dfish

@aliaschief and @DWAliaschief Bruce and Sue

Good morning, everyone! It is a beautiful day here in mid-Michigan. We will have glorious sunshine and temps in the upper 70s. We bought more flowers for the newly stained deck. Also, we decided to leave the bistro set where it was and save up for some nice furniture for the deck. First, we need a storage box for the cushions on the glider. I don't want them living in the hallway all winter long. Today we have one more company coming to give us a price on painting the house. Yesterday's estimate was the top one so far. We have one that is slightly lower in cost, but does not include prep work. Yesterday's does. And, instead of a solo guy painting, it is a team so the job will get done a bit more quickly. Today's meal sounds like it is packed with flavor. You can control the heat by using more or less of the ancho chili pepper and black pepper. Some recipes use chili powder instead of the ancho chili powder. That tends to be milder. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/crunchy-chili-lime-shrimp/ This recipe uses the chili powder. Again, adjust the amount to suit your tastes. If you don't like cilantro, leave it out. https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/chili-lime-shrimp/ This last one uses honey and orange juice to make a sweet chili sauce for the shrimp. https://healthyishfoods.com/crispy-shrimp-with-sweet-chili-lime-sauce/ There you have it! Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Hugs for you and Fluff.

The neighbors on the right did say they were really excited when we moved in. They are more and more appreciative now that we've gotten to know them better and we're fixing the place up. The new deck is on the side of the house next to theirs. Safe travels, Carolyn. Great news, Terri! Well, bummer!

Good morning, everyone. Oh, are my muscles aching today. After our 3.5 mile hike at the nature center, we came home and cleared brush from the wild area at the side of the house. Today is heavy item pickup and the brush is picked up along with that. We still have a ways to go on cleaning out those areas, but as I told Sue, we have other months with heavy item pickup. We also mowed the lawn. It really needed it. Welcome back Rich @richwmn! @Cruzin Terri Hope all goes well with your DH's surgery today. Keep us posted. @kazu Jacqui, getting those snow tires off calls for a celebration! This has been a long time coming. @Denise T I'm sure you are super excited by now! @StLouisCruisers Here's hoping Ren's team has good referees today! Ok, on to dinner. It sounds wonderful to me and I'm going to have to try it. I would make the Tzatziki sauce well in advance to let those flavors blend. @Cruising-along Carolyn, you may leave the dill out. I like the tzatziki sauce recipe from this first one. The chicken would be ok if it wasn't coated in flour. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/tzatziki-chicken/ In this one they use a prepared tzatziki sauce. I'd probably use the recipe from the previous selection to make that. I like the preparation of the chicken. https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chicken-tzatziki-bowls/ This next one combines what I like about the previous two recipes. https://livelytable.com/greek-chicken-with-tzatziki-sauce/ I also like the marinade for the chicken in this recipe. https://www.acedarspoon.com/greek-marinated-chicken-with-tzatziki-sauce/ Bon Appetit! Wishing you all a wonderful day!

When we did this Boston/Montreal/Boston b2b in 2018, there were no protocols to adhere to in Montreal. We did get a letter explaining that we were free to leave the ship and visit the city. We had special passes that allowed us to bypass all the check in lines when we wanted to reboard. We got off around 9:30, walked around town, had lunch, and returned mid-afternoon. On that particular voyage we were required to do muster again.

Good morning, everyone! It is going to be a bit cooler today in mid-Michigan with the high only reaching around 60F. That's ok by me. We're going out to Chippewa Nature Center and hiking a bit and then we have to get stuff out to the curb for heavy item pickup. We are clearing out all of Previous Owner's lumber scraps that are hidden all over the yard. There's a ton of them under the deck we just stained. Speaking of which, I finished up the outside trim on it yesterday and gave the floor of the deck a second coat. We could see where the hot tub had sat and the second coat took care of that. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, present and past. Especially to my mom celebrating in heaven. Mom and me Today's meal will appeal to many, but I am going with Roy's alternative meal. Actually, we have a ton of chicken left over from last night. The first recipe calls for fully cooked ham, so this is a good way to use up leftover ham. It also uses sugar snap peas instead of regular peas. Carb count it still to high and alfredo dishes are usually too heavy for me. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/ham-and-pea-pasta-alfredo/ The next recipe shows us we can use whatever kind of pasta we have on hand. It doesn't have to be fettuccini noodles. Included is a list of variations that you can consider. I like the one that says to sprinkle crumbled bacon on top. Bacon makes everything better, doesn't it? https://thekitchengirl.com/leftover-ham-alfredo-pasta/ This last recipe is similar to the first one with a difference in type of pea used and the seasonings. https://www.thefoodieaffair.com/fettuccine-alfredo-ham-peas/ Wishing you all a wonderful day!

