dfish

Eurodam is backing out slowly.

Very much!

Up to 1 kn now.

I think she is moving, but very, very slowly.

Checking in

Hugs to you, Terry! We do want to know when you need extra prayers and healing thoughts sent your way. Lean on us. And go for rides as often as you can! I hope you do hear soon and I was so glad to hear that you were able to see your brother after so long. I'm sure it is a comfort to him to know that even after so long a time, you are there for him. That is good news! Keep it coming. This is not good news. I hope with your background you are able to figure out a regimen to relieve the pain. My condolences to you and to your friend Sandy. She is lucky to have such a good friend in you. Thanks for the update. If it isn't one thing, it is ten others with them. I hope all gets fixed soon. Speaking of ten other things, we have a boiler and zone heating. One zone has gone off line and it is pretty chilly here in the family room. I do have an electric fireplace/space heater going that helps a bit. I'm going to try to wait it out over the weekend and call for service on Monday. Of course, this has to happen during a cold snap.

Good morning, everyone! It is a cold start to the day here in mid-MIchigan at 15F with a projected high of 33F. After today temperatures warm up and we're supposed to be close to 70F on Tuesday. I'll take it! Sue is heading north to visit with her new grandson and help around the house for her daughter in law. She plans to be there for a couple of weeks. We'll see. I'm going to the gym and the grocery store. Today we have a real meal with beef and barley soup. This first one is an easy recipe and calls for cooked beef, so I am sure you could use leftovers. https://www.spendwithpennies.com/beef-barley-soup/ I like the richness of the broth in this one and can just imagine how flavorful it is. https://themodernproper.com/beef-barley-soup I like the addition of the mushrooms in this one. https://damndelicious.net/2019/01/06/beef-and-barley-stew/ Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Good morning, everyone! It will be a bit cooler here today in mid-Michigan with temperatures only reaching the high 30s. We are back to Farkel on Fridays with DB and DSIL. Today I have a luncheon with former classmates. @bennybear My condolences to your friend on the loss of her son. @lindaler Today we are having dessert for dinner! We've done that before. If you don't like dessert for dinner, think of it as breakfast for dinner. It is, after all, oatmeal. And, it is extra healthy because it uses whole wheat flour. This first recipe promises a soft and chewy cookie. https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/whole-wheat-oatmeal-cookies-recipe/ This one adds in raisins. Raisins are fruit, so again, we have a healthy meal. You could use any dried fruit in these cookies. Dried cranberries sound good. https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/whole-wheat-oatmeal-cookies/ If you want to go the dessert route, how about adding in chocolate chips? Or how about peanut butter chips? Mmmmm. https://www.fitmittenkitchen.com/whole-wheat-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/ Wishing you all a wonderful day!

You mean the baked potato party? I'm in!

Good morning, everyone! It is a warm for Michigan start to the day here in mid-Michigan with a temperature of 30F. We will get up to the mid 50's today. I'll take it! I'm glad to hear that @marshhawk Annie and Chuck are ok. I'm keeping @JazzyV close in my thoughts today and hope that her procedure brings significant and lasting relief. I've got PT this morning for my back and neck issues. This is hoop jumping for insurance so they will approve the nerve ablation after the PT doesn't make significant progress. This afternoon is a hair appointment. Busy, busy, busy! Today's meal sounds good to me, but Sue would probably stick her nose up at it because it is "spicy". "Spicy" includes lemon on fish, salt and pepper, etc. Last night the salmon smelled too fishy. I"m thinking she can have popcorn for dinner. Anyways, buffalo sauce would definitely not be acceptable. Generally, the buffalo sauce is just cayenne pepper sauce and butter. But, you can tame it some by adding honey. Here's a recipe for it. https://www.loveandlemons.com/buffalo-sauce/ You can use the above in this recipe. https://www.skinnytaste.com/crock-pot-buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps/ For those who want some crunch from a source other than celery and carrots, this version will provide that. Seems like a lot of work, though. https://www.sugardishme.com/buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps/ I like the avocado on this version. Sometimes I look at multiple recipes and take the stuff I like from each one and make it my own version. I'd steal the avocado, onion, and tomato topping from this one. https://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps/ This recipe is a bit more involved, but I bet the flavor is superb. The beer would add some complexity to the flavor. https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/slow-cooker-buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps.html Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Me, too. I'm hoping when I turn the air on this summer it just works! I remember that, too! It also started earlier in the fall. We often had snow for Hallowe'en.

I am so thrilled about your HVAC as we had the same problem you did at the same time. I hope that means good news for us as well! @JazzyV Healing thoughts and warm wishes sent your way for a successful procedure tomorrow and effective pain relief. @Quartzsite Cruiser be careful opening your mail. That is what led to my lovely afternoon yesterday. None of that stuff is resolved, but I took today off. @Sharon in AZ I'm glad Craig is feeling better. I felt so bad for him at the end of the cruise. Sue and I really enjoyed our time together and all the laughs we had. @summer slope Missing seeing you around the ship and our fun conversations. We have to do it again! I think today's drink would have been a good one to sample with the Daily 4. Our heavy rain turned out to be sunshine and 60F. The snow is almost all melted and is just in heavy shade areas. It would be nice if that was the end of it for the season but it is way to early for that to be likely.

