Taste Like Chicken Festivus 12/23

Good Morning Chicks, thanks for the start Chele and Happy Festivus.

Chele - how is Iggy's back doing?  I don't think anything good would come of us airing our grievances in the family.  We might end up with WW3.  You were a very nice sous chef for the carnivore.  We have mild temps for this time of year which seem to be what's going to continue for the next few days.  I would much appreciate it being cold for Christmas and a light coating of snow would be lovely but alas, that is not to happen with temps apparently going up to close to 50.  I am off the next 3 days.  We will travel to Jersey tomorrow to DS's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  SM will be coming for dinner and will go with "her family" whoever that is (not us) on Christmas day.

Becky - so sad to hear that there's still no rain for you.  We had rain last week along with an inordinately large amount of ice as well.  You are brave to have gone to WM the Sat. before Christmas! We were elfing all weekend; sorting and wrapping presents, grocery for food stuffs for DS's house and trying to get a little bit of rest in between.  

Linda - I am feeling a bit like you with all the goodies that have been around and me having a wicked sweet tooth.  I hope your rain stops and the weather improves.  It's going up to a balmy 52 here in the city which I am sure makes some folks very happy but I'm not one of them.  The packages are wrapped and we just need to put them into the traveling bags.  Not sure what time we will leave tomorrow but hopefully the NJ Turnpike will be kind to us.

Kathy - glad you and DM were able to get out before the rain and that front hit.  This is crazy warm weather to me for this time of year here.  It's a fairly quiet day today in work as many took the whole week off and even the train was pretty quiet.  I'm sure it shouldn't have surprised me but after a full week at work, I was truly exhausted.  I'm sure it's going to take a few more weeks before my body is back to being used to the frenetic pace and associated steps.

Karen - wow on the tracker giving you such a problem.  That is scary to me and I hope that the new one is just the thing!  I am a tall girl 5'7.5" and have always been one, although I believe I may have lost an inch in the last few years with the bone loss from the hips. I come from tall folks as my DS is 5'10 and her children are tall as well.  How are you feeling?  How is the weather down there?  I am excited to see your ice cream cup cakes!  We will hang out with DS on Christmas Day and then go to DSIL's house for dinner and head home Thurs. morning as I am working on Friday.  I hope you're able to sell the evil fitness tracker for a few $$.  How are Arya and Dale doing?  

I am off to finish up a few things that must be done today.  Wishing you all a safe and nice afternoon!  Ciao for now lovely ladies!

Thanks for the start, Chele, and the info on Festivus. Will you be having veggie meatloaf on your salad today? Nice avatar. I also have diverticulosis, so I make sure I keep my fiber intake at minimum 33g per day and usually more. Does your Apple Watch have the 18mm quick release bands? That's what the Vivomove 3S has and I haven't used them before. Good that Iggy got into the chiro today and I hope he gets some relief. I hope your back improves quickly so you and Iggy both aren't having back issues. Enjoy your fish. I guess we'll be doing that as well, having sushi for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. Hope we'll get lucky even though neither of us has any Italian ancestery. Bless your GF's heart to be hosting such a big gathering and good that she has help, at least from the guys. It's a shame the DIL and granddaughters are so lame. That's very kind of her to have the ex and new wife. I guess they must get along ok.

Becky, how nice of your friends to give you WM gift cards. I know you will use them quickly. What's on your menu for Christmas? I'm sure you are able to stock up a bit more now that you have the larger fridge. How zooish was HEB and how was PT, or did you cancel? I didn't realize Texas was so dry. We ended up getting another inch and a half of rain yesterday and our aquifers love it, but I wish I could send you some. The stuff that Linda is getting must be going north after it leaves AZ. I ordered my new Garmin from Amazon because I had a couple of gift cards to bring down the cost. I plan to sell my VS4 on eBay as soon as my Vivomove is up and running. That will make the net a little cheaper. I really didn't want to buy a new one so soon, but the house is selling, so it could have been worse. I heard an update on the kidnapped mother and baby that the baby is in foster care until they can determine through DNA testing that the murdered woman is the mother and the boyfriend is the father. How bizarre!

