A very nice ham-based meal with the Christmas-celebrating part of the family, along with gift exchange. The best gift I received was this book.
Evening all. Found out that my limit is 12 hours of CSI::Las Vegas before I was ready to head back to the hotel. Family is great, but not very active and being cooped up with 5 other adults and 5 dogs in a relatively small room when I am used to being on my own is…trying. Did have a steak dinner tonight for Xmas and only one more day till heading home Wednesday.
And to all a good night.
Great book recommendation, thank you!
Dinner at the fancy place was Pilot level fancy, none of us wore UGGS or sneakers, and it took over two hours. It was pretty good and the family will talk about it for years. I was disappointed that they didn’t put glitter in the fancy cranberry drinks like Cracker Barrel does.
Hubs doesn’t think he’s going to be able to do the train to the canyon tomorrow and we are going to have a long discussion about this once his family is gone. They are innocent and don’t deserve to have me rage cancel all of the reservations, plus, I always love the train to the canyon so why punish myself because he refuses to do anything to improve his health.
ARRRGGGG!!! I shoulda killed him back when he walked out of the ER while having a heart attack.
However, I can’t be that upset tonight. Secret Santas delivered bowls. Lovely, beautiful bowls and all mine!
12 hours is impressive. I can’t do family in longer than 3 hour stretches before “heading back to my room for a nap”.
We lasted almost three hours with BFF and the grands. The grands are nice kids, they weren’t doing anything wrong but we are so not used to all of the overstimulated noise they can make when cookies and wrapped presents are mixed together.
Note to self: make candy next year.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s Boxing Day, the day Canadians punch each other, and say “Sorry.”
It’s Aldi run day, and it’s supposed to rain all day.
Did you marry into the Fairychats or something? 
That does look interesting
{{{{CatGlove}}}}
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Holy crap - my limit would have been about 12 minutes. Then again, I’m not big on police procedural dramas, or, really, TV in general. I find when I’m home alone, I don’t even turn it on. But that’s another story. Yay for having a hotel room at least!
My holiday headscratcher is my sister’s husband. He was going on about Oak Island and evidence of Knights Templar found there (really??) but he doesn’t trust smart speakers because they’re always listening and recording you. So the crazy isn’t confined to FCD’s family. At least he doesn’t get obnoxious about it, so we couldn’t very well tell him outright that he’s an idiot.
I’ve been up since 2AM. I think mostly because of all the crap I ate yesterday - I was feeling kinda funky. So I read till a bit after 5, then got up to tend to Higgs. I’m caffeinating and contemplating my plans for the day.
FCD wants to go to the boat to discuss our plans for finishing the work on it. Before we leave, I’ll be putting a small hunk of cow and some veggies in the slow-cooker so we can have potroast tonight. On the way home, we need to stop for spuds to add to the crock. I also need dog food and cat food - not sure I want to brave WalMart, tho - we shall see. And being Tuesday, it’s laundry day. Even without help from Tobias, it’s gotta be done. And the dishwasher needs to be emptied. And I need to print all our travel documents and make sure everything is ready - we’re just over 3 weeks away from departure.
Yep, another fun-filled day at FairyChatEstates. Happy Tuesday!!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 64 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 67 and cloudy for the day. Fine by me as I have nowhere I need or want to go. I’ve had enough of people the past two days. Today is laundry day. Be still my heart. Sloth, general overall uselessness, nappage, and day drinkin’ are also on the schedule. Sup shall be leftovers from the feast. We sent others home with leftovers, so we have just enough for one meal. Plus there’s bones for the makeage of soup which will happen one day this week. Not today, however.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day!
Happy Tuesday Y’all! Happy Punch Each Other Out Day to those who observe!
I just remembered one more weird thing from yesterday. The sister who insists on giving everyone a gift every year, and who gets them all (I’m pretty sure) from a dollar store, made a switch this year from ornaments. You’d think it would be a relief for us since we don’t do a tree. This year, we all got velour steering wheel covers.
Yeah. That was my reaction too.
