order so it worked out well.

But really, who would have thought that any cereal with added fruit would be a "best substitute" or even an appropriate substitute for Grape Nuts?

Sometimes I wonder how they come up with their ideas for substitution. I am almost surprised that they didn't try to substitute cauliflower for the broccoli, or green beans for the peas. LOL. They at least seemed to have their brains connected on those items, and didn't even try to substitute.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

FOOD REVIEW!

Tonight, J tried a retro frozen TV dinner from Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar. I saw an ad for them on FaceBook so I can tell you FaceBook ads DO work. LOL.

I ordered an assorted six pack, to reduce the price from $10 each, to $7.50 each. But I did have it delivered, rather than going to pick it up, so paid a substantial tip to the DoorDash driver.

No delivery fee for orders over $25, and no tax on frozen dinners, since those count as grocery food items.
I ordered the following:

TV Dinner Chicken Parmesan
TV Dinner Fried Chicken Dinner
TV Dinner Fish N Chips
TV Dinner Cheese Enchiladas
TV Dinner Pot Roast Dinner
TV Dinner Chicken Pot Pie
Buy 6, save 25%
Subtotal$45.00
Estimated Tax$0.00
Tip$11.25
Total$56.25

As I already had some chicken thighs thawed, that needed to be cooked, I baked those and had them with some pasta, and did not, myself, try any of the non-vegetarian TV dinners yet.

So, finally, to the actual review.

J had the TV Dinner Cheese Enchiladas.

I followed the cooking instructions, and, for the first time in I don't even know how many years, baked a frozen dinner in a foil tray.

The instructions did not call for stirring the rice or beans, but perhaps they could have used that at the midpoint.
Despite that, it did turn out quite well, and I am looking forward to eating the other dinners.

I only tasted this one, with a tiny bit of each item in the tray, as it was J's dinner.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5 for a retro TV dinner!

The rice was tasty, and not as crunchy as I feared, and it all tasted much better than any real retro TV dinner I remember eating from so many years ago. Also, there was plenty of food, as this was a substantial meal, much larger than those TV dinners from years ago were. And they didn't taste all that great either, but this new RETRO TV DINNER was quite good.

The first picture is their advertising picture. It didn't look EXACTLY like that, but it was pretty close, when I took the cardboard cover off, as delivered, frozen.

The second picture is how it looked when I took it out of the oven.

Would J eat it again? Yes. Would I buy it again? Probably. We haven't yet actually eaten at the restaurant, but as it's not far, in the Peachtree Corners Center, we may in the future.

Oddly, the dinner eaten tonight does not seem to be on the regular menu, but only in the frozen dinners.