I heard parts of AZ will be getting a white Christmas, Linda. Does that mean you're going to have a wet Christmas? I can definitely see the similarity between the drawing you posted and the illustrations in The Night Before Christmas. You're right about it not being a good year to share grievances, especially the political ones. Sorry your GI system still isn't happy. It's tough to have that stuff in the house and try to fight the urge to enjoy it. I'm glad Dale requested ice cream cake this year because I was able to make myself a smaller one in my 6" springform pan. My entire cake has about 2/3 pint of non-dairy B&J's, while his in the 7" pan has 2 pints of regular--one Blue Bell and one Mayfield. We'll probably get 4 servings from each, but mine will be much smaller. Is your big family event tomorrow? If so, what will you and Bob do on the big day?

Kathy, I guess you'll be watching the UCF game today. They are playing Marshall and Dale took his initial paramedic training there, so we will probably be on opposite sides, but I think UCF has a better shot at the victory. I guess most of the locals haven't discovered the solitude of the Publix closest to campus when school is not in session. They are finally starting to build the new Publix close to the Kroger in Sevierville and I'm anxious to see how it will be, given that the Kroger is always such a zoo. I'll probably still go to the Knoxville one because I go past it once a week anyway and I think they will have a better selection. I still wish we would get a TJ's locally. Has your lousy weather moved out by now?

How was the weekend, Liz? Enjoy your time off this week and safe travels. Hope Friday will be a quiet work day. Hope you can avoid WW3 and Wally will behave himself on the upcoming visit. How are the pups doing? I think the new tracker will work out well. A new VS4 is going for $99, so I hope I can get $50 out of the slightly used one. Dale and I are doing ok. He had a scratchy throat yesterday but I guess it resolved itself. We need to do some major work on Arya's nails because it appears that she scratched herself and took a nick of skin out below her left ear. She is the worst for nail care and it takes both of us but still isn't anywhere near easy.

Slow day here. I did time on the treadmill before Dale went to the pool. I have rugs in the dryer and will wash towels when he gets home. I need to vacuum but don't have much else to do. I finally was able to get my MG committee chairs finalized this morning and sent all the info to our new newsletter editor, so I think I have sent her everything she needs from me for January. Now I just have to wait to hear from the treasurer so I can send all the committee chairs their 2019 budget requests and actual spending so they can give me their 2020 requests before the board meeting on the 13th. I also need to pull together all the minutes from 2019 meetings so I can pass all of that to the incoming secretary. I'll be glad to get that in other hands. I heard there was another FB breach and 167 million accounts were compromised. I hate FB and wish there was a more secure way to stay in touch with people, especially family.

Thanks for the start Chele.I like your avatar.I had never heard of Festivus before.

Linda I hope your gut feels better soon.

Liz I'm glad you are off the next 3 days.If you don't like temps near 50 for Christmas I guess our predicted 75 would be out of the question.LOL.It will be cool in the mornings this week and then warm up nicely in the lower to mid 70's.We welcome it.Yesterday our low was 29 and today it was 28.Safe travels to Jersey tomorrow.You can keep your ice but I would be glad to have some of your rain.We do have a chance of rain Friday-Sunday.LOL on the elfing during the weekend.

Chele I could probably say no to a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake but an ice cream cone or a Blizzard from DQ might be a different story or a banana pudding.I hope Iggy's back is better soon.HEB was packed and being a glutton for punishment if our SS checks are in our accounts early like they are supposed to be we will go to Walmart and then probably eat out for lunch.We also needed propane for our gas heater so I told Kenneth I would cancel my appointment.I'm glad I did because as crowded as HEB was we wouldn't have gotten out of there although we left early enough in time for my appointment.I will go to my appointment on Friday.I wouldn't want to eat eel or octopus.

Karen I hope you enjoy your Vivomove.It looks like a nice smartwatch.So far we haven't planned anything for a Christmas Day menu.We were limited on what we could spend for groceries today so if our SS checks are in the bank tonight instead of the normal Tuesday night we will go to Walmart for a quick trip and try to find a snack tray for tomorrow night or something for Christmas Day.We are thinking about going to Meyers BBQ for lunch tomorrow.I don't understand why they have to keep the baby in foster care until DNA proves it.