What a shame! I hope you can work something out. Welcome home! I remember our first cruise after the pause was to Alaska. It rained a lot and was freezing cold and we loved every minute of it.

Good morning, everyone! Boy, are we feeling our age this morning. After two days of work on that deck these two old ladies need a day of rest. There is just a little more that needs to be finished up and I might attempt to tackle that. We'll see. We are continuing with the pizza theme for dinner, but today's pizza is for the carnivores. This first recipe seems really easy, especially since you start with a pre-baked crust. One suggestion made was to use naan bread for the crust. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/garlic-herb-steak-pizza/ Here's one using flat bread for the crust. https://www.hy-vee.com/recipes-ideas/recipes/steak-flatbread-pizza This one is slightly different than the others as it uses a marinated steak. The steak is marinated in Coca Cola. You can try the experiment at home and see how long it takes to dissolve the steak. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/steak-and-cola-pizza-7530713 Wishing you all a wonderful day!

That got a belly laugh. She says no way can she reform me. I will be a Messy Painter/Stainer/Baker for life.

She got a good laugh out of that. She's an artist and knows how to handle a paint brush. The deck isn't quite done. We have an outdoor rug coming tomorrow for it and then we'll add in the bistro table and chairs. And more flowers.

It sure does. Sad to say, Sue is not a member of the Messy Painters Club. I had to break it to her that she didn't qualify for membership. She had a little stain on one finger and a drop on a toe. I, however, had it all over my hands, up my arms, all over my legs and my feet were covered in it. That is probably why I had to go get another gallon so we can finish the job.

Good enough for me! Taking a break from staining the deck. There is a lot of fussy work on this one and the wood is so dry it is soaking up the stain like no tomorrow.

Terri, I didn't take it that way at all. I thought the limerick was a great tribute and if Sandi didn't get us started each day, none of us would be here. I was just taking the opportunity to thank the rest of our cast for their contributions. And, you are included in that! If it weren't for the posters on the thread, we wouldn't be doing food and drinks. Don't worry about anything. I did not feel excluded at all.

Good morning, everyone! It is another beautiful day in mid-Michigan. It will warm up to 80F later this afternoon. Our plans are to stain the deck and mow the lawn. I will also work on chive removal. I also applaud @Cruzin Terri's limerick about @StLouisCruisers Sandi. Sandi sure deserves a great tribute as do the rest of the cast: @cat shepard Ann, @summer slope Dixie, @superoma Eva, standing in for @rafinmd Roy and Vanessa, @JazzyV. Special tribute and welcome home to @richwmn Rich. Also, kudo's to @grapau27 Graham for his explanations of the day. And @0106 Tina, my occasional stand in. And the garden club members. And many thanks to everyone else who contributes to the Daily. You all help make this the place to be! Today's meal is vegan pizza. I used to like a vegetarian pizza that one pizza shop had, but it wouldn't be considered vegan due to the cheese. But, it was good to me! We'll get started with this recipe: https://minimalistbaker.com/my-favorite-vegan-pizza/ This one sounds interesting with a cashew cream to finish it off. https://www.loveandlemons.com/vegan-pizza/ This one gives you some guidelines for determining the difference between vegetarian and vegan. https://thebananadiaries.com/homemade-vegan-pizza/ And, if those don't meet muster, here's 15 more ideas for vegan pizza. https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/vegan-recipes/vegan-pizza-bread/ultimate-vegan-pizza-party-recipe-round-up/ Wishing you all a wonderful day!

@lazey1 Welcome home! @Crazy For Cats Mmm on the fajitas. @1ANGELCAT Wonderful that the Botox has finally been approved. @Vict0riann Here's hoping Pat comes home and the cancer is not to be heard from again. @Quartzsite Cruiser I will take pictures! I have before pictures and right now the house is boring beige, or maybe it is light brown.

Good afternoon! This is an interesting discussion on the font size. I tried 16 this morning and I thought that worked well. I think the default is 12. 12, so I guess this isn't the default 14. I think this is it. 16 is a bit bigger, but not too big 18 is very easy to read 20 gets us into the area where one post will take up the entire page. We spent the morning cleaning the deck and it was well worth the effort. It looked like an old barn ready to fall over before we cleaned it. Now, it looks like it is brand new. We are going to stain in a dark brown. We decided on forest green for the body of the house with dark brown and some white for accent colors. In addition to the deck, I dug out the chives that were in the front garden. They were starting to take over and edge out the bleeding heart that is there. We have more chives to dig out around the yard. If we don't, we'll have chives instead of grass and the whole place will smell like an onion.

Welcome home, Rich.

