melmar02

Belle, glad your daughter and son's girlfriend tested negative. I hope you cruises go. 

Ombud, I hope Sohnjay's test come's back negative too! I'm sure your Hanukkah gain will come off soon. 

Diana, your soup sounds good. Soup, chili, and stew always sound good to me when it's cool out. DH could eat it year round, but I just can't when it's hot outside. He made some ham and bean soup last week and we froze some.  

We need to finish our grocery list and schedule a pick up. Hopefully we can get everything we need and not have to go into a store too. I still have to wrap the kids' presents.

I think they have been scheming with each other. Yesterday they came to me separately saying they wanted to get the other something for Christmas. They both said the other wants to collect all the different kind of the same toy. Of course it's not at our local stores, so off to Amazon we go! They're supposed to be here on Monday, but I warned the kids that shipping is way behind right now. I have two other packages (one for me, and one for my MIL) that are somewhere in the postal system. They'll get here when they get here. 

I have found the limit of my refrigerators with these two weddings today. I have one cake fully stacked, one I will have to add the top tier at the venue because I ran out of room in my cake fridge, and a cookie cake that I always stack at the venue because they are just so heavy. The cookie cake is sitting on our main fridge. I think I could take on more business if we got a third fridge, but this started as a hobby 12 years ago, and my hobby really feels like a job now. Especially when I have to wash all my cake pans and piping bags.  😆   

Belle, Thanks for the poem. 

Diana, nice that you have been the same for a while now.

Jan, I'm with you this week.  

Izena, great loss - that's awesome! Welcome to the 170's club. 

Over the course of last week I was up over 7 pounds because of those stupid tortilla chips! I've lost some of it and finally landed at being up 3 pounds for the week. UGH! Did I mention I'm off chips for a while? DH is working late and picking up Zoe's Kitchen on his way home - this is my last double wedding weekend, and our kitchen is a hot mess and will be until Saturday night. Leftovers until then. We also got our meal delivery today. We'll make those over the weekend. DH has to work a few hours on Saturday and then he's on vacation until January. We have a tendency to be bad when he has time off, so I'm going to really try to be better than usual this week. Hoping to maintain into the new year. 

Izena - I'm glad your plan is working for you! You are going to love your closet. We had just the basic bar in ours when I was pregnant, and the bar fell - pulled right out of the wall twice. DH upgraded it for me, and it was like I had twice as much room. I felt so much more organized. 

I got good news yesterday. The cake I'm standing behind in my profile photo was published as part of a styled shoot on a wedding blog! It's my third publication, and they take forever. This styled shoot was done way back when everything was just starting to close down in other parts of the country. February I think. No one wore masks while we were setting up - it's odd to think back to that time when it's something I check for every time I leave the house now.  

Belle - It is so hard to get rid of some things. My mom lived in her house for 40 years and her health declined suddenly. She went from her 4 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom assisted living apartment almost overnight. She told me and my sister what furniture she wanted in the apartment and the rest we brought to her a box at a time to help her sort through. She passed away almost 8 years ago, and I still have a storage unit that is full of her things. She had a HUGE gold crayon rubbing of a tomb of some church figure that died in the 1500's that she and a friend made in London. It's over 7 feet tall, and was in our living room when I was a kid. That thing doesn't go with anything in my house, and even if it did, I don't have a wall to put it on, but I can't get rid of it. There are old photos of relatives I don't know. Boxes of papers we never got to.  Not to mention all of the paperwork that went with the rental properties she inherited from her parents. That's a whole other story. I think it would be easier if all of it was at my house so I could go through it a little at a time, but we don't have a place to store it, so it just sits in the storage unit.

Diana - I'm glad your dinner didn't move the scale. I've "snoozed" so many people on Facebook over the last several months. I figure everyone will be back in a normal frame of mind some time this summer. Until then, I don't want to know how 'crazy' some of my friends are. I'm sure they feel the same about me only going out for groceries and to deliver cake with my mask on when no one else is in the wedding venue.

Jan - It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of how you move as long as you are out there doing the exercise. I figure if no one comments when I keep my butt on the couch (helping by telling me to get off it), they don't have a right to comment when I'm working out either. 😄

Ombud - I love it after the fact. We get some good snuggle time, but I am really not the morning person my son is.

That would be me throwing the pillow this morning, Belle. My son is an early riser, just like DH. We told him he can get up and play, but he has to stay in his room until 6am. He pushes it some mornings and jumps (literally) into bed with me 5-10 minutes before that. I was not ready to be woken up this morning!

Ombud, here are our trees.

Ombud - your gift boxes look nice. I'm sure they were enjoyed. Sorry your granddaughter is having a hard time. 