She refuses to quit buying for everyone, even tho the rest of us have agreed to stop exchanging. She’s always been one of those I-have-money-in-my-pocket-so-I-must-spend-it types who has never had savings to speak of. She was bragging yesterday that she’d already started buying for next year. And now I have 2 steering wheel covers to regift, because neither of us will use them. I know she’s an adult and entitled to spend her money as she wishes, but I truly wish she’d quit giving us stuff that we just throw away. Seriously - even the year she gave us mugs full of candies, they were literally inedible. I guess that makes me a bad sister.
I’ll take my crabby self over there for a while…
Mornin’ everyone.
It’s 45F and damp outside. There will be periods of light rain this morning, and then we’ll transition to cloudy skies. Temps will top out at 52F.
Christmas was very quiet and low-key, but still, there was all the meal prep. The prime rib roast was, well, perfectly roasted and was at the right temperature all the way through. Sadly, I think they changed their rub recipe, and whoever made the rub that went on our roast got carried away with the salt. It was very salty, and I basically had to eat the center of the meat. I will call the butcher shop to ask if they changed their recipe. I know it looked different when I unwrapped it. I am really hoping that someone just messed up the recipe there. If they did change the recipe, I have go back to buying an unseasoned roast and make up my own rub.
Before I simmer the rack for stock, I’ll have to rinse it off. So, even my prime rib soup will taste different this year. Oh well. It’s not the end of the world, but dang, that was a very expensive roast and I should not have to feel any sense of disappointment with it.
We unwrapped our presents; my husband snuck off to a jewelry store and bought me a simple white gold necklace, which was something I’d mentioned I wanted. He already had received his present from me. The kids in Missouri sent a make-up brush kit and chocolate for me and slippers and fancy peanut butter cups for my husband. My son loved his throw blankets and pillows and plans to make good use of them.
All in all, it was a nice day, my husband and son loved the dinner and were talking about eating the gravy as soup, so it I guess it was pretty good.
We alternated between chatting, watching and snarking on bad TV, and my son and husband playing computer games together. There was also much puppy wrasslin’.
FCM, I hear you on the gifts no one wants thing. My mother never had much money and was frugal. She regifted…a lot. The real kicker was when I received the gift I gave her the previous year. That happened a few times. On top of that, she would give us calendars and weird freebies she received. We’d tell her not to buy us any gifts; we had all we needed or wanted, but she did the same thing every year. She’s finally stopped, thank Og. I know she wanted to feel like she was participating in the gift-giving, and I always felt bad, so I always thanked her for that year’s gifts and then got rid of them.
Not much on the agenda for today. Just relaxation, I think. My son stayed overnight and will work from my home office and we’ll have leftover Christmas dinner for dinner. He will also be sent home with leftovers tonight.
Tomorrow, I’ll probably run the rollsuck again, and probably not do much beyond the usual kitchen tidying.
It is the similar for Hubby’s folks, though they are invited to every wedding. And not because of a gift grab or that they spend time talking, but up until recently, they would be on the floor dancing until the reception was over. They helped make it a party.
I love it! I made one for myself, but I’m too bleary to type it out. I love curating playlists!
There was a Christmas when I was in my 20s that my step-mom was sick with the flu, but wouldn’t trust any of us to make Christmas dinner. The woman cooked everything, she nothing, and then didn’t remember any of it when she was feeling better.
Well, what our own younun shoe started at the least.
(And it got me wondering if it was considered praying because of how often God is called upon… 
)
The power came back on after about 15 minutes last night. We never did get around to watching Doctor Who last night. Hubby’s tummy wasn’t happy and I hit a crash of tired. Of course, tired but unable to sleep because of all over ache that wouldn’t go away. I have up at about 5:30 and came to the living room to sit in my chair so I didn’t wake Hubby with my tossing and turning.
Today I have to drive out to pick my dad up from the hospital, get the antibiotics from the dialysis clinic them get him home before heading home myself. I need to be there between 10 and 10:30 so I’ll be drinking lots of caffeine and listening to the Doctor Who audio book that Partner for me for Christmas. I expect nappage when I get back home.