Good morning, everyone! It is going to be a gloriously beautiful day here in mid-Michigan. We have a cool start and will be warming up to 80F by this afternoon. We held off cleaning the decks yesterday, but we're going to tackle them today. We got a quote on painting our house and have decided that we're not going to do it ourselves. The quote is reasonable enough that we'll hire the job out. I didn't want to get up on ladders anyways. The only books I have made were memory books of my mom and dad after they passed away. We ordered copies for all six siblings and the 8 grandchildren. They are still favored gifts in the family. I wish I could eat what I want, but I'd be twice the size I am now. With the diabetes, many foods are very limited or off limits. I do try to limit the sugar as much as possible and when I do have it, it is a real treat. I also limit starches. Tomato soup is one of the things I have passed on because it tends to be high in sugars, hence carbs. I do know many enjoy tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. So, let's look at today's meal. It looks like we are going to continue a bit with the tortellini. https://www.delish.com/uk/cooking/recipes/a32373871/creamy-parm-tomato-soup-recipe/ This next one looked so rich in flavor. https://www.simplyscratch.com/creamy-tomato-parmesan-tortellini-soup/ I did find one recipe without the tortellini. https://letsdishrecipes.com/creamy-tomato-parmesan-soup/ Wishing you all a wonderful day!

You had much nicer menus for the Mariner's Brunch. They must know you're onboard when they plan them. Some year I will try to get Sue to come with me and meet you there. We were very lucky to have full time school nurses at the high school I worked at. I think that was mainly because of the multiply handicapped units we had as some of those kids were very fragile. What was really nice is that they were always very willing to check out staff who had a question. Joan was more than happy to check my BP for me when I was having problems getting it under control. I just finished making the marinade for the chicken for this week's Farkle Party. We are having Colonel Cinder's Blackened Beauties. Dad always burned the chicken. He did well with other things.

Good morning, everyone! We have people coming over to give us an estimate on painting the house. This may encourage us to get up on a ladder and do it ourselves. Last night's t-ball game was a lot of fun. Samson is as cute as they make them. He is only 4. The rules of the game are that everyone bats and everyone runs the bases. It is fun to watch them in the outfield as they are doing everything except watching the ball - picking grass and dandelions, collecting gravel, playing in the dirt. You know, the things 4 year old do. Our realtor was a coach for the other team and it was nice to see him again. Yesterday afternoon we spent outdoors with the neighbors. He is a landscaper and is doing the lawn care for us this summer - all except mowing. Sue insists that she can do that. They both said they were so happy when we moved in. There is a no man's land between the properties and he was afraid to touch it because of the previous owner. There is also a tree house that is unsafe. We were going to take it down, but Scott said he'd have his crew do it. I bet it will come down in the next couple of days. Apparently he's wanted it gone for quite some time. @StLouisCruisers Sandi, I sure don't want to disappoint, so here are directions for making your own tortellini from scratch: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/256980/spinach-and-ricotta-tortellini/ There is a video you can watch. For today's meal I was going to go easy on everyone. The recipes all call for cheese tortellini and you can get that in the frozen food section of the grocery store. The spinach is in the sauce. https://www.budgetbytes.com/spinach-tortellini-skillet/ Here is another tomato and spinach tortellini recipe: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/creamy-tomato-spinach-tortellini/ And this one is spinach and mushroom for those of us who like fungus. https://www.saltandlavender.com/creamy-tortellini-with-spinach-and-mushrooms/ Wishing you all a wonderful day.

If you do a lap or two around the promenade you can justify the giant chocolate ball. It is kind of like an oversized cream puff. And, it is actually pretty light even though it doesn't look like it. I used to do six laps, but since you have an injured toe, 1-2 would make the chocolate ball a good reward.

That is beautiful. We had a lovely walk in the gardens this morning. We usually walk for an hour, but today we went almost 2 hours. Here's some of the pictures: You'd almost think I was in Holland! The smell was so heavenly! We're going to make a point of going back once a week.

When my dad was in the hospital before he died, the nurses took care of all of us. They even brought us cookies and coffee for an afternoon pick me up. I think one nurse was more upset with his death than we were. She couldn't hold back the tears. They were wonderful to him. Nurses treat the whole patient, not just a set of symptoms. And the families that come with the patient are part of the equation. I will say the doctors involved with dad's care were great to work with as well and kept a close watch on everything. @Cruzin Terri great news about the legal help. @luvteaching Happy Birthday to your DH and congratulations on the birth of Ivy Dawn. @kochleffel Crossing my fingers, Paul, that you and the kitties hit it off. @dobiemom Happy about the good report on your eyes. Wishes for continued improvement. @erewhon Welcome back and add my wishes for good results from the CT to all the others.