Belle - we haven't done much this weekend. We were lazy all day yesterday - watched A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with DH and then we all watched Christmas Chronicles 2 last night. I have two sets of samples I'm dropping off this afternoon. 

Diana - one of the trees in our front yard is an oak, but it's only a few years old. We walked through one of the older phases of our neighborhood the other day and the streets are lined with 10-15 year old oaks with leaves everywhere too.

Izena - I love seeing the funny masks when I'm out. I hope your re-vamped calorie conscious-ness helps get you where you want to be!

We got our first box of meals. The kids helped make the first one, so it felt like it took forever to get in the oven with all that "extra help". The second one went smoother I think because we were a little more used to how the instructions were written (and it was just DH and me in the kitchen for that one). The first meal was just OK, but the other was great and I wasn't really sure about that particular recipe. I hope what we picked for this week is good too - it was nice to have the variety. We opened a bag of tortilla chips for the kids and I had a handful on Friday and a handful more yesterday. Holy salt Batman!🧂 I'm up 4 pounds over those two days and everything else has been the same food wise. No more chips for me!

They used to have a giant sign saying you were required to have one to enter and 3 people at the entrance to make sure everyone had their mask, but they stopped that a few weeks ago. I've seen more and more people without them each time I've been in since then. My poor son has chaffed knuckles and wrists he's been washing so much. I don't think he's been rinsing the soap off as well as he should. When you're 8 and have a video game waiting, proper rinsing takes too long! 😄 Last night we rubbed Vaseline all over his hands instead of lotion. They're a little better today, but I'm sure it's going to take a while to heal with the colder weather headed our way. 

Hi all,

Belle, thanks for starting us again! I think that's a great goal to have between now and New Years!

Jo - Happy belated birthday! Sorry for the gain, but it's not much.

Jan - Sorry for the gain.

Ombud - Happy Hanukkah! We usually have a dinner with a couple my husband used to work with, and we go to his company Christmas party. We're not going to do either. I'm not even sure his company is having one this year - it's usually dinner at a restaurant. They rent out the whole place and it's always shoulder to shoulder. Christmas itself is going to be exactly the same for us though. It's always just us 4 at our house. The only real difference there is that I got my shopping done early this year. I need to pick up a bag of coffee beans for DH's stocking, but everything else is done and is supposed to be delivered here by Tuesday (most of it is already here). I'm usually a 5-10 day out gift shopper, and it's been a nice change having it done so early.

Izena - nice loss!

Diana - nice you have so few in the grocery store. I needed something for some cake samples so I ran into Walmart yesterday. I couldn't believe about 1/3 of the people I saw in the store didn't have a mask on, and we're still under a state mandate. I got what I needed, got out, and bathed in hand sanitizer when in the car.  

Belle - nice cruise! My son wants to do a cruise in Hawaii - how could I say no to that request. It will probably be his high school graduation gift though so I've got about 10 years to plan. Is it 7 day? I went when I was in high school and we visited a couple of islands. Lots of fun!

We had pizza last night. Hoping to stay the same for weigh in tomorrow.

Diana, when I was growing up, our next door neighbor had a hovercraft. He would take care of all the leaves in his yard in just seconds. It was so much fun to watch as a kid, but my parents sure hated it! 

It's in the upper 60's here today and in the 70's the next couple of days. We're going to be able to get in some good outdoor time the next few afternoons!

Belle - glad your new computer is up and running and that you had a good visit with your son. We have a love hate relationship with our attic too which makes it worse. There is plenty of space up there, but as soon as you get up the stairs, there is a PVC vent pipe right in the way and nothing else to grab onto - you have to side step it to get off the ladder and onto the decking so it's a bit awkward. Oh well, all the boxes are hiding in our media room right now so as long as I don't look in there...

Ombud - glad it worked for you!

I hope everyone had a good weekend! We didn't do too much. Finished up a science experiment with DD. We also finished decorating, and the boxes are upstairs waiting to be put back in the attic. That's the worst part for me - I can't stand all the boxes laying around the house. I feel like we live in an obstacle course until they are back out of the way!

Rose - I'm so glad your daughter tested negative and that your son is feeling better! I know that's a relief for you!

Belle - don't work your son too hard. 😉 Congrats on the new computer!

Diana - I love that you are happy about your shears. I asked for bath mats (in addition to the plates/glasses) for Christmas and I am so excited about them! Now that I'm in my 40's I guess I've officially hit that 'adulting' part of life where one gets delighted by housewares. 😆

Ombud - sorry you are shut down again. Were you able to find the Do Not Disturb setting on your phone?

Jan - how's your daughter feeling? 

Izena - congrats on the loss and to your step grandson!

