If he ain’t figured it out by now, he never will! 
Good morning all! Thanks for all the kind wishes. 
{{{rigs}}}
Not sure what’s in store for the day. I just got out of the shower and I’m wondering what the breakfast plan is. At some point we had talked about going out to Bob Evans for breakfast, but it’s 11F outside right now, so that idea might be scrapped.
I’ve been up for a while, but haven’t really done anything except start a pair of gloves with leftover sock yarn.
I second the request for the soup recipe. Sounds especially good on a day like today.
And second the congrats on having OYKW introduced as your partner, swampy. That’s very cool.
Off to locate breakfast.
GT
Good morning everyone. Just got home about 15 minutes ago. We had a great time at the party last night. It actually lasted until about 3 or 3:30 this morning. We were both tired, so we just slept on our friend’s couch.
Our friend like her b-day present from us. She received quite a few very nice gifts.
Hope your tendonitis improves very, very soon rigs.
I’ve got chores to do around the house today and that’s all I plan on doing.
Stayed inside today - there was a promise of snow but so far nothing other than the very grey sky which has meant I have had lights on all day.
Done some work, laundry, unpacked and just got done making a delicious shepherds pie topped with baked sweet potato stuffed full of veggies in place of some of the meat. Trying to get the New Year kicked off back to the weightloss plan. It will be served with broccoli tonight I believe and then I have supper for a few nights.
Low key weekend all round…
(((((rigs)))))
There was heavy snowfall forecast here today and as I had almost nothing to do, I elected to stay inside. Of course, that mean virtually no snow has fallen and instead I have had a day of near total slothfulness.
We went out last night into the city to see a couple of ‘im indoors’ friends from a place he used to work, they’re emigrating to Australia and are due to leave in about 10 days’ time so this would be their last weekend around here. I’d never met them before so that was fun. We caught the penultimate train back home just in case the weather interfered but our travel plans were fine.
So today I got up late, read but didn’t post, did some laundry and tidied up a bit downstairs, then cooked some sardines and shared them with Shadow. This afternoon I rang my mother to see how she’s getting on and caught up with the goings on at the old folks’ place where she lives.
Apart from that I have been thoroughly idle. I have three letters to write to friends but I have not yet found enough motivation for that. Perhaps if I check down the back of the sofa I’ll find some, along with a few coppers and a sticky lollipop.
I did get him to help me move the old washing machine into the porch so that it’s out of the way. I am going to advertise it on Freegle and see if anyone wants it, otherwise we’ll have to listen out for the rag and bone man instead.
Off for a soak in the bath now, there’s curry in the slow-cooker for dinner. My diet plan was all sorted out for today and then I blew it completely with some tiddly reindeers from Hotel Chocolat. Oh dear, I can feel the pounds piling back on!
I love the term “stop-n-rob”, doggio, and I shall be stealing it for future use.
swampy, you’d be proud of me: I was at the Dolla Sto’ today when I noticed they had several 9-packs of Scott toilet paper. I usually get the 4-packs, but I decided the 9-pack would be a Wiser Value so I got one. I now have 10 unused rolls of tp in the bathroom.
Peace Corps Girl and husband just called before heading off to Indonesia. This makes me sad indeed because I have the frequency of hearing from her about every 1 1/2 years. She has promised to try to send more emails and I hope that she does. Hopefully her new husband will be a good influence on her in this way.
Before that, TVMan and I were napping. Actually, he still is. Instead of going out and braving the cold, and crowds we decided to have funnel cakes for breakfast. And when that happens, he has 1 1/2 funnel cakes and I have 1/2 plus we both have breakfast sausage. As a result, he is usually stuffed and requires an immediate nap. 
ETA: Forgot to add that I love BooFae’s Tiddly Reindeer!
Ppppfffft, neophyte! We buy toilet paper in 32-packs; when we open the last pack we buy a new one; so there are always at least 25 rolls of TP around the house.
'Course, we’re a family of 4.5 (Special Teen is only at home occasionally)
If by “unusual” you mean “warm enough to go to the beach,” then yeah… I guess so.
On second thought, that isn’t so unusual here – we always have a few weeks like that every winter; whenever Europe is getting slammed, we’re getting fried (and vice versa)
This is awesome!! 
Hugs, gropes and smooches to everyone else…
Spaz I am, indeed, proud of you! What with all the bad weather lately in Hippy Hollow aren’t you glad you have a stash of tp?
I want some Tiddly Reindeer just so I can open the box and say to somebody, “Have a Tiddly Reindeer!”
