pantry??

 I've been reading about great pantries that people keep stocked with everything under the sun. Well we don't have a place in or near the kitchen for one. We live in a Missouri mid-70's house where pantries were not in vogue when it was built.

So... added one in the basement. it's not as handy nor does it have room for all those wonderful things other people seem to have... but it is a place where I can store extra purchases when they go on sale. It seems to have mostly canned things like soup, tomatoes, flour, sugar, mayo.... and empty canning jars!! Now if I would just check before I go shopping !! LOL

Our grocery stores are nearby and I used to go quite frequently... but when covid hit , this stopped. For awhile I did curbside pick up. 

Now I carefully make lists.. no more shopping for just a few things! Milk seems to be the deciding factor... when it gets low, I grab my list and off I go. 

While Bob was out on a doggie pea break visit with Harper and Scout I decided to start bringing down storage tubs of holiday stuff from the attic!! I managed to hang lights on the deck railings... but that's as far as I got!!

Tomorrow a trip to the pharmacy for my pills and a stop at the grocery store afterwards. Not milk... but bread this time!! Bob has been eating loads of turkey sandwiches...

All OK

 After all that awful prep... the results came back even before we left the hospital.  Everything great...!!

Hooray!! My stomach took a big turn for the better!! Guess I was more worried than I owned up to!

We always go to the hospital in our town ( about 60,000) when we need medical stuff. It has always been busy when we would go.... waiting rooms full of people... the lab full of people and so on. But not today.. one person here or there but that was it. Made us wonder...

BTW... Bob was ready for an early dinner and something to drink when we got home!!

Quiet after turkey day

Another online bear show starts on Friday.... so I have been working on my site for the show... adding pictures, editing copy and adding PayPal buttons!

There  is a link to the show's site on the top gadget on the right sidebar... just click if you want to take a look.

Aside from this, our house has been quiet. One daughter is having Thanksgiving #2 for her family. The other is not feeling up to par with all the pre-Christmas stress with her job ( non-profit fund raising). Plus my husband is scheduled for a colonoscopy tomorrow and is working through the pre-test STUFF ( yuck).

No cooking tonight - only clear liquids and pills for him !

Even with all the pledge drive interruptions , we have enjoyed watching the "All Creatures Great and Small" marathon this evening on PBS  ( Poor Bob had to make his own interruptions with visits to the bathroom!)  We are looking forward to season 2 coming up next year!!

 

 

emptier table

 The table was a little emptier... missed my grand daughter and her partner though they are feeling MUCH better.They have another week of quarantine...

Thanksgiving dinner was good...my daughters brought things so we had a great variety of food. Plus plenty of leftovers to send to the "sickies" ! Plenty of texts asking when food was going to be dropped off!!!

Lots of talking... ideas passed around for Christmas present ideas .... menu ideas for Christmas dinner though it looks like we may go non-traditional this year!!  Make your own Pizza? Tamales?? 

My grandson's  table news ... he is excited over the possibility that his marching band will be going to Hawaii next November to play in a celebration around the USS Missouri and the peace treaty signing after WWII. He's not even fazed by the idea of putting his 6'5" frame into a plane seat for 8 hours!!

The house looks like normal again... food put away... turkey stripped.  Turkey sandwiches tonight!!

We did some Black Friday shopping.. not a lot... but some. Ideas worked on.... Lists made for supplies for other ideas...

Changes to Thanksgiving..

It looks like Thanksgiving will be smaller than expected. Our grand daughter and her partner have both tested positive for covid and are quarantined for 14 days !! She had had both shots... he only one.

My daughter's family is doing "contact-less" food delivery  and we all will make sure they get Thanksgiving dinner even if not at our table....!!

She called and talked to her Grandpa yesterday... they are both feeling better! And she is keeping up to date with her college homework!! They talked about her transferring to a culinary  program next year.One that has classes and  paid internships!!

I have been "crafting" at the dining room table ... today I started clearing things off !  We'd all like to sit at the table with table cloth, place mats etc!! I found some wine glasses at Dollar Tree ( $1.00 @) with holly leaves for a Missouri cranberry wine !

The turkey has been thawing... roasting pan brought out... crock pots... A  cooler is on the deck for the things that cannot fit in the fridge.  We are getting there!!

 

Our grand daughter called again... feeling much better ..just a slightly plugged nose.  Needs a food run. She is making tamales and green bean casserole for herself and her partner as their Thanksgiving dinner. So Bob and I went to the grocery store ( super busy) to buy jalapeno peppers, tomatillos, cloves and cumin. She had the rest ! Added water, apple juice, peanut butter cookies and home made Chex mix!

Dropped everything off outside of their apartment...keeping our distance !!

Our daughter and our son-in-law have both had the two shots... but Lili's covid made them more eager to get the booster... which they did this afternoon. Our grandson has also had the two shots but too young for the booster currently.

days gone by

Our dinner out was a good one.. we all ordered a pitcher of Granny Smith apple sangria ... enough for all four of us with a little top up at the end. Each of us chose our dinner and had enough dessert to take some home in a doggie box!!

Our grandson was on his way home ( during our dinner out) from the Golden Regiment's national band competition in Indianapolis. The Blue Springs Band was #10 in the nation!! He was delighted... The weekend was full !! The bus trip was about 10 hours each way!!  And everyone was exhausted!!