Jo - how was the tea room lunch? It sounds so fancy, and I have built up a picture of little finger sandwiches and treats piled high with whipped cream.

Our state is divided into groups of counties, and our group just hit 7 consecutive days of hospitals being at 15% or more capacity of Covid patients. We've rolled back to 50% occupancy at most places (restaurants, gyms, etc.) and bars have to close again. We have to drop below that 15% hospitalized Covid threshold for 7 consecutive days for those businesses to go back to 75%. Sadly, I'm not sure it will have much of an impact. I still see people without masks out and about. Sigh.

We decided that we would try one of those meal kit delivery services. I feel like we've gotten into a bit of a rut with our dinners, and we miss the variety of eating out. It's not quite the same since we still have to cook the food we pick, but I think it will break up the monotony of the same meals over and over and will feel more like 'restaurant' food than our usual fare. Taco Tuesday is getting old. Our first delivery is this Thursday, and we're starting with firecracker meatballs, which I think the kids will eat if I just leave the spicy sauce off their plates, and a steak bowl with roasted veggies. I really hope that we like it!

@Ombud in your Settings, go to Notifications and Do Not Disturb should be there. When you turn it on there is a line that says Allow Exceptions. In that screen is Calls from which lets you select specific contacts that will be able to get through. All other calls, texts, and notifications won't make a sound if you turn them off. Here are a couple screenshots - I have my Alarms and Media still on, but you can pick and choose. 

Thanks for starting the thread Belle.

We'll see how "make less sweets" goes. DD needs service hours for American Heritage Girls. We're planning on starting a used towel drive for our local animal shelter, and she can earn some hours by collecting donations by porch pick up. But we were also thinking about making cookies and goodies to deliver to our town's police and fire departments. I'm sure some will fall out of the delivery boxes. 😆 We usually volunteer at a food pantry or assisted living center, but a lot of places aren't accepting volunteers right now because of Covid, and those that are don't accept kids as volunteers. We're having to get creative. 

I'm down 2.1 from last week which makes up for last week's .4 gain plus some. I'm hoping to be in the middle of the 160 club with Jo by the end of the year!

Belle - could you turn down your ringer at night, or if it's your cell phone, do you have a "do not disturb" setting? We can't hear our house phone in our bedroom (closest one is in the kitchen) and our Samsung cell phones have a setting where you select the specific people who can get through. We can set it for just my MIL and my sister for example, and calls and texts from anyone else won't ring.

7 hours ago, Ombud said:

Concerned. 

 

Bakery misunderstood and sent the biscotti. Will they be stale by 12/19? Do I just give them now?

Are they wrapped in anything? If they are packaged, they will absolutely be fine. If not, Diana is right, biscotti are twice baked so they are really dry to begin with - they won't "go bad" from a food safety perspective anyway. You could always put them in something air tight until you are ready to make up your boxes - a ziploc bag would be fine even.

We counted a few days ago. I know one person who got the virus from when it started back in March to the end of October, but in November alone, DH and I know 16 people who have tested positive. It's crazy how much it seems to have grown exponentially the last month or so.

Just saw Royal has followed Carnival and NCL and has cancelled through Feb. I've been following their first sailing in Singapore that's going on right now. It's nice to see fresh cruise pictures!

Rose - sorry to hear about your family.

Jo - it's such a hard decision to cancel before the cruise line does. We moved our Jan/Feb cruise because I just couldn't see our 7 day cruises out of Galveston (which really can't get to a private island in the Bahamas and back in 3 or 4 days) happening until a vaccine is available to the general population. 

Belle - no, I don't make a lot of Christmas cakes or logs. 95% of my business is weddings which book 6+ months in advance. By the time people start to think about desserts for Christmas my calendar is already full. I have 2 weddings on the 19th and one on New Year's Eve, and I don't want to work in between them! 

Ombud - I still get auto-warranty calls on a car I haven't had in years! I just don't answer my phone unless I recognize the number. Clients, DH, and my MIL will leave a message. I know another baker who used to email back the spammers that would send her messages, and she would post the email on her website. She's retired now and doesn't keep the website anymore, but the funniest was an one she kept going for 25 or 30 exchanges back and forth which morphed from the original fake order of 3000 cupcakes to exporting an endangered animal that doesn't even live in the US. It was hilarious how she strung them along for such a long time, and they finally stopped emailing her back.