Well, I done and went and got myself elected to the Vestry. My first official act was to fend off a move to elect me Senior Warden. See, one of the other electees has had experience in this area, so when my name got mentioned I made a to do re his experience in this area, thus gettin’ him elected instead. I want to be on the Vestry but I don’t want to run things. I do have that little thread of sanity remainin’ doggio.
It’s still cooooooooooold! Thus, havin’ scarfed down a burger and fries from steak and shake, I shall go have me a nappy poo.
Later Y’all!
I will be trying a variation of Chicken Parmesan for munch this week.
I’m marinating chicken boobies in Eyetalian dressing, will grill them until done, smother them in skabetty sauce, apply cheese, and bake/nuke until said cheese is melted. to be served in the otherwise usual manner with skabetty and sauce.
I’ll let you know how it goes…
WHEW!! I be exhausted!!
Load #3 of laundry is in the wash, I baked 3 batches of cookies (snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and butterscotch chip), made a pot of bean soup, helped daughter move the turtle tank from the studio to her nook… And in a few minutes, I need to feed the canines.
X-hausted!!!
I’m so full from sampling cookies, I don’t want any soup. I do want soup, but I’s temporarily stuffded, so soup will be later. For now, I just need a little break - did I mention I’m tired??
And it’s still cooooooooooold here. Sunny, but decidedly brisk.
So, who wants to volunteer to give me a foot rub? 
I am so ashamed of myself! We never made it to the grocery store today because neither my daughter or I wanted to venture out into the cold. So, I did not make the beef mushroom barley soup/stew, but here is the recipe nonetheless:
1 lb, more or less, stew beef–I cut it into bite-sized pieces; dredged in flour
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb button mushrooms, chopped
2 cups of beef broth (I use the no sodium bouillon packages)
chopped carrots, green beans, more onion (if desired)
1/2 to 1 cup of medium or pearl barley
spice as desired - I use Mrs. Dash salt-free lemon pepper and table blend
Saute the onion and mushrooms until translucent (I just use a bit of olive oil spray); set them aside. Note: you can add chopped celery to this if you like celery
Next, brown the stew meat until it’s seared; add a bit of the broth to the pot to make a little gravy, then begin putting the meat into the crock pot. Add the onions and mushrooms (and celery) next, followed by the broth/boullion. If you do add fresh chopped veggies, layer them on the bottom, before you put the meat in.
Turn crock pot on to low and let cook for 4 or so hours, then add the barley. Cook another 2-3 hours. This makes a nice, hearty soup that is really more of a stew. I’ve tried several different types of barley; the medium barley works best for me–it’s more substantial than the pearl.
Dang, now I wish that I had made it, my tummy is grumbling at me! LOL BTW, I tweak this recipe every time I make it, so anyone else making it might want to experiment with it a bit to their own tastes as well.
Back to work tomorrow; it’s still cold here!
**tarra **- that does sound good. I see a shopping trip in my future…
y’know - we could self-publish those recipes - using something like Café Press or some such.
my friend came over for a while this afternoon to kill time until she had to pick her bf up at the airport - we played more Qwirkle on the d/r table - a spot Smokey had adopted as one of her faves - she was not pleases and hissed at both of us.
I just bought a skein of yarn and a 5mm crochet hook.
Pray for my textile-based soul.
I predict either everyone in Spaz’s family will get knitted/crocheted booties for Christmas or Petercat will have a nice fuzzy skein of yarn to play with.
If I get frustrated again like I did the first time I tried crochet Lo These Many Years Ago, I’ll try knitting. If that doesn’t work, Niece C will be getting a new skein of yarn and yarny tools to play with since she picked it up like it was nothing according to Older Sister.
I am ashamed to admit that I just now finally got my Christmas tree down, along with the other decorations in the house. Was just too tired over the New Year weekend, and then was too tired/busy during the week.
At any rate, it’s down. I was amazed that I didn’t have more pine needles. There weren’t really all that many and the tree still looked pretty green. Considering that I haven’t watered it since Christmas Eve, this is quite a feat. I must have bought a very fresh tree.
I stopped watering it Christmas Eve because the water resevoir in my tree stand is huge. I didn’t want to slop water all over the place when I did move the tree. Amazingly enough, there was still a couple inches of water in the stand when I took the tree outside.
So, now I need to rearrange my furniture again, and pack the decorations away in the waaaaaaay back of the hallway closet.
I decided I had earned a break though because nobody, as per usual, helped. Whatever, it’s done.
There isn’t much else going on.
Taters since it’s just now Epiphany you did not commit a fox paw with the decorations. Since you got it all down today, you are not a social pariah. I’m sure this makes you feel all at ease now.