Thanksgiving 2022

 I slept well and long on Wednesday night, so when Tommy waked me to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I was ready for the day. I always enjoy the parade, but this is only about the second time I have been able to enjoy the whole thing since I was always in the kitchen cooking. Since we have delayed our meal for a week, this works for me.

The Lion King entry was just about the best I have ever seen. The giraffe was spectacular. People were the animals, of course. But the execution was nothing like I have ever seen. CLICK HERE to see the performance. Four people are in the elephant legs! The performance starts at 30 seconds.

We both found something for lunch. I had crackers and cheese. Tommy had bread with Swiss cheese melted on top in the microwave. 

We did watch the dog show and Gunsmoke. Who knows? Then, we went for a drive and there was barely anyone on the roads. Jeopardy was on when we came home. I was going to cook chicken tenders, but it was spoiled, not sure how. Sweet potatoes are in the oven. He will have roasted chicken leftovers, sweet potatoes, and leftover cole slaw. I had a sweet potato and later tuna salad.

When the sweet potatoes are done, I will make sweet potato bread using my pumpkin bread recipe. Sometimes, I think I almost prefer it to pumpkin bread. I have also made sweet potato pie using my pumpkin pie recipe. No, I will make the sweet potato bread on Friday. I am too tired.

The rain held off until around dinner. Thankfully, the roads were not rainy for visiting and driving on the interstate during the day. I always worry about people on holidays since so many people drink and drive. 

My friend, Lynda, did not cook or go anywhere, either, today. When I talked to her about 6 pm, she had been moving a sofa by herself all afternoon. 

This evening, I had to use my four-legged cane for a few trips around the house. My knee does not hurt at all, but it keeps collapsing, not holding me up. My left knee would not bend much until I fell on it. Now, it bends just fine. What's with that? It feels like I tore the medial left meniscus, like I tore the right one twenty years ago.  I may be the only person who went to physical therapy and was injured due to negligence of the facility and the therapist. 

Today, we had grapes; I also had apple and banana.

If all happens as I plan, we will have sweet potato bread and so will Lynda. Now, I will make it on Friday.

Did you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? How did you like the Lion King portion? 

Have you ever substituted sweet potato for pumpkin in pumpkin bread loaves? Or made sweet potato pie?

How far did you travel to celebrate Thanksgiving? What was your favorite food?

"What All is in That Chicken Salad?"

 Sunday, I made Martha Stewart's Hot Chicken Salad. Tommy was heavily involved. He washed a bowl. I carried the cheese and knife in to my chair. He brought the grater, washed the bowl and brought it to me. I chopped the celery and but he brought it to me, brought me Mayo, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and the chicken. When I had chopped, grated, measured, he carried it all back and put it in the refrigerator. He turned on the oven and put on the topping. Then, when I asked him to make himself a salad to go with the chicken salad, he said, 

"What all is in that chicken salad?" 

I was speechless. I told him I would surprise him. He accepted that. He does not mind at all helping me so I do not have to stand. I am grateful and thank him profusely. He like this, celery and all.

copied below from practicalparsimony@blogspot.com

I don't remember if I got this from a magazine or someone gave it to me after I tasted it at a church dinner.

Family Circle
Martha Stewart's Hot Chicken Salad

2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped chicken or turkey
1 cup mayonnaise (I use 1/2 cup or less)
1/2 slivered almonds (I never use this)
1/2 shredded sharp or mild cheese (I use medium cheddar)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 crushed potato chips

Combine everything but chips. Mix well.
Turn into a buttered casserole.
Sprinkle with crushed chips

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.

On a busy night this is easy to assemble if chicken is already cooked. I havepre-chopped the celery to hurry the assembly. Sometimes, I chop the chicken or turkey as I put away leftovers of either. The whole casserole can be assembled ahead of time, leaving off the chips. I crush the whole tiny bag of chips.

Less mayo does not affect the taste or texture of anything. almonds are too expensive.

In order not to have chips to tempt me, I buy the little lunchbox size of chips. In the past I have bought the bag that is about 8 inches high. I do not need a regular bag of chips.

Have you ever Martha Stewart's Hot Chicken Salad? 

Tonight, Tommy wanted to watch "The Weakest Link." We did. I just cannot stand that mean woman, Jane Lynch. She is not funny at all to me. Do your like her?

I could not find it in the grocery, so I just made it myself! sort of

 For weeks, I have searched for one holiday product--goat cheese with orange and cranberries. Saturday, I decided to make it myself. Of course, it is not identical but close enough taste-wise to make me happy. 

I cut in half a log of goat cheese, used leftover whole berry cranberry sauce I made, and bought a jar of orange marmalade. 

Here is how I did it:

*Put four ounces of goat cheese in a bowl.

*I used about a quarter cup or less of cranberry with whole berries and made with less sugar than it was supposed to have. This was all the cranberry sauce I had. 

* 3 big tablespoons of Smucker's Marmalade. 

* Mix with a fork. Don't mix too much. Or, mix away.

