[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16586

Hi Barbara,
Sounds like the boys had good vacations. It is nice to get away. I think we never took enough vacations either as a family or as a couple. It’s tough to get away when hubby is running a business. Now he has someone that can kind of take care of things when he is gone but that’s just been in the last couple of years-and he usually calls in to check on things when we are out of town. I would like to take that same driving tour through Vermont in the fall. Our old neighbors from years ago took that drive and had a spectacular time. That’s scary that the kids saw so many sharks on the helicopter ride. I never usually go into the ocean past my knees anyway. I always thought the ocean was more for wading than swimming. I like to be able to see what is underneath me-like in a pool.
Angel’s wedding is in November. I think she said six weeks from last Friday.
Barbara, did you ever figure out how to accept friend requests? I see that you still are not on my list of friends. Go to your my page and you should see the requests there.
That’s funny about Neal and the photos-I always said that by the time they got to me there was very little written in my baby book. Mom was just too busy by then. I would guess baby books are now a thing of the past. I don’t think any of Jenny’s kids had one but of course nowadays all the kids lives are documented with cell phone photos and Facebook and instagram postings.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: What Books Are You Reading and Recommending Now? #16583

Colleen,
I think I’ve read books by James Patterson. He is quite prolific. I know Greg has read some by him more recently than I have. He writes a pretty good easily read book. Actually Salem’s Lot was about vampires if I remember correctly-the kids were little when I read that so it was a long time ago. Did you ever read The Christmas Box set of books? Those were such a sweet old fashioned type of story. He has written some other series since then that I would like to read too-I want to say his name is Richard Paul Evans but not sure if that’s correct. I have so many books on my list that I want to read -I will have to live to be 300 to get to them all. Jenny reads all of the Nicholas Sparks books-I’ve read some of the earlier ones-The Notebook-Message in a Bottle… Reading is an area where I really miss my Mom-she was a prolific reader and always had a new book to talk about or recommend.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16532

Hi Colleen,
That’s nice that Danyielle is having a girl. They do have much cuter things for girls although the clothes for boys are now cuter than they used to be. The problem now is when they get older. In fact I can always think of things that I could give Jenny but when it comes to Brent and Adam-not so much. I guess it’s just because I’m a girl too and know what interests them. What does Owen think about having a sister?
Well the Cubs and the Cards have made it exciting thus far. I saw a guy in the audience the other night dressed like a billy goat. lol The people of Chicago are beside themselves with excitement over this.
We are still getting some peppers out of the garden. Everything else is pretty much done.
My SIL is doing better-the results with the bloodwork seems to go up and down. She’s still supposed to see the hematologist again in January unless the tests get bad again and then she will see him sooner. She has been so busy lately packing up her house to move. She finally sold it and is closing on the 15th-then she will move in with her fiancée. She has been having garage sales to try and sell some of the furniture that they don’t need. She doesn’t have any children. Her husband was 20 years older than her and already had grown children when they got married so I guess they chose not to have kids. Her fiancée has grandkids though and I think they live close by.
You are right lots of people decorate really elaborately for Halloween. I like to drive around and see what people have done to their houses and yards for the season.
Do you prebuy your propane for the winter? We usually prebuy a certain amount that they figure out according to our average usage and then we get it at a better price per gallon-plus it’s already bought and paid for by the time winter rolls around so I don’t have to think about that bill for the winter.
I see Jurassic World is coming out on DVD next week. We missed seeing it at the theater in 3D so I guess I will buy the DVD when it comes out and watch it at home now.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16529

Hi Adele,
I’ll bet the little cakes are almost gone. if I lived close I would be dropping by for coffee all the time just to check on what you have been baking and hoping for a sample. lol
I hope that your pie savers come in soon. I think I have a small lock and lock obsession. Perhaps an intervention is in order. lol I especially can’t resist if they come out with a cute seasonal print. I have one’s for summer and winter-they should really do a fall leaves or pumpkin one. It’s too late for this year-maybe I can get a suggestion in for next year.
I have to admit I am not a fan of sauerkraut. Greg loves it and I must admit he doesn’t get it very often as he is the only family member who likes it.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: What Books Are You Reading and Recommending Now? #16527

Hi Colleen,
I usually do lighter reading when it starts getting closer to the holidays just because life gets busier then and light books are easier to get into and finish. I know Stephen King is not for everyone but for me almost all of his books just catch my interest almost immediately. I remember the first one I read was Salem’s Lot-I don’t even remember what it was about but I knew that it was really scary. A lot of his books center around the idea of good vs. evil-it’s a pretty consistent theme. If you ever do try him I would suggest one of my all time favorite books called The Stand-it is a big book though-there is one other that I have not read yet but everyone rates it very highly and Greg has already read it and says he thinks he liked it better than The Stand and that is called 11/22/63 I think it’s about someone going back in time and altering what happened on the day JFK was assassinated.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16508

Adele,
These little cakes are adorable. Maybe with some of those orange sugar sprinkles on top. What was the flavor again? Apple cider?