Ombud -  I hope you have recovered from all the yard work! Your gift boxes sound so nice! I finished up all the shopping for the kids this morning. There's one video game we're having a hard time finding for my son, but we're hoping it comes back in stock after Cyber Monday. If not, we'll just replace it with another game. We just bought a gaming system last Christmas, so they still don't have a lot of games. DH and I are keeping it small. We want to replace our everyday plates, glasses, and silverware. After 15 years, we've managed to break / chip enough that it's just time. Also, I think the kids have accidentally thrown away a few forks and spoons when clearing the table. 😆

Diana - Your leftovers sound good. We're not very creative with ours...turkey sandwich or just throw it all in the microwave for a repeat meal.

Belle - I know what you mean about wanting more. We didn't make a big variety of dishes, but we made a lot of what we did have. We had a lot of pie too. My plan to just get 4 individual size pies didn't work out so we've been working our way through 2 full size ones. Even staying in my window, there's been a lot more salt and sugar than I usually have so I'm up so far this week. Hopefully we run out of leftovers soon!

I'm hoping we can finish decorating today. We didn't work on it at all yesterday; I had to drop off some samples at noon, and we watched a Christmas movie and played games all afternoon. I don't like having all the boxes in the way, but I don't think it bothers anyone else in the house. I feel like there's an obstacle course in my living room!

I worked like Diana today. Cleaned upstairs bathrooms, and we got furniture moved and the upstairs tree up in our school room. It has all our "fun" ornaments on it - baby's first, cruise port ornaments, etc. We'll put up our downstairs tree tomorrow. It's more formal and just has maroon and silver ornaments. Hubby went to A&M, and we have an Aggie Santa that goes on top of that one. Bought one Christmas gift online today, and then bought all the pre-cruise stuff I was on the fence about. 

Diana - I bet your turkey was delicious! We brined one once, and it was so good!

Belle - congrats on the new computer! 

Ombud - so sorry. Glad you have some help!

Happy Thanksgiving...or Happy Thursday depending on where you are!

I'm up .4 this week. DH took some time off this week, and we always seem to eat more when he's on vacation mode. We've had longer eating windows all week and even a few early lunches. To help, we moved our weekend special breakfast to today, and we probably won't want to eat lunch. Big dinner tonight, then back to a regular fasting schedule tomorrow and all weekend. Somebody slap my hand when I try to make a turkey sandwich at noon tomorrow!

Hoping to get a lot of my Christmas shopping done online this weekend. Having a hard time committing to buying the usual pre-cruise purchases like drink packages and wi-fi though. I think we'll be back to sailing next October, but I would feel a lot better about it if the test runs were all over, they had CDC approval, and the first real sailings were underway. Oh well, I can always cancel for a refund.

8 hours ago, Belle said:

Mel.. Nice your added the extra's to building the pool. Might as well do

it all at once. Going to be heated? So by March you could use it if weather was good.

Hope it's on schedule for you and family.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL....ENJOY WITH WHOEVER YOU CAN BE WITH....SAFELY!

It will be heated, but they told us that we can't use the spa for 2 weeks or so after it's finished so that the plaster can cure. 100+ degrees isn't good for the finish those first few weeks. We're going to have the inaugural "polar bear" swim in the pool as soon as it's ready, even if it is  just a quick jump in and race each other out of the cold water. Late April is usually starting to get warm enough here to swim without a heater, and it's not like we'll be heating the pool to 100 degrees. Either way, we'll be using it pretty quickly. 

5 hours ago, Belle said:

 

Mel..How exciting to pick stuff out for your pool. Hope the permit comes next week

for you. How long did they say it would take to build it accounting for winter weather?

Once we have the permit, it will take about a week and a half to schedule the dig. They are quoting us 120 days from the day of the dig to completion. There's a spa, firepit, and small outdoor kitchen in there too. They've hinted that it probably won't take that long.

1 hour ago, winewanderer said:

 

Mel, great the pool is going forward. Exciting. We live in a very hot climate. Hubby thought about a pool but I know how that will go......just another thing I have to take care of. So no pool.

I had a pool growing up, so I'm familiar with what goes into the up keep. We didn't have a Polaris, so it was a lot of work. We have one included in our price and are thinking of upgrading to the one that climbs walls so it shouldn't be anywhere near as hard as it was 30 years ago. 

Belle - I'm glad your Thanksgiving lunch was good!

Ombud - Thank you!

Jan - I'm glad you tested negative!

Diana - East coast is on our list too. Come to think of it, most of the cruises are on our list. 😄

We went to the pool company yesterday afternoon and selected all our materials - stone, tile, interior finish. They requested permit from our city 4 weeks ago, and we've heard from our neighborhood facebook group that it has been taking about 5 weeks. They closed at noon today for the rest of the week, so hopefully the permit is issues by the end of next week. I'm ready for them to start, but I'm not sure I'm ready to leash up the dogs every time they need to go outside. I'll miss just opening the back door to let them go out, especially first thing in the morning!