[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #23033

Hi Adele,
Greg is still limping around but he seems to be okay. Time will tell if he tore a ligament or something. I hope the weather will clear up so that you can at least see Aizen close to his birthday and so that Tillie will get a chance to see the kids too. Now we are going to have a dip in the temperatures so Greg will have to fire up the heated floor in the master bath. When we built this house we kind of tweaked the plans and we moved the master bath out over the garage so there is a hall from the bedroom with closets on either side that lead to the bathroom. It gave us a lot more room but with the bathroom over the garage we ended up having pipes freezing in the really cold weather. So Greg and Brent built a system where we have an electric hot water heater that pumps hot water through the floor of the bathroom to keep the pipes heated. It’s good to have a husband who can figure these things out and then actually put them in to practice.
I babysat today and Piper actually had clothes on-at least she did when i arrived-by the time i left she was pantless as when she takes down her pants to use her froggy potty she often doesn’t put them back on. Lachlan was busy the whole time playing with legos and after awhile when i was playing with the girls he said, “Gigi will you play with me?” How could I resist? I guess because Piper is the smallest and she demands the most attention I usually end up playing with her and he feels left out. Of course i went over and played legos and then everyone else did too. I figure it won’t be too many years from now when he won’t want me to play with him anymore.
I can’t decide whether to do a dinner for new Years Eve or just do snacks for the evening. I don’t have this very well planned out this year for some reason. Too much other stuff going on I guess. A lot of times we make our own chicken liver pate and I make deviled eggs and we have shrimp cocktail and things like that for dinner. this year I have nothing planned so we will just wing it.
I hope that you got your refrigerator fixed and are back in business. Anyone have any traditions of food that they have to eat on New Year’s. My mother always made us eat that creamed herring for luck. Yuck!
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22988

Hi Colleen,
I’m glad that your brother went to get your Mom. That flooding in Missouri is getting very dangerous so it’s good to know that she will be safe with him until the waters go down. You must really have massive amounts of rain. If it was snow you would be buried in it. I heard from Brent and they made it through the blizzard okay. I suppose it will warm up there and the snow will melt away in no time.
My Mom used to put cloves and pineapple on the ham but I don’t care for cloves that much so I leave them off. I use a mixture of brown sugar and vinegar for the glaze. That is a family thing. I don’t think anyone else does it. Sometimes I use pineapple sometimes not. Mom used to do the pineapple with the maraschino cherries in the middle to make it look pretty. I think that must have been a very 40’s and 50’s thing.
Jenny had all her kids by c-section so it didn’t really matter that much if the baby was turned I don’t think; but they do a lot of ultrasounds towards the end to check to make sure the baby is mature enough to be delivered because they seem to like to schedule the c-section about a week or more before the baby is actually due so they don’t run into any complications with the Mom going into early labor. I think Piper’s actual due date was new Year’s Eve and she was born December 21st.
I hope your doctor’s visit goes well. Tell him to give you an energy pill to help deal with the grandkids. I love having them around but boy they do wear you out. We are just not used to that level of activity around here anymore. Do you have to drive them back or are Melissa and Stephen coming to pick them up?
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22986

Hi Adele,
We have ice under the snow here. That’s why when I went out to put something in the mailbox yesterday I drove the car down to the end of the driveway. I told Greg that there was ice under the snow and he doesn’t pay attention to me and fell when he was putting the garbage cans out this morning. I have given everyone those grippers to put on their shoes but no one but me ever uses them. He twisted his ankle and i told him if it gets swollen during the day to go to an urgent care and get checked out but he probably won’t.
I hope that you got your fridge fixed. I would be mad if I lost all those cheeses and the special butter too. We store a lot of things that are worth good money in our fridges-probably even more so around the holidays. I think I would not eat the pot roast if it has changed color. Now what exactly is clotted cream and what does one use it for. It seems like I have read about people using it in books that were set in England and they spoon it on top of something but I can’t remember quite what.
So Aizen is almost a New Years baby. He just missed it by a day. Which is probably good because they could use his tax deduction an extra time then. lol
Anyone have any big New Year’s plans? Anymore we just stay home and fall asleep on the couch way before midnight. A few years back I decided to do something different and I booked a sitting for us at this one place that was having like a five course meal just to do something different. But I booked the early seating which was 5 o’clock so we could be done and home before the crazies were out. Well we ate this big dinner and were probably home by seven thirty and probably asleep by 8. lol We will probably have dinner at home and watch some movies-that’s what we’ve done the last several years and it’s supposed to get pretty cold so who wants to be out.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: What Books Are You Reading and Recommending Now? #22984