When Tommy tasted it on a cracker--Wheat Thins Lightly Salted--he liked it but said it needed more cranberry. Well, I had no more cranberry! So, I added the juice which made the cheese sort of runny but did not detract from the taste. Tommy explained he tasted cranberry on the first bite of the cracker, but then it was all orange. Now, I am just ignoring that, wishing I had not stirred it more...lol. 

I have the second half of the log of goat cheese and will make this again when I cook another bag of cranberries. Next time I will have more cranberries to use and will make sure they are at least cut in half, maybe not. Also, I used Smucker's instead of Bon Maman. Smucker's was cheaper. I chose Smucker's because I could see pieces/shreds of orange peel. Bon Maman was free of solids as far is I could tell, I wanted the pieces of fruit for the visual. If you have or can make your own orange solids in the form of marmalade, do it. Next time, I will stop mixing at the stage the goat cheese looks like cottage cheese. 

The cranberry and orange might be good just poured over the log of goat cheese. Maybe you would want to flatten the round log a bit or just crush it and pour the mixture over that. Don't get it too gloppy unless you like it that way.

This dip/spread was beautiful, great for Christmas! The other half will be made for NYE. This was much better than the log with cranberries and orange, but more expensive since I had to buy the marmalade. I am going to experiment with making some sort of orange add-in that is not exactly marmalade. This might be better on a Water Cracker. 

We watched Home Alone until A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart came on. I hope that Carol is shown that has Kelsey Grammer in it. I love that one. We watched a Bonanza Christmas story, too.

And, we had a little Christmas music.

In an hour or so, a person is coming to pick things up from the floor (main job) and dust and vacuum the living room. I am already exhausted, and it is only 11 am. 

Pfaltzgraff Winterberry

 Wednesday night, we saw more Christmas-themed sitcoms--The Mayor, Kenan, Young Rock, and The Christleys. I passed on Kelly Clarkson since I can barely stand to hear her speak. However, she is a fantastic singer. 

I finally put the batteries into the boom box and the quality of the music is great. Now, where did I put the white remote?

While I took a nap, Tommy put all the ornaments on the tree. It is so pretty! 

I have been wanting Christmas dishes for years. But, since I had Wedgwood "Strawberry and Vine (above)," I used those at Christmas and had an abundance of red on the table along with snowflakes. Well, I no longer have that pattern and it is discontinued. I wanted Lenox "Holiday" and changed my mind after thinking about the gold rim. So, Pfaltzgraff Winterberry service for four (head of this post) is what I purchased. Actually, it is prettier than Lenox "Holiday." I broke my bank, but it is my gift to me this Christmas. Actually, this is money I saved a penny and larger denominations at a time. Some of the money was found on the ground.

We went to Cullman today and I had one piece of mail. The rest was junk mail. I sat in the car once again at Office Max and gave the young woman a list and she shopped for me. I needed several items but settled for Lysol spray, 10 ft surge protector and a rack to hold envelopes/mail. The mail was crawling all over the table. The surge protector is dying, and I needed the Lysol right that minute. 

At the junk store where my friend has still not paid for the hamburger meal she asked me to buy for friend, I found her in bad shape. Her death seems imminent, within the year I expect. I have $14 credit for things I have given her to sell, things that I didn't want. I found two cute lamps, 2/$5. 

Double Luck green beans were $0.69 for each can. I got two and will get more, hopefully. I love this brand. Cream cheese was a 2-pack for $5 or 1-pack, 2 for $4. Guess which I bought. Even though there is a warning that cream cheese is scarce, I have not found this to be true. Have you?

By the way, did you sign up for $20 instead of buying cream cheese? It was in the previous post. 

I bought a can of Pet Milk at a high price, but I did it anyway! I cannot find the receipt, so I have no idea what I paid.

We are home. I must see if the lamps need rewiring.  Okay, only one lamp works. That's okay because I was going to rewire both or sell both as is. I love them, but for the right price... I can be fickle with my latest love.

A boneless turkey breast is destined for the oven and will be dinner tonight. Since it is 4:45, I need to get busy. Tommy is skinning carrots. The 3-lb. boneless turkey breast and a halved onion are waiting for the carrots. We will have a can of green beans.  5:15 and it is in the oven! 

Tonight, we will both have two chocolate covered cherries and one Hershey Kiss. That is it for the sweets and the dinner will not be high in carbs. So, we get Christmas candy for 11 days, but just a bit each day rather than pigging out and then going to buy more. Yes, I could and would and have done it. No more. 

What kind of pretty Christmas dishes do you use? Do you ration your sweets?

 

Booklight, PBS, hummingbirds

 About 7:30 pm on Tuesday night, I brought in both hummingbird feeders to wash them and refill. I put dinner on and came to sit in the living room. Then, I saw two hummingbirds flitting around the positions where both feeders had been located! Then, they came back, flying round and round, searching. I failed them!

Wednesday night, I opened the door to see if hummingbirds came, and one did. At 7:20, same as before, a hummingbird showed up and took several sips and flew away. I had put them out just before 7 pm as there was a PBS special coming on at 7 pm.

