Name Three Things - 2018

[muffy]

I scooped Tommy's litter box for the first time this morning. He is feral and I brought him in the house about 3 days ago. What a relief that he will use the litter box without being trained. It has been real cold here and yesterday we got 2 inches of snow and I could not stand the thought of Tommy being out in the cold any longer. He also will let me shut the door to the outside.

I also took a shower and will go to CVS to get my sleeping and arthritis pills later today.

 

[Winchester]

muffy For you and for Tommy.

Dearest Son surprised me yesterday at lunch. I got a text, "Hey, are you in your office?" I responded with "Yes, why?" And he said, "I'm in the parking lot, parked in front of your car." So I ran out to spend some time with him. We couldn't go to lunch because he had been visiting with Rick's mom and she kept talking. He kept saying, "Look, I want to surprise Mom and take her out to lunch. I have to go!" but she just kept talking. So he never got here until half my lunch hour was gone. But it was still great to see him for a while. He and Dearest Granddaughter want to come up to bake cookies with me some day next week. I hope they can make it.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, sorted laundry, and got ready for work
• Laundry night
• Trash night, followed by a quick vacuum around the litter boxes

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

muffy -- that's such wonderful news, for both you and Tommy!!

today i'll be washing the dishes, scooping the litter boxes, and moving something for dessert and some cold cuts to the fridge to thaw. i'll also keep the wood stove going.

i'll pull out the pans for tomorrows fudge making, too.

that's all i have on my 'to do' list for today. yesterday, i spent all day and very late into the night doing assorted things -- fitting two days worth into one day, so my plan for today is to relax.

 

[Winchester]

I was really pooped this morning. The alarm clock (OK, Rick's phone) rang, but I was already awake and listening to Ms. Pepe yell for breakfast. I came "this close" to taking a sick day today. No headache, but a bit of an upset tummy or something. I don't feel bad, but I don't feel "right" if that makes any sense.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, and got ready for work
• Must scoop the boxes tonight
• Rick is bowling, so Nintendo Night for me!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i've kept the wood stove going, washed the dishes, and have baked another loaf of Irish Soda Bread.

this afternoon, i'll make two pans of fudge -- carob orange, and carob raspberry. i'll wash the dishes from that, then scoop the litter boxes.

if it's not too late in the day, and i'm not too tired, i'll play some computer games and then watch some tv.

 

[Winchester]

Finally! It's Friday! I've been waiting all week!

• Breakfast for the kids, 4 miles on the treadmill, and got ready for work
• I have a hair appt right after work today
• Must scoop the boxes

And that's it. I'm not doing anymore than I have to today.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i'll wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and keep the wood stove going.

i'll be making a batch of Orange Cream (-sicle) Fudge today. will wash the dishes i make from that, too. i'll likely slice the fudge this evening, after it's had time to cool properly, portion into groups, wrap, label, and freeze.

after that, i'll watch some tv.

 

[Winchester]

Dearest Granddaughter and her dad are coming up on Tuesday to spend the day baking cookies with me! She called me last night, so excited about being here. It made my night. She wants to do chocolate crinkles, kiss cookies, and some sugar cookie cut-outs. I also found a recipe from King Arthur to make flourless peanut butter cookies for her mom (our DIL), who is gluten-free. I told Dearest Granddaughter that shhhhh, the peanut butter cookies are a secret surprise.

• Breakfast for the kids, running the dishwasher now, and am sitting back here with my morning coffee. Rick will scoop when he gets up from his morning nap.
• I need to go through my baking stash to see what I need for our cookie-thon on Tuesday....I know I need more butter and some red sanding sugar. I have tons of flour and sugar, but I need to get flour out of the freezer.
• Errands: bank, the Amish bulk store for red sanding sugar, and the grocery store, Target for meds for The Beast, maybe a bit of shopping for stocking stuffers
• Clean my blasted desk back here! It looks like a hurricane hit it! I've got cookbooks all over the place, recipes printed out, wires and cords to connect and charge stuff, pens. It's out of control. Again.

And that's pretty much it for my Saturday.