I’m surprised that no one gave you that new Patrick Taylor book. You could have read it while you were all comfy in your pajamas. I like reading Christmas books at this time of year. I read The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans which was really good-it had me in tears-it’s sort of a retelling of A Christmas Carol one of my all time favorite stories. I usually like all of Richard Paul Evan’s books. I know many people consider them trite and syrupy but sometimes I like to read about a story with a sweet message rather than people’s dysfunctions. I also read Making Spirits Bright which is a book of four short Christmas stories by various authors. Kind of the equivalent of the Hallmark Christmas movies in story form. You might like Richard Paul Evan’s books. I think the first one I read was the Christmas Box and then I read the other two books in that series can’t think of the names right now but it would be easy to find out if you want to know. These gray days do make for good reading weather.

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22961

Hi Colleen,
I forgot that you had all those Christmas dinners to go to. I actually don’t mind eating ham a lot. My Mom could have a ham sandwich every day for lunch and I am a lot like that and so is Kendall.
That’s funny that everyone gave you pajamas. Maybe they all think that you should rest more.lol
You know I don’t know if you can buy your own gas tank or not around here. It just never came up before. I guess we just continued to use the same company at the new house that we did at the old so I never thought too much about it. Everyone around here has propane as out in the country there are no natural gas lines. I suppose someone will bring it in eventually if they find it profitable enough.
One day I saw the winners of the contests popped up somewhere when I first came on the site but it disappeared before I could read it all. I’m sure if we search around there must be a place where they list the winner. How much money was it? Do you know? I wish one of us would have won something from the years giveaways. That would have been neat.
How is Danyielle feeling? Probably ready to go just about now. It’s getting close. You must be so excited.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22959

Hi Adele,
Well we got ice first and then we have snow covering the ice-so you can plow up the snow but there is still the ice underneath.
We just finished the last of the leftovers last night although we still have a tiny bit of prime rib and some ham left. That was nice-cook once-eat for four days.
I’m glad that you went to see Steph and got to see the kids again. You are right-neither your Dad or your grandmother would want the estrangement to continue. I’m glad that Jhonny is liking the job and I hope he gets brought on permanently.
I was just so surprised about the adult coloring books as I had assumed that everyone had heard of the new trend. Anyway, it was good for a chuckle. Maybe that ‘s an idea for new subject matter for the coloring books. The Kama Sutra and The Joy of Sex coloring books! lol
The dumplings are actually kind of like perogis except they are filled with ground beef with finely chopped onion and green pepper and after they are boiled they are served with bacon bits over them(not the fake ones but real bacon). I have not heard back from Brent since he made his-the store was all out of green peppers so he was going to use green chilis instead-I called that Lithuanian cooking with a New Mexico flair. lol
Now I have to figure out what to make for dinner tonight since we have consumed all the leftovers. That kugelis was so good. We don’t make it often enough because grating the potatoes is such a chore.
I wish we would get some sunny days. The weather has been so glum. Even if it’s cold outside it feels so much better just to see some sunshine. I think I must suffer from a mild case of that Seasonal Affective disorder-whether the sun shines in the winter has a massive affect on my mood. And the fact that it gets dark so early makes me sleepy so much earlier too. Am I the only one that it affects this way?
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22928

