Thanks! And there was Pele and Barbara Walters too, plus a couple of others. It’s been a real blood bath, I can’t remember seeing this much activity right at the end of the year.
A few years ago Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson all died close together, and as they were relatively speaking, young. folks that had all three did well.
Good morning everyone.
It’s currently 45 degrees and cloudy with an expected high of 49 and maybe a few rain showers during the noon time window.
sari, I am sorry about the tumor diagnosis. I hope the surgery provides a good outcome.
doggio, I’m glad you have Princess Pretty Paws, aka Slayer of the Invisible Mole People, home with you. I chose not to bury either of my dogs’ ashes. Both Brandi and Cap’n have a spot on the fireplace. There is a picture of each of them next to the boxes containing their cremains. I couldn’t bear to bury them, especially since I didn’t want to stay here forever. Besides, each of those dogs’ favorite spots was with us, not outside in the dirt. I still miss each of those dogs greatly and at the oddest moments.
hippy, wow, he was a big boy. What a beauty!
JtC, I love the pic and the perspective. I also bought a new suet feeder a couple of weeks ago. I got one with a paddle board so the flickers could more easily balance. I had a little cage suet holder out there first, but within 30 minutes, all the birds were back attacking the Super Suet in the new feeder. The flickers, the chickadees, juncoes, and bushtits. The hairy and downy woodpeckers took one day longer to return, but they showed up the next day.
Happy Birthday, cupcakes!
Sending you hugs, butters.
FCM, I continue to send good wishes to all of you.
I spent yesterday making the broth and stock for my prime rib soup and finished the evening with a big ol’ batch of the soup. It was delicious! I put aside some of the soup for each of the kids and, once it had cooled, stuck their containers in the freezer. Every year I have to ensure they get some of the soup too.
I may start working on taking down Christmas today, or I may relax. I don’t know yet. I don’t have any place to be and I might even indulge in a nap.
Happy New Year to all of you. I hope the upcoming year brings you what you need or want.
After seven of the clock, and I’ve only been up for 20 minutes. Only one cuppa joe so far.
It’s still dark outside. Sunrise in about an hour.
Happy Saturday!
Happy Birthday Cupcakes!
Happy New Year’s Eve!
It was a balmy 45 degrees at the park this morning.
It’s supposed to rain sometime today. I’m in for the day, it doesn’t matter to me.
Ripple had a good time. If he does have cancer, you’d never know by his behavior. He ran and played more than usual. He is just a happy dog.
Cerby is getting a little less obsessed about the laser light. He didn’t bark at all today until we got ready to leave. That is when he suddenly sees the other dogs and wants to run and play with them.
Maybe I should pretend to leave a few times so he plays with them and leaves the light alone.
I think we won’t be going to the armpit today. Ripple’s wound is a bit bloody and oozy today.
The smell is coming from the infection.
I thought Adam was a big cat, he would look tiny next to GG and Jerry.
{{{Butters}}}
My son and I get into arguments because he irks nights.
I get that it’s confusing sometimes, but he will refer to the morning before he went to bed as yesterday. I tell him, this morning was still today. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are not relative to when you go to bed and when you wake up. This morning when you went to bed is today, this afternoon when you woke up is still today.
JtC, you do have a way with words.
I’m thinking of going back upstairs to bed. I keep falling asleep sitting in the chair anyway.
It’s probably a good day to do nothing, even though there is plenty to be done.
Cabbage is stuffed and simmering. Dishwasher is done. The kitchen is a mess from the stuffed cabbage, but I’ll get to it eventually. I managed to cut my finger while trimming the cabbage, because it’s not cooking unless I shed blood.
FCD is on his way to the rehab facility with clothes for his brother. He’s going to call the bank on Tues as his bro and try to get this bill mess straightened out. I suggested he have his brother kill that account and get a credit card with the credit union here.
Meanwhile, waiting for Daughter to show up with her spawn.