Good morning, everyone! It is a balmy start to the day here in mid-MIchigan. We are at 36F and expect to get up to 50F, but there is a chance of heavy rain. That should take care of what snow is still on the ground. I'm heading back to the gym today and hope that helps with what ails me. Otherwise we have nothing on the agenda. Today's meal is really just a meat sauce. What we traditionally thought of as spaghetti sauce is one type of ragu. I remember mom's spaghetti sauce cooking slowly on the stove all afternoon. She always cooked long and slow to help the flavors blend. https://www.skinnytaste.com/slow-cooker-beef-ragu/ This one is kind of different with the addition of heavy cream to the sauce. It also does not call for the usual tomatoes, just tomato paste. https://therecipecritic.com/slow-cooker-ragu/ One nice thing about these sauces is that you can make a huge amount and freeze some for later. I do that with a lot of things. You can also put this sauce on more non traditional items like mashed potatoes, zoodles, spaghetti squash, etc. This last recipe is different as it uses flank steak that is cooked long and slow and then shredded instead of ground meat. I thought that interesting. https://pinchofyum.com/slow-cooker-beef-ragu-with-pappardelle Wishing you all a wonderful day!

We had Caremark a long time ago. I had problems with them then as well. I had one prescription that they shorted me on the last fill claiming the doctor wrote the prescription incorrectly. They claimed they borrowed against future prescriptions to fill the first three. The local pharmacist explained to me that that is illegal. They can dispense less than ordered, but not more. I am jealous! Our system is overly complicated and that is on purpose. They do it so people give up and just pay. I won't let them off the hook on that.

Safe travels!

Just spent an hour on the phone with SS. The agent has referred the issue to someone else because she can't figure out how they computed the figure they came up with. What fun! You said it! Yep! It will get better! I hope. But, what would I do for fun if I didn't have to do this? Ugh is right. The mail order pharmacy says they can't bill Medicare Part B like the local pharmacy can. This is CVS Caremark. They said a local CVS pharmacy can do that, but they cannot transfer the prescription to the local CVS. I have to have my doctor send a new script over to the local place. As for the other issue, I have filed a complaint with STRS Ohio, who manages my health care benefits and who orchestrated this change.

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is having a better afternoon than I am. Dealing with insurance companies, pharmacy coverage, and Social Security has almost done me in. The State of Ohio says I owe them $87 for 2021. No, I don't, but I'll deal with that another day. Social Security says I owe them $273 for Medicare since my SS payment is less than the monthly Medicare premium. Apparently they are not crediting me with the monthly payments I have been making. The insurance company processed the claim classifying the doctor as a specialist, so they applied a co-pay. The doctor is my primary care doctor and there is no co-pay. The hospital billing department just yelled over me when I was trying to explain to them that the insurance company had questions about their coding and refused to consider a mistake. I told them I would not pay the co-pay. The pharmacy insurance is charging me a co-pay for my blood sugar test strips which are covered under Medicare Part B at no expense. They said they can't coordinate the benefits like the local pharmacy can and that they cannot transfer the prescription to their local pharmacy (CVS in both cases). The prescription insurance is charging me a $275 deductible on a prescription that is not subject to a deductible. The Michigan Secretary of State wants me to renew my license plate tags for $196. That has been my day other than the pedicure, which was great!

Good morning, everyone! It is still morning here for a short while. I had an early morning PT appointment today, so ran out of the house quickly. Pedicure is this afternoon. And, sandwiched inbetween is a fight with the insurance company over an incorrect payment. They are charging me a co-pay when there isn't one. It is always something, right? Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Sandi, I feel for your friends. As others have said, dementia is a cruel disease because the body is there, but the person is not. When my friend's mother died we all told her how sorry we were. She said that her mother left her many years earlier. Her body just caught up with her brain. You are right, he would never do this if that were really Bob.

I did move them back to the bedroom and there they sit. Great to hear from you! As Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser said, we were wondering about you and hoping everything was ok. I'm glad you posted, but your ears must have been ringing! I wondered, so I looked it up. Generally, no, kale is not one of the culprits. It is relatively low in oxalates. The biggest culprit is salt, which causes you to have more calcium in your urine. The calcium then binds with the oxalates and forms a stone. High oxalate foods are spinach, beets, almonds, and rhubarb.

I so appreciate you doing today and tomorrow. I had a little trouble adjusting to the time change last night and couldn't fall asleep until almost 3:00 am. I forced myself up early this morning to try and help with the adjustment.

Good morning, everyone! It is a chilly start to the day here in mid-Michigan with a temperature of 20F. It is supposed to get up to 39F, which would be good as it will help us rid the drive and steps of ice. We brought the suitcases in last night, but just left them in the entryway. They are filled with mostly summer clothes so they can sit there until May. Grocery shopping is on the agenda for today, but before we head there I think we need to clean a few things out of the fridge. Thank you to Eva @superoma for the wonderful job on the Meal of the Day while I was gone.

Home safely!

Very smooth landing. One more short flight and we'll be home.