Hi Everyone,
I hope no one is being affected by the awful weather sweeping the nation. They say that we are in for a wintry mix around here whatever that will mean. I was scheduled to take Rocky for a haircut today but the groomer called yesterday to see if I wanted to change the appointment which i immediately did and was grateful to do. First of all I have no idea why I scheduled an appointment for him on a Monday anyway knowing that is the day that I babysit. I mentioned that to Jenny Christmas day and she said just to go and I could switch days for babysitting. Now that I am not going I think I will just switch days anyway so I don’t have to go out anywhere and drive today anyway.
Colleen, I hope that you have not had flooding and Barbara I hope that the tornadoes are not headed your way. I imagine a lot of people are having flight delays after the holiday weekend. I know that they are having a blizzard in eastern New Mexico where Brent lives. They have declared a state of emergency for them.
We spent a quiet post holiday weekend eating leftovers and watching movies and football games. It’s nice to relax after all the preholiday preparations. Now it’s time to get through the long cold months of January and February. Too bad there is no warm weather vacation to look forward to. I will have to look and see what kinds of plays or concerts that I can find so that we have things to look forward too. Kendall’s birthday is in January and she has not decided whether she wants a party or wants to spend the night with her family at a local indoor water park. She has wanted a Barbie Dream House for ever so long and Jenny asked if we wanted to go in on it with her for Kendall’s birthday. Well it ended up the box was so darn big that Jenny had nowhere to hide it where Kendall wouldn’t find it so she already gave it to her. but she does really like it and this way she will have it to play with over the Christmas break.
This is funny. When Jenny asked what I wanted for Christmas I told her the new Adele CD and an adult coloring book. So when she told Adam that they were giving me an adult coloring book he had not heard of the fad and he thought it meant “adult” in the naughty movie way. So here he thought he was giving his MIL porn for Christmas! lol I haven’t used it yet but I can’t wait to try it. I was coloring some Elsa pages with Kendall and Piper last week and it really is relaxing. Your mind just kind of drifts and the stress does seem to flow away.
Adele, do you take down the decorations already or do you wait until after New Years Day. We wait until after the 6th of January. It was sort of nice having Christmas on a Friday and then having the whole weekend afterwards. Did the winner of that holiday baking program get any kind of a prize? I missed that-those people were so creative. If I had to make any of that stuff it would look like it was made by a 5 year old. lol
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and is escaping the bad weather.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: Merry Christmas #22915

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all too.

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: The Holidays are Coming. Let's Share Peace and Goodwill Throughout the World! #22902

Hi Adele,
We have been in the forties with thirties at night. Warm for this time of year but not nearly as warm as you guys on the east coast. I have been in Florida and Louisiana at Christmas and it sure does feel different-although just like anything else it’s something you can get used to after awhile.
We sent leftovers home with Jenny but still had enough for us to eat for a second day. sometimes I think they’re better the second day.
I gave those throws or something similar to the grands the other year and they still use them. They were a big hit.
We won’t be dismantling the decorations until after January 6th so that gives us two more weeks to look at the pretty lights in the dark of winter. I just enjoy that time so much.
Brent says they are prepping for a big snow storm by him. That’s a big deal since they have no snow removal equipment and no one knows how to drive in the snow. He asked for my recipe for Lithuanian dumplings as he was going to make some of those while they are snowed in. As long as they keep power they can just wait it out.
Greg and I watched the movie Jurassic World last night. I wonder how they keep giving those people a license to build those parks? lol Something always goes wrong.
We got the heat back on-it will be interesting to see what they say about filling the tank. This guy that was out here said we should get a new gas tank too as ours was getting old. You wonder why the company did not say anything before this. It’s their tank-we don’t know how long the life of a propane tank is supposed to be.
Greg and I just gave each other silly little gifts for Christmas this year. After awhile you just run out of things to get each other and mostly we just get what we want for ourselves. I wanted one of those adult coloring books that are all the rage so Jenny got one for me with some colored pencils so now I am going to have to steal my electric pencil sharpener back from Greg’s wood shop in the basement.
Gail

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