Yesterday Bob went to our daughter's house to do a "doggie pee break" session. Our daughter had meetings again and the time she would be away was too long for the dogs.  When he got there the town's Animal Control people asked him if they could set up a trap near our daughter's front steps. They were hoping to catch a sick feral young cat. This morning the trap hadn't caught the cat but DID catch a huge raccoon!! 

 

This morning our older cat had a vet's appointment - 6 month check up. Bob sat with the cat in his carried for almost an hour before he got up and reminded them they were waiting. The front desk had forgotten him!! Anyway... Jack is fine and due back in 6 months. Expensive!!!  But he was one of Robb's two cats.

Bob is out again to our daughter's for another"pee" duty call. Wonder if Animal Control released the raccoon? I'll have to ask!!

BTW ... he'll probably be doing this quite often... the non-profit is gearing up for the Christmas gift giving for their clients "in need".. So our daughter will be working a lot and long hours.

Out and about

 Bob was willing to go with me to a craft show... It was being held in a small town about 30 minutes away and as an added inducement the town's antique shops were all having open houses!!

My reason for going,,, a chance to find some little presents for the Christmas exchange my quilting group has every year!! We usually meet at a restaurant and have dinner and exchange gifts. Last year we cancelled things... This year we are having a pot luck dinner at my house and the gift exchange.

The craft show was a good one... even had a glass of wine at a winery's booth ( unusual breakfast??) Was successful in finding exchange goodies and saw some crafters I hadn't seen in AGES!!

After the craft show we went and did a "look around" at a couple of antique stores.. 

The trip was interesting... we took the back way and hadn't driven that way for 6 months or more. Loads and loads of new houses being built... some of the farmers are holding onto their land with the idea of making a fortune as suburbia creeps ever closer! Some parts of our trip haven't changed one iota in the 35 plus years we have lived here!!

all in all... I enjoyed our outing! Nice to have someone to go with... nice to be successful in a gift search!!  Nice to have someone to carry my purchases!!

Tomorrow Bob and I go out to dinner with our daughters!!

spectacular storm

 Tonight was quilting night... my daughter picked me up and off we went. The meeting was going to be held about 30 minutes away.

On our way to started to rain... no ...it started to pour. The kind of rain that is so heavy you can't see the road markings and the wipers have trouble coping... and then lightning so bright it seemed like daytime!!

Traffic slowed way down.. We were driving on the interstate and  exit ramps were scary!!

When we arrived at our destination it was  still raining so we sat in the car to unwind!!

PO... and then a craft show...then dinner out

It's off to the PO tomorrow with loads of boxes containing bears sold on the online show I am participating in!! They all have prepaid labels so I don't have to do anything but leave them. No standing on line... etc.

Then we are headed off to a local craft show.. I am happy that they are being held again. I like to see what others have been making . At this time of the year I look for gifts for my friends!!

My daughter returned from San Diego yesterday and has asked us to dinner tomorrow. We are looking forward to seeing her and hearing how the trip went...

it's now tomorrow..easy wasn't it??

Younger daughter came over before we could leave to put a bunch of things in a manila envelope for one of her students that had just moved... hoping things from his old school such as notes from classmates, drawings etc. would make the move a little easier.

We added the envelope to my bunch of bear boxes for the PO and off we went.

Reading in the paper that our usual route to the craft store would have construction delays, we took another route which ended up being a chance to see all the changes that had occurred over the last 6 months or so.... and a trip through a local county park where we noticed the trees have started their change... from green to dull green. So far only a few have gone orange or red.

The craft show was interesting. I don't think I have seen so many crocheted hats, gloves, blankets etc. Signs of people staying home relieving the boredom by crochet hook?? Also lots of jewelry... home decor..

Bob bought a mouse on a sled... hm? ... and put it on display when we got home. I bought reindeer horns with snowflakes and bells for our teacher daughter to wear when it gets closer to Christmas ( in the classroom... lol) and some tasty honey infused with black walnuts to put on toast or bagels.  Yummy... I had some on a bagel for lunch when we got home.

Now it is putter around time till we leave for our dinner out!

Booster

 Well... off we went for our booster shots ( Bob also got a flu shot - I'm allergic). That night and yesterday were something else for me. Headache... slept constantly...joints all ached... temperature. Bob felt and feels fine.  It wasn't until evening that I began to feel somewhat normal... Slept well... and feel fine today.

Halloween

After the change in plans I went off and bought candy for the "trick or treaters" and we put up our Halloween decorations.  .... and made sure the lights were on! That's a local rule... if you want trick or treaters , put on your foor light. If not... keep your house dark!!  makes sense.

Things start around 6 pm... no kids for quite a while. We wondered whether they were all at the local "trunk or treats".  But then they started arriving... all sizes.  We think we had about 30.

Today it got COLD ... about 32 this morning. We were glad the drop in temp waited until after Halloween. 

Then we went online and scheduled our covid boosters at our local Target's CVS pharmacy. Our times were today at 12 and 12.30!  So off we went and got our "jabs" , picked up loads of canned catfood and some salad dressing! Easy peasy as they say.

We were still cold when we arrived home so Bob turned on our gas fired fireplace insert... warmed us up and made the room cosy!!

So another day not as expected!!