USPS brought a package with Tommy's pen needles from Amazon and a book light for me. So far, the book light seems to be okay but could be better. I tried reading in bed. Since I must lie on my left side to read and my back is to the only bulb in the room, it helped me to see. But, it seemed it was always in the way. I read very fast, so I kept having to turn the page and keep my place while not tearing the pages and keeping my glasses on correctly while I thrashed around on the pillow. I think this might work better sitting up. 

I have a pink one, but copied this instead. One good and surprising thing to me was this light charges via USB plug. I like that. 

Tommy's pen needles are a bit cheaper on Amazon. However, we bought them from Amazon because of continuing covid risk. Plus, he does not have to walk all the way through Sam's club to get more pen needles at a cheap price. 

Tuesday night at 7 pm, we watched a PBS program about hummingbirds. They were so colorful. He said they repeat these programs, so maybe you can catch it sometime.

Do you have a booklight? 

Ball Canning Jars are Back

 For the last three weeks, it appears that Ball canning jars are back on the shelves. I don't need any, but some of you do. There were lids and rings, too. While I am not sure how long they will be abundant, maybe you should get supplies now before the rush during the late summer. 

Thursday, Tommy came to wake me at 9 am to go to Cullman and to picnic with his cousin. Well, the cousin cancelled because he had trouble sleeping the night before. Tommy said that I told him, "Just go away because I need more sleep." Well, I awoke at 12:30 as he was getting his lunch. 

I felt awful. One of my meds needed refilling, so I was suffering from the lack. It took me a couple of hours to start feeling normal/well. 

Milk was gone after I ate lunch. I needed an otc. I managed to spend a lot of money, but everything was a necessity. I had a $12 coupon for candy, so I was not buying a $3.98 bag. I did find a bag for $12.49 and bought that. It cost me $0.49 + tax, so about $1.50 for candy. A woman I see all the time was the recipient of candy two times, so now she asks where is her candy. I will give her some for a few weeks. There were 100 pieces. 

Tommy washed and dried my laundry and I discovered 6 things that needed to go into a skimpy load. That's annoying. But, I had just gotten out of bed. 

We missed Resident Alien and I am annoyed. Tommy does not know what happened that he did not find it. 

Tommy reported a bee was on a dandelion, so at least we will have one bee to gather pollen and pollinate the vegetables I will grow. I love all the signs of spring and the coming summer season. Hopefuly, other bees find their way to my house.

The tulips are done and flowers cut. Now, I will leave the tulip greenery until it fades away so there will be stored food for tulips another time. Since the tulips grew in water, I am not sure how much food they will store. Got any suggestions? 

Need canning jars?

This and That

Miracle Workers
  Dark Ages

It appears this is the second season of a series. Do you watch it? Have you? I am absolutely fascinated. I hear last season was Heaven. I think they saved everyone, not sure. Do you know?

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Even though I have no drawers here, I do have a "junk drawer."  I was getting a collection of non-paper items on the end table as I looked through paper stuff, tossing or filing. Tommy got a little gift bag with things in it from the dentist. I started using that for small items that need to be put away. Or given away. Well, some will remain in my "junk drawer."

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Don't you think that a bowl of Dove in the shape of a heart would be a good thing to take to a dinner at church?

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Tonight, I put a huge package of boneless, skinless breasts  in the oven to go with all the vegetables I cooked yesterday.  I love leftovers!`

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I hacked off a lot of my hair today.

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The right elbow may be getting better, but I cannot imagine what I did to make it hurt and swell so.

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There is Modern Family on from 7 to 12 pm. Tommy has never laughed so loud as he does at this show. And, I had to beg to watch it at first.

My Friday

Today has been beautiful, but I slept all day since I did not sleep one minute last night. This past week I have been sleeping a lot! I actually fall asleep after a nap. Of course, I just chalk it up to laziness and not to the uti I have. It has been a very long time (nine months?) since this occurred. So, I am taking an antibiotic!

Today, Tommy and I had a little outing planned, but I called and cancelled. Tomorrow, we will catch the second day of a festival.  By the time we head out, I will have three pills in me. Hopefully, I will sleep tonight.

Thursday night was so much fun! The finale of The Big Bang Theory was very satisfying, fabulous, in fact. Then, after watching Young Sheldon, there was an after-show program. I cannot imagine how TBBT could have ended better.

I drank the last of my milk on Wednesday night and have not had the gumption to go buy more. So, you know I feel horrible. I love milk! The car has not moved since early Wednesday.

I managed to cook cheap turkey tenders with herb seasoning last night for us to eat. The plan is to make cole slaw and have a salad. Eating poorly and becoming dehydrated always happen when I am ill  with uti.. My goal for this evening is to drink 3 bottles of water. I refill my water bottle.

Because I felt ill, I have not picked up all the trash that an animal dragged from the garbage can. But, I stopped the pilfering by placing a Rubbermaid bin destined for garbage pickup inside the top of the can. THEN, I will put my one garbage can with a lid for trash. I put trash that is not inviting in a separate can. The Rubbermaid bin has a hole in it, so it does not collect water.

In a few minutes, I need to go take the hypertufa pot off the pot it is over, the mold. Right now, it is wrapped in plastic. All I need to do is keep it damp and wrapped in plastic for another month.