Taste Like Chicken Thursday 12/19

Liz, it is so good to hear from you 2 days in a row. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. You are a superwoman, but you deserve a nice rest. I wish you could get a 2 week vacation in the sun, sand and surf. That wascally Wally! I like the table top tree and it will be easier to dispose of than a larger one. We ain’t gettin’ any younger, sista, and hauling a large tree can be difficult. I am glad you are getting your teeth taken care of so soon. I think I mentioned that a couple of years ago Iggy had one of the state of the art implants done and it cost 6 grand for one tooth. he needed another one a year later and he opted for a bridge. I hope you get a good night’s sleep. The sinuses are 
better. We are at 33°with a real feel of 17° in the shade. It is sunny today so if you wrap up, it is not too bad.

Iggy got back home at 5:30 pm last evening. Do the warm compresses open up the tear ducts? I get eating the leafy greens but what does oil do that is bad for the eyes? I have a hard time eating salads in the winter but some leafy greens are good sautéed in water or broth, of course. I love spinach or escarole sautéed with onion and garlic with lemon juice squeezed over the top. Is your finger healing? I got the smaller version of the Apple watch and I am glad I did. Iggy has the larger one and it is too big for me. None of the smartwatches are cheap. That is for sure. The birdies came to the feeders on Nov17. When we bought the feeders we joined the “club” and got a free 5 lb bag of food bag of food plus we nought a 20 lb bag. Then I got 5 lbs free for my birthday. The 1st 5 lb bag is gone and the second is almost gone. I figure the 20 lb bag will last a month unless we get more birds as the winter goes on. How are the ice cream cakes coming? 

Kathy, are you all shopped out? Did you and DM get it all done? What kind of booze did you get me? 20° isn’t that bad if you don’t have to work in it. The house across the street just got new siding and are getting new gutters and the poor guys have been working in the cold.

Linda, how’s the finger today? I am glad Micki found a way to make the bed work. I am glad you enjoyed the Questors party. How is the tomato, pepper and chard pot doing? Iggy seeded parsley in a pot in the house and the seedlings get to about 3” and dry out.

Becky, I am a big fan of stretches. I am glad they are helping. Do you do wet heat or dry heat? I am glad the therapy is starting to make a difference. 19°! That is cold for your part of the country. That kind of cold makes joints really ache. How did Scooter like being out in that cold air?

I had to drop something off to the financial planner and then I went to Sam's Club. We found the best cherry tomatoes there the last time. They are grown in Michigan and are still on the vine and they have great flavor. I also found mangoes at a great price. Iggy is making a pineapple mango chutney for Christmas Day. It is all his. I hate mangoes. I saw two cardinals in the backyard this morning but they were on the snow covered lawn not in the feeders. They were very pretty. Today was trash day and I think the collectors dropped my trash can into the truck because when I left the house it was nowhere to be found and everyone else had the empty can back in front of their houses. I had to order another one which won’t be here until Monday.

Linda, I'm glad Questers went well. Where did you meet? I always eat too much at those kinds of events, so yogurt for dinner was probably just right. Nice that Micki is enjoying his new bed. I have seen many dogs that seem to like smaller beds than we humans would think would be comfortable.

Is all your shopping done, Kathy? Your Goodwill sounds like our hospice thrift store close to the old house where we donated a bunch of stuff. They had great volunteers most of the time to help unload, which was much appreciated when I had an Element load to drop off. Has your weather warmed and has the precip moved out? I saw the first commercial for the New Year's Day Doctor Who special. 8 pm on BBC America. It even intrigued Dale, who has never watched before.

Becky, the dry eye and macular are separate things. The Systane Complete seems to be working so far. How did PT go today and how are the knees? Isn't it amazing how much pain the barometer can cause us? WOW! on your temps! I thought we were cold! 