 

[Winchester]

I bought four pounds of butter yesterday as it was on sale at 2 for $7; I never, ever thought that would become a good deal. I don't like store-brand butter because I think my cookies spread more with store-brand; that could be me, but I'm pretty careful and use only Land O Lakes or Keller's. Unsalted, of course. I never buy salted butter. I also bought a big bag of Hershey's kisses for cookie-baking on Tuesday; Dearest Granddaughter can take home any remaining kiss cookies, so they're out of my sight! They're taking all the cookies home; we don't need them. I do need to make more snicks, though, and another batch of chocolate chip as they're completely gone. That man can go through a batch of snicks in no time and the choc chip cookies don't last long either.

• Breakfast for the kids, emptied the dishwasher, and working on the second of four loads of laundry. Rick will scoop when he gets back up from his morning nap.
• Vacuum, dust, wipe down the kitchen and appliances and the bathroom
• Never did get my desk cleaned off yesterday, so I need to do that today
• Molli needs her claws trimmed. Again. Man, her claws grow fast; we just did them at the beginning of December. But she's getting caught in the comforter on the bed; we had to get her loose a couple times this morning.
• Visit with Rick's mom

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

today i've kept the wood stove going, have a loaf of bread making in the bread machine, made 3 liters of soda, and baked and sliced another loaf of Irish Soda Bread.

this afternoon, i'll wash the dishes, and scoop the litter boxes.

after that, i'll likely watch some tv.

 

[Winchester]

That weekend went by way too quickly. Yesterday, I went downstairs and brought all the Christmas cookie cutters back up to the kitchen. I got my cookie pans back out (the madeleine pans, mini-muffin pans, etc.). Dearest Granddaughter called me, so excited about coming up tomorrow; that made my whole weekend as we don't get a lot of chances to actually spend a whole day baking together. I found some ideas to make cookie cups and chocolate-covered madeleines, so we may try them out in addition to what she wants to make. (I asked her what time they were coming and she said, "Early". It's a 2+ hour drive to get here from where they live, so I'm thankful for good weather.)

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, and got ready for work
• Must grab a few groceries tonight and we might stop at BB & B
• Scoop boxes and do a quick vacuum
• I need to make the chocolate crinkle cookie dough tonight because it has to chill overnight
• Gather all the cookie decorations and colored sugars, so we're ready to go tomorrow

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Winchester -- that sounds so very wonderful, to have a day set aside to spend with your son and granddaughter, with you and she baking cookies all day!!

today i'll wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and keep the wood stove going. i'll slice the loaf of bread that was made yesterday, and roast two acorn squash.

after that, i'll watch some tv.

 

[Winchester]

I'm sitting back here with my morning coffee. I got everything ready to go for our cookie baking marathon today and am waiting for DS and DGD to get here. Rick is even thinking about taking the day off from work to help out. I'm really hoping that we have a great time today. DGD has always wanted to spend a whole doing nothing but baking cookies; I may just cookie her out today!

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 2 miles, drinking my coffee
• Must scoop the boxes
• Baking today

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i'll wash the dishes, scoop the litter boxes, and keep the wood stove going. i'll slice the loaf of bread -- that didn't get done yesterday.

and i'm thinking i'll either roast more acorn squash, or make some fudge.

 

[Winchester]

Thanks micknsnicks2mom We really had a blast yesterday. We baked the crinkles, cut-out sugar cookies, the kiss cookies, and the flourless peanut butter cookies. Those peanut butter cookies? Decadent! Then we made some vanilla cookie cups and filled them with vanilla frosting. And DGD did it all; she mixed, she measured, she rolled, she decorated, she formed cookie balls, and she filled the cookie cups.

And Grandpa came home from work early! He decided that he wanted to spend some time with us at home, so he left work at 11:00. I kind of thought he might do that; he didn't want to go to work at all yesterday. DGD brought up her Apples to Apples game and, after we were done with the cookies, the four of us played that for a while. That was a hoot. DS and I also played some Nintendo; we were arguing while we were playing; Rick said some things never change. It was like DS and I started playing and all the years just dropped away. We had such a great time. They left around 5:00 or so, taking four buckets of cookies with them.