Have an enjoyable Boxing Day to any that celebrate it. And a convivial Tuesday* for those who don’t.
*Bonus points to anyone who can catch the reference… as long as I didn’t screw it up!
Our holiday was low-key and pleasant, though I found that having mild pet allergies, and no longer having a cat to desensitize me, the ubiquitous presence of the family dogs stuffed me up, made me sneeze, and gave me scratchy eyes.
Daughter has to work today, meaning she had to drive back to Philly yesterday, so we did the Xmas dinner thing on Sunday after Lady SCAdian got off work. Yesterday we went back over to my in-laws’ to see her again before she left, and to enjoy the Xmas pudding and brandy butter my lady’s sister’s husband had made. We also collected the turkey carcass we’d forgotten to bring home Sunday, and it is now simmering on the stove waiting for us to visit the commissary and pick up the rest of the fixin’s for soup.
Highlights of this year’s loot were a bottle of Highland Park single malt from Lady SCAdian and a wee bottle of Licor de Ginja d’Óbidos (sour cherry liqueur from Óbidos) the above-mentioned brother- and sister-in-law brought back from Portugal a couple weeks ago.
Morning all. About 8am and just at freezing here in Kansas, will shower and get on the way over to Nephew’s place in awhile, no rush today. Tonight I’m taking the family out to Olive Garden for dinner, so we will get out of the house some. I’m not blaming anyone, mind you, neither my Brother or SIL are in the best of health and one of the kids had an aneurism removed not too long ago, so he doesn’t move around a lot, so visits are mostly sitting around which is fine, just not used to doing it with that many people and dogs. I have books and my phone to keep me amused.
Have read all but sadly absorbed little, so yeas, boos, and copious hugs to all. Heading home tomorrow.
That shirt sounds fun.
A slothful Boxing Day here. So far cat snuggles and rice pudding. I ordered meals from an Italian restaurant on Saturday, so I’m good to go meal time. Just have to decide between clam linguine or ravioli for dinner.
Started Typing: 10:02 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 10:54 AM ET
Man, I figured I’d be all motivated to work today since (a) I just had four days off and (b) I have a lot to do and (c) it’s only a 3-day week, but NOPE! 
Yesterday’s lunch at Denny’s with my dad and brother went well enough. I got there 15 minutes early, and discovered that they were understaffed (both in the kitchen and on the floor) and completely slammed – mostly with take-out orders. It took 10 minutes to even be able to tell someone I was there for a table: there wasn’t enough staff at the hostess stand/on the registers, and others were there before me to either pick up take-out orders or pay their checks. While waiting I saw several people come in with take-out bags because they’d discovered that something had been left out of their order. My father can be a real jerk about service, but luckily I got a table right before he arrived – so he didn’t have to wait to be seated – and he was happy to be patient after I explained how busy and short-staffed they were. It took over an hour for our food to arrive, but once it did it was hot and good and everything was right and Dad had no complaints (phew!). I paid for lunch, and tipped our poor server 40%: she’d mentioned that we were her last table, so I said “I just want to make sure you get this” and put cash in her hand.
Because lunch took longer than expected, my brother and I only spent about 90 min at Dad’s afterwards. I got home at around 5:45pm, and spent the rest of Christmas slothing on the couch with Bailey while catching up on All Creatures Great and Small (S4 of the new series starts in two weeks). I didn’t even crack open the LEGO jazz club box…I guess that will wait until Friday. 
(TruePisces: After I finished S3 of All Creatures I finally watched an episode of Scarecrow & Mrs. King on Tubi! It holds up surprisingly well…though I’d forgotten how annoying the mother character is. I expected ads, what with it being a free service. Maybe I’ll start seeing them later? Also, Happy Doperversary!! 
)
Today is my “reset” day: junk food stops coming in the house, and I get back to a regular gym/personal training schedule starting this evening. I did some significant damage to my weight/health in the past few months, and it will take even longer to undo, but that work starts now. The exception will be whenever I finally get together with my BFFs, because there will be lots of yummy food and homemade cookies and it would be rude to not indulge.