Home fries are cooking. Bacon is in the oven. Prime rib ribs are rubbed and ready to go into the oven after it cools down after the bacon is done.
The ribs are rubbed, covered, and in an oven set to 230º. They’re on the rare side of rare from the Christmas roast, so I’ll plan on six hours for an early dinner. No idea what to have with them.
Visiting with my friends this afternoon. Her birthday is tomorrow but I will be at my sisters so we are celebrating today. I will bring her presents and inside out carrot cake cookies which are carrot cake sandwich cookies with cream cheese filling. Yum oh. My dinner tonight is flank steak pinwheel stuffed with blue cheese, roasted Brussel sprouts a.k.a. fart blossoms, and either mashed potatoes or baked potato. Such a dilemma.
Happy last day of 2022! 
It was an interesting year, with lots of (mostly good) changes, but I’m looking forward to 2023.
I spent most of Thursday in Washington, D.C.: I went to my BFFs’ for lunch with them, their 21-year-old son (my “nephew”), and his 20-year-old girlfriend. Afterwards the husband BFF dropped “the kids” and me at the nearby Metro station, and we went to the Museum of Illusions. It was alright, but didn’t take very long to get through and wasn’t as good as we were hoping; the tickets were a little overpriced, IMHO. It was fun to hang out with the two of them, though. Then we killed some time at a Starbucks (my first time at one in years!) before meeting up with the BFFs at the National Christmas Tree:
https://i.ibb.co/KGJtRdY/PXL-20221229-224746658.jpg
From there we went to the Capitol tree, which is always my favorite:
https://i.ibb.co/wMqqpqq/PXL-20221229-233739130.jpg
We all rode back to my BFFs’ together, and had dinner. By the time I got home it was 9pm and my poor Bailey had been alone for 9.5 hours, but she forgave me and it was a really good day/night. 
Yesterday afternoon I had tattoo removal treatment #5. It was my first time going on a Friday vs a Saturday and I had a different guy, and post-treatment the area is much redder than it’s ever been before! I don’t know if that’s because of the guy, or just where I am in the process. But it was only sore for about an hour afterwards, which is typical, and it hasn’t started itching yet: once the skin starts healing the itching usually lasts a week or so (I 
hydrocortisone cream), so I’m appreciating today’s “quiet”!
In addition to having one tattoo removed I was also having the dark blue coloring around another one lightened, but I decided to stop the latter treatment because the color was lightening unevenly and the edges of the design – which I want to keep – were starting to look smudged/blurred. That particular tattoo has been kind of mess ever since I got it, and trying to fix it a few years later just made it worse, but I think having it completely removed and “starting over” would take way too long/be way too painful to be worth it. I got the original tattoo in 1994, and at this point I think it just is what it is.
For a couple of months now, I’ve been talking about maybe playing softball in the spring: yesterday I actually signed up!! I went to the organization’s site to see if there was info about when signups would start, and it said they were happening already – even though the season doesn’t start until May. I registered for the senior league and paid, but haven’t gotten a confirmation email from them yet. They were probably off yesterday, though, so I won’t reach out unless I don’t have an email by the end of next week.
Other than backing up my computer files (which I just finished doing), I have no plans today. Or tomorrow. Or Monday. 
Earlier this week I thought I’d take my Christmas decorations down today, but now I think I’ll do it tomorrow. It’s a change from most years, when I’m usually “over” the decorations a few days before NYE.
Taters and sari, I’m keeping 
for Polar and Ripple!
When my mom was comatose, my brother and I both accepted that the end was near before our father did (they divorced in '86 and lost touch once my brother and I were adults, but had become friendly a couple years before she died); my dad and brother actually fought about it in the ICU one day.
Awww. 