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16489

Hi Colleen,
Well the Cardinals got the first one but there is still hope in Chicagoland. They only had one run until the end of the game.
5 minutes to prepare sounds like something that I would like. Taste of Home Quick Cooking always has a section with five ingredient foods and those are usually quick and easy and pretty good. I love Taste of Home for recipes as they are all from real people like you and me-not from some fancy chef with weird ingredients that you couldn’t even find in your local store. We don’t have fresh crab around here either so if I want to make crab cakes I don’t use the imitation I used the canned crab and it turns out well. Or sometimes I just buy the premade frozen ones-some are not too bad. My SIL always used to make cookies at the beginning of November to freeze and serve at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wonder if she will do that anymore now that she is retired. maybe she will wait until the holidays now and just have them fresh. Or maybe she won’t make them at all. I know I haven’t baked cookies the last few years-but I do kind of miss it. Maybe I will make some again this year. It’s funny but growing up Brent helped me more with that kind of stuff than Jenny did. She had absolutely no interest in cooking. Maybe Brent liked to help because he liked to eat the stuff. lol
It would be nice if they could still have one set with fall décor for shows. But I guess since now they are heavily concentrating on gift shows that won’t happen. The problem is when they are starting three months before Christmas the products become boring as they seem to show the same things over and over. I know people on the boards are complaining about that and about how boring the weekend programming has gotten to be. I remember the guy who brought the scary masks-Mario somebody-I think he does a lot of work in Hollywood for movies. Those masks were really something different.
Greg is going to take the boat out of the water this weekend. I have not been in it one time this year and he has hardly used it either. With Brent gone he has no one to fish with. His one golfing friend was going to help him take it out but he just started a new job and is working seven days a week right now. So Adam is going to help him this afternoon I think. It is hardly worth having it anymore. I wonder what he will decide to do with it in the spring. We’ll see.
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: It's Fall! Let's Celebrate Cooler Temperatures and Spectacular Fall Foliage. #16475

Hi Adele,
The crops fit me like ankle pants so they are a bit too short to wear with socks and shoes in winter without them looking like high waters. probably a perfect inseam for me is 27 or 271/2 inches. that’s why I like the straight legs because if they scrunch up a little at the ankles that is ok with me. I have those others from last year with the decorations and I do love them. sorry you had to send them back. Last night I wore those black ankle crops and a pink shirt with a spider on the shoulder when we went out to eat with Jenny, Adam and kids. The kids loved the shirt. Can’t wait to show them the rest of the October shirts. Jenny posted a picture on Facebook this morning of Piper sitting on the potty with nothing on but her Ugg boots. That reminded me of that episode from Seinfeld when George would take his shirt off to go to the bathroom. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Of course if no one was a Seinfeld fan that would have gone over everyone’s heads. I miss Debbie as she was a fan too and always got my Seinfeld references. I will have to write her next week and see how the doctor visit went. She was going to meet her niece in Portland for a day of shopping so I think she was spending the night after her doctor’s visit. I always wished that I liked corned beef as the sandwiches always look so good-but I’m just not a fan. Does anyone eat smoked butt? My Mom used to make that. They used to dip the slices in vinegar with pepper in it. No one else I know has ever heard of that. I wonder if it was a Polish thing? I used to cook the smoked butt for my Mom when I used to visit her in Florida but now I’ve forgotten how to do it. she used to add something to the water when she cooked it and now I can’t remember what it was. I wanna say either vinegar or brown sugar or both-I’ll have to see if my sister remembers. I know that’s what we use for a ham glaze. Brown sugar with vinegar poured in to make a thin paste. I love all the little ethnic or family things that people do with their food. My grandmother always used to make creamed peas and carrots and I never see anyone else do that either. Now I’m getting hungry talking about all of this food. lol if only Mom or Granny could cook for me again…
Gail

[Gail Norusis]

in reply to: What Books Are You Reading and Recommending Now? #16473

Hi Colleen,
You are sure reading up a storm! The last book that I finished was Finders Keepers by Stephen King which was the second book in a planned trilogy. He is one of my favorite authors which is kind of funny because I don’t really like scary movies but I do like science fiction and fantasy. I am a very eclectic reader. Dancing in the Low Country sounds good. Dorothea Benton Frank and Ann Rivers Siddons write a lot of books that are set in the low country that are good. I don’t mind if things get a little racy-that is a part of life too after all. Was the Yuletide twins a Christmas themed book? I like to start reading some of those in November-they are like Hallmark movies in print. I was just reading about some of the upcoming Hallmark holiday movies on the Cozy mystery blog. Sounds like there will be some good ones coming up. Believe it or not I haven’t read anything in two weeks. I didn’t read at all on vacation-we were just too busy. and last week I was catching up on laundry and chores and some magazines and cookbooks that I had. So this weekend I will pick a new book and begin anew. Usually I read on the plane ride but this time I just closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Gail

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