LOL on Wally-proofing the tree, Liz. DM had a full set of dentures for just about her entire adult life, and I think they have made some improvements since then. Do you have an appointment yet? I hope you don't have any issues from performance reviews like you did last year. I know it's a good feeling to have them done. Hope PT went well. Good luck with elfdom this weekend. Arya is fine. I'm still working with her to teach her to unwrap gifts, but she is still very reluctant, even with a treat buried in the paper (Linda's suggestion). I've been cranky today as well for some reason. I almost dropped a freezer pack on my foot this morning getting ready to get on the road and just about went ballistic about it. I also said some rather unkind things about people's driving skills on the trip. I hope you got home from PT and were able to get some rest. I'm water sauteing as many mushrooms as I think I'll be able to eat. Dale picked a bunch more today and most of them are beauties, so they should last for a few weeks. He said there are more that are about dime size so perhaps those will be part of Christmas dinner. Today was sunny but very chilly. I think we may be getting more rain over the weekend. At least it's not snow.
We are supposed to hit 65 on Christmas Day.

Chele, did Iggy have a good trip? Is this the last one for the year? The other Garmin I have is 44mm and it's good for swimming and hiking but too big for regular wear. I don't think I realized there were multiple sizes of Apple Watch. The doc said I am producing enough tears but they are drying faster than they should. He didn't say what would cause that. The leafy greens supposedly slow down the macular degeneration and oils speed up the damage, along with animal products, which isn't an issue for me. I got the impression that if I was eating any of those bad things, he would put me on a supplement with lutein and a couple of other things. I'll bet you'll get more birdies the colder it stays and the more snow you get. Fingers crossed you won't have to replenish your supply until late January. The ice cream cakes are coming along well. I added the first whipped topping layer today. Tomorrow will be more golden Oreo cookie crumbs and the second layer of ice cream. I'll have to post a picture of the finished product. I think it's going to turn out nicely and will be something different. If Dale likes them like I think he will, I see a lot of these for holidays and other occasions. I'm not a huge mango fan either. Will you be having dinner with the nieces and their families? Did you see a male and female robin? How odd about the trash can disappearing. I hope they don't charge you for a new one. Do they have one of those arms that picks up the trash can and dumps the contents into the truck? If so, maybe their arm had an "uh-oh".

I had one personal best at Osteo and the director had been to training last week and had a bunch of new information. She said they just hired a new corporate training director who has a masters in kinesology, so she expects a lot more new things to come. That will be good. After I did my Nu-Step workout this morning, I headed to Knoxville. But before I left the therapy center, I ran into the guy who used to work at the thrift store. I can't remember what we used to call him on here, but we had a nickname for him. He hasn't changed. He said his DF was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and he is 50-something but lives at home, so it's good that he's there to help his DM. I'm glad I had an excuse so we didn't have to talk for long. I had a quick trip to Earth Fare and had to stop at Walgreens because my Anbesol has disappeared. I think the recent crown may be sitting on a nerve or something else is still causing it to be irritated and sensitive to both hot and cold. So I need to start using it again. When I got home, I started working on master gardener stuff and sent several articles to our new newsletter editor and sent a few emails to board members and committee chairs. On my way to Knoxville, I also stopped at the master gardener office to talk to the extension office director to make sure I had all my ducks in a row for the meeting in a few weeks. I need to start working on agendas. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day for that. Dale is going to the pool but I have no real agenda except for some time on the treadmill.

Karen, I didn't see your post for some reason. I think the thrift stores around here do a good business with all the college students. I didn't even have to shut the car off! I think I'm done shopping except for going to the grocery store this weekend. Yay! Now comes the wrapping. I never heard that about the oils being a problem either, but it sounds like that might be specific to the macular degeneration. They actually make oil supplements aimed at helping with dry eyes and my eye doc did say it was okay to try them. Also not a big mango fan, but they are okay mixed in with other fruits. I think they're too sweet by themselves. Congrats on the personal best for Osteo!