Because of Bailey’s age, sometimes I think about her passing – but only to the extent of hoping it happens suddenly. I’m a renter, so burying her in the yard isn’t an option (though it’s legal in VA), but I didn’t realize until seeing your post that I’d never considered whether I might want her ashes afterwards. I had a cat for 18 years, and when she died it never occurred to me to get her ashes; I wouldn’t have wanted them. But Bailey is different…now I think I might want to have her cremated.
First, lemme just say that it’s possible for small things/portions to contain a lot of calories. Ask me how I know. 
But my first thought was that a lot of the 3-4 pounds might be water weight, especially if you’ve been having more sodium than usual.
(water weight is a b****!)
There is never a dilemma with potatoes: the answer is always “all of the above.” 
My plans for today make for dull reading, so I’ll spare you. I dreamed I was young, had a brain tumor, and on my wedding day my dad died and the groom was a no-show–basically one pregnant-by-the-groom’s-twin-brother away from a soap opera.
When my beloved black lab died, I picked up her ashes straight from work, realized I couldn’t take them home, as I’d cry whenever I saw them, so drove directly to the irrigation canal. Her happiest times were when we threw a stick from the bank, and she’d jump 10 feet down to the water and swim cross-current to retrieve said stick. So there I was, skidding and scrambling down the bank in heels and crying like a baby. It wasn’t a dignified send-off, but she wasn’t a dignified dog.
FCM, please forgive me if I’ve missed something, but after FIL passes, will MIL live with you? Then when BIL gets out of rehab, will he and MIL live in the apartment? I hope somewhere in there, you and FCD can get away as planned.
Happy Birthday, dear Baker! The whole nation will stay up late to celebrate. I hope you get to eat cake and feel loved.
JtC and hippie, those are big cats! J
This was the part that cracked me up. You have the gift of wit.
doggio, see you when you sober up!
Good-bye 2022! May 2023 be kind to all of us and all our pets.
[quote=“nelliebly, post:290, topic:977105”]
but after FIL passes, will MIL live with you? [/quote]
I asked FCD about this and he said he didn’t want to broach the topic yet. I think maybe she and BIL may continue in the apartment for a time, but we’ll see.
The kids are here and it’s noisy. Not sure when my sweetie will get back and if his mom will sup with us or not. But shortly I’ll order our fried chickie and sides. I can warm everything up when we’re ready to eat.
Don’t know why the quote format is messed up.
Howdy Y’all! We’ve been bzzy bears. All the prep stuff, bakin’ etc for tomorrow’s feast is done. We have also accomplished nappage. I have an urge for a hawt chawklit and coffee. I guess that’s a mocha? Or sump’n like that? I just dump an envelop of hawt chawklit mix in the mug, pop a pod in the Keurig and let it do it’s thang, then add a splash of half 'n half. Howzzat for rambly!
{{{Butters}}}
Well, after a week the back is better and the knee is much better. I can actually walk fairly normally now instead of hobbling, although I’m still pretty stiff in the mornings (and not in a good way).
The second bathroom’s sink clogged up for the third time, so building maintenance called in a plumber to snake the drain. A perk to renting is that I don’t have to pay a plumber for two hours labor.
I was gonna make beans and hamhocks for tomorrow, but decided I don’t feel like it. So the wife is going to make a mushroom soup recipe she found. Got a lot of leftover cornbread to eat.
Speaking of the Ms, she’s trying to get all the last minute charitable donations out the door before the end of the year, so is not in the best frame of mind today. I’m keeping a low profile. Anything to do with taxes brings out her bad side.
No wild NYE for us codgers. I’m not sure I ever bothered with that nonsense, even when young. Be careful out there alla youse guys.
Just ordered our food delivery. It should be here in about an hour, tho they’re usually earlier than their email says. I’m going to hide up here on the pretense of waiting for the food. Daughter can wrangle her spawn without me for a while.
Happy Birthday Cupcakes! I’ll lift a glass of mead in your honor tonight 
Your body knows that the sun is up even with black out curtains and sleep masks. I worked nights before hubs. I really did like it, but know how hard it is to go to sleep when the sun is up.