Alas, back to work today. I'm pooped and I could probably go back to bed.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, sorted laundry, and got ready for work
• Laundry night
• Trash night

Early yesterday morning before the kids got here, I threw a batch of snicks together and a batch of chocolate chip dough, using peanut butter chips and dark chocolate chips. They're still in the fridge. I'll either bake them tonight or Thursday while Rick is bowling. DS went down to the basement freezer, looking for snicks and Rick had eaten them. I told DS I'd definitely have them for Christmas....if I can keep them hidden from his father! And the choc chip cookies are gone, too.

 

[Winchester]

My final cookie attack starts tonight with more snickerdoodles, more choc chip cookies, and the madeleines that I've been wanting to make. Maybe the almond cookies, if I have enough time. And after tonight, I don't care what happens or how many cookies disappear. I'm finished. And I never want to see another cookie until at least January.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, and got ready for work.
• During lunch today, I'm heading down to our local cheese-maker to pick up several wheels of baby Swiss that we give to some relatives and friends for Christmas. If I can get there and back in time, I also want to stop at our natural food store to pick up almonds and some peanuts for roasting this weekend. Rick's mother wants roasted peanuts; it was a specialty from Rick's father for years, but when he passed away, Rick and I started making them.
• I still haven't made our cranberry relish for Christmas dinner. My sister asked me about it last night and I completely forgot. Need to do that tonight. And then bake the last of the cookies.

It's going to be a fun night. Rick is bowling, Supernatural is on hiatus til mid-January, and I'll be alone in the kitchen. I'll connect my iPod to the stereo, get the music blaring and bake.

 

[muffy]

My final cookie attack starts tonight with more snickerdoodles, more choc chip cookies, and the madeleines that I've been wanting to make. Maybe the almond cookies, if I have enough time. And after tonight, I don't care what happens or how many cookies disappear. I'm finished. And I never want to see another cookie until at least January.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 miles, and got ready for work.
• During lunch today, I'm heading down to our local cheese-maker to pick up several wheels of baby Swiss that we give to some relatives and friends for Christmas. If I can get there and back in time, I also want to stop at our natural food store to pick up almonds and some peanuts for roasting this weekend. Rick's mother wants roasted peanuts; it was a specialty from Rick's father for years, but when he passed away, Rick and I started making them.
• I still haven't made our cranberry relish for Christmas dinner. My sister asked me about it last night and I completely forgot. Need to do that tonight. And then bake the last of the cookies.

It's going to be a fun night. Rick is bowling, Supernatural is on hiatus til mid-January, and I'll be alone in the kitchen. I'll connect my iPod to the stereo, get the music blaring and bake.

Winchester,
Did you forget to scoope today?
How do I get on your baby Swiss cheese list? I love the stuff and we don't have anyone around here that makes it.

 

[Winchester]

muffy You're right! I didn't put down that I need to scoop tonight!

I PMed you about the cheese.

 

[Winchester]

TGIF! It's been a long week. I'm taking some vacation time today to run some last-minute errands. And then home. I can't do much tomorrow/Saturday because I have to go back up to my BIL's for more sausage-making. He asked me if I'd come up, even though it's really close to Christmas and I said I would. So tomorrow is pretty much done for me; things I'd normally get done tomorrow must be done today.

• Breakfast for the kids, walked 4 (very long) miles, and got ready for work
• Leaving work early to pick up our pork chops for Christmas Day dinner, stop at the chocolate store in town to pick up chocolate covered pretzels for Rick's mom (and for Rick's stocking), stop at the grocery to pick up some thinly-sliced ham to make stromboli for dinner.
• Get my butt home, run the vacuum around a bit, make the stromboli dough, scoop the boxes

To be honest, I'm hoping for an early night tonight.

 

[Winchester]

We're going to Rick's BIL to make more sausage today. This time, we'll use the sausage we make to fill casings. I think he's thinking about doing some kielbasa, too. I thought we were doing this part after Christmas, but he called earlier this week and asked if I'd come up today. I said "yes", so there we are. I have a feeling this one is pretty much going to be an all-day event.

• Breakfast for the kids (Ms. Pepe started screaming for breakfast at 3:30 this morning, so I've been awake for a while), emptied the dishwasher, sitting back here with my morning coffee. Rick will scoop when he gets up from his morning nap.
• Sausage-making today
• We may grab a few groceries tonight, so we don't have to deal with day-before-Christmas grocery shopping. I don't need much, just a few last-minute things.