I guess it’s time to stop slacking and get back to work. At least the next few days should be on the quiet side, with many folks (both corporate and customer) out for the week. 
Even now that I know better I still tend to read this as “mugs full of [inedible] candles”… 
I’ve been to Food Lion and the pot roast is started - I decided to do it on the stove instead of a slow cooker. It’ll simmer for a few more hours, then I’ll toss in the carrots and chunks o’spuds. Second load is in the washer, first is in the dryer. Dishwasher is empty. Ice maker is making ice. And I just had egg salad in a tortilla for lunch.
I finished reading an incredibly bad book - the plot included a balloon voyage across the English Channel, a monkey, gypsies, a couple of attempted kidnappings plus a successful kidnapping, some murders, smugglers, and ultimately, the discovery that the about-to-turn 18-y/o (who lost her father in the beginning of the book) inherited half a million pounds from an uncle she never knew she had. I knew it was bad before I’d finished the second chapter, but it was like watching an accident in slow-motion and I just couldn’t look away.
I swear, there’s a random comment generator that publishers use to create quotes for book jackets. Lies, the lot of 'em!
It’s dreary and chilly and rain is to continue on and off thru tomorrow. Is it any wonder my motivation is flagging?
Had a very quiet Christmas day. We ate leftovers, then watched A Child’s Christmas in Wales, based on the Dylan Thomas story. So things were very laid back. . .UNTIL. . . The daughter sends me a fairly generic text, to which I responded. Next thing I know there’s a flame war going on (on her end, anyway) over something I said. I guess my sentence structure was confusing, as my intent was not to start a fight. So now she’s pissed off at me. I apologized for any misunderstanding, so as far as I’m concerned that’s game over. I don’t apologize twice for anything. So Christmas ended not so good. Peace, joy and misunderstanding, right?
Went back on vitamin D with calcium a few days ago, and I feel like my energy levels are better now. Between the recovering knee and the now-inclement weather, we don’t get out for walks, and it’s become a bad habit to just stay indoors. Also, I don’t drink milk because of the lactose issues, so I’m not getting a lot of calcium intake.
This sounds a lot like the 2004 version of Around The World in 80 Days.
Or one of doggio’s better dreams.
Sorry the rest of your day got ugly courtesy of people who insist on misunderstanding your words, and worse yet assuming the worst about your motivations. I have dealt with a few of those and it’s sooo exhausting.
Title and author, please?
I still give gifts to three people, my two BIL and my sister. It’s my way of hanging on to the old days. I don’t expect anything in return but sometimes I get it. From my sis and her husband I got a bottle of wine and a t-shirt. The wine is labeled Dachshund, with a dog that extends around the bottle, and the shirt is dated for next year when the three of us will travel northeast to see the solar eclipse. I got my BIL a bottle of wine produced for last year’s Super Bowl, and for sis I got a book and a bird ornament for her special tree. Her tree exclusively had birds, and this year was a new one from Hallmark, a Stellar’s Jay.
And in strange coincidence, we’ve been cleaning out some cupboards and finally decided to discard the shot glasses we got with our bottle of Licor de Ginja d’Óbidos about 7 years ago. It’s fun to drink, but not something I’d go out and search for.
But the Highland Park, well…
For Christmas we opened up a bottle of Laphroaig 1815. Really should remember to put a note when we buy whisky - I have no idea when we bought it or where. Seems to be easy to buy, so we might have even bought it locally.
I think we’re done cleaning out the kitchen and china cabinet. Need to let the cupboard interiors dry out, so we went for a walk.
After we got back, we put some stuff away and then I cooked lunch. Managed to heat up an empty pot to smoking. I took the pot off the stove and put it on a towel. The towel’s a total loss as it has a huge scorch mark. Oops.
After lunch we finished putting the kitchen back to rights and made a lemon poppyseed cake. One of my favorite recipes, as I ususally have the ingredients on hand and I only need one bowl.
And now it’s time to settle down for the evening and find something to watch on the tv.