The crabby old cat in the bedroom can scare GG out of jumping the baby gate just by sleeping on the bed.
It’s a very good thing he’s not so smart, it would be a PITA to have to put a lock on the fridge to keep the cat from opening the door and noshing on the sausages. Actually, all of our interior doors have levers instead of round knobs. I think they look nicer and they are much easier to use than knobs. If GG ever figures out to pull on the door when he’s playing with the levers, we are going to have issues…
He’s gotta have a whole bunch of good points to make up for that!!!
Hospice folks get to be pretty good at that sort of thing. Something we learned with FIL is to watch his feet. When the body starts shutting down, the heart stops beating enough blood to the extremities and the feet and calves turn white. FIL was gone the day after we saw it happen to him.
What’s going on with your thyroid? Weight gain and constantly being cold are a pretty good indicator that I need to get my levels checked and meds adjusted again.
Jerry looks like he was quite the mushboy. That would be a good thing because it would be hard to not be constantly stroking that wonderful plushy looking fur.
They know to watch for me. I can hear the jays start calling each other when I’m at the seed bins and the sparrows all line up on the fence waiting for their tubes to be refilled.
You must have smarter birds than I do. Or maybe mine are just more spoiled, I don’t know. Things are pretty much back to normal today except for the missing woodpeckers. I saw a very handsome Gila Woodpecker earlier so I expect the rest of them will come back shortly.
I know that we have flickers in the area, I haven’t seen any in our yard. Do you feed anything special to attract them?
Good for you! I hope you have much fun!
100% this!
Our NYE tradition started over 35 years ago. Our tradition is to stay home and avoid all the drunk drivers out there. Listening to the accident reports, the drinking started hours ago.
Discussed the feeling cold thing with my doctor, she had me get some lab work that came back fine. As for the weight gain, a couple of trips to the “reading room” later and those “WTF?” pounds have disappeared. I also seriously doubt I was really THAT full of it. 
DH and I also stay in on NYE, not wanting to deal with drunks. The “drivers” here are quite bad enough sober.
Afternoon all (still doesn’t feel like a Saturday to me). Shopping has been completed, it was crowded but I got everything on my list except one item, and that can wait. Bought rice and noodles and gravy, am going to try and get my weekly bacon pig-out changed over to pasta and gravy for a different treat, had to toss out a lot of Minute rice (one of the boxes had an expiration date of 2017…). We’ll see how it goes. At least the frozen food side is full, now need to work it downward before I take off for my trip at the end of January.
Like Nettie and JtC, I tend to stay in on New Years, mostly because I’ve never been a party-goer, but avoiding the drunks is a good thing too…
Cookie, glad you’re doing better. And a good husband knows when to keep a low profile…
nellie, that was a sweet story about your black lab.
Oopsie, nice pictures and glad the weather was good enough to be out and about. And hope the tattoo removal proceeds as planned.
Sari, hope Ripple’s test is negative and glad he is doing well–are they treating the infection with antibiotics?
OK, guess I’ll watch some tackleball while trying to work on the Jumbles and the Crosswords, all y’all take care.
Watching the Twilight Zone marathon on Syfy. Not really watching it’s just on in the background. Home from my friends house we had a fun afternoon and traffic was already getting heavy on the drive home at 4 PM. I’m going with mashed potatoes with the flank steak.
I’ve got the fixings for a big clam chowder for dinner tonight. Three cans of chopped clams, taters, celery, onions, bacon, whole milk, cream, and clam juice. Undecided on whether saltines or crusty baguette should accompany it.
It was originally going to be oyster stew, but they were all out of jars of fresh oysters at the market. Chowder will do.
We’re watching it too.
Goo wants to be fed, but we don’t feed them until four o’clock. She has another hour to wait.
OTOH, Mrs. L.A. is getting out some cheese for us.