So...whats for dinner?

Difficult and important decisions Eric. When a parent has been independent and thriving for so long, it is really hard to acknowledge the need for more care. It's good to hear that your mom has a watchful supportive neighbor...with nursing skills! I'm sure you will make the best plan with/for your mom.

Hopefully, I am nearing the end of this virus. Will skip the gym again today in favor of doing some moderate exercise at home. Besides not wanting to spread any lingering germs around, I am terrified of picking up additional crud from the gym equipment. Lord knows what I might pick up tomorrow in the kindergarten classes! I just want to get back to functioning.

Last night I made us French onion soup to go with a big garden salad topped with our leftover Rosemary/balsamic grilled chicken.

Luv, be careful with all that bending/stooping stuff as you heal....tho I'm sure you know that.

Sweet thoughts about Apple and her lovely music, earth mother style and varied, sophisticated tastes. I, too, hope her daughter is being nurtured by that "village", but also feel that what her mother left her are some amazing personal strengths. Special woman.......

Eric, I identify with your worries about your mom.  I'm in the same situation. 

Luv, there were three evidences of Christmas in this house.  Pottery Santa, Reindeer card holder, and poinsettia, which was outside and brought indoors to protect it from freezing.  Santa and reindeer still sitting in their places!  Guess I should put them away.

Susan, thanks for the links.  I will check them out.  I was reading about soba noodles recently.  Made from buckwheat. 

Eric and Nancy, will gladly share my supplier of brown jasmine rice but the mailing expense makes the cost high.  A 5 lb. cloth bag is only $5 but the post office cardboard box is $12.  Brings the per lb. price way up.  I first bought the rice in Gulf Shores, AL, at a Farmer's Market.  The seller is a customer who buys in bulk.

The grower also produces white jasmine.  He sent me a lb. of white as gift.  If you buy a smaller bag, the mailing expense goes lower, of course.

Jimmy and Brenda Hoppe, 19400 Beebe Rd., Iowa, LA  70647.  337-756-2259.  I left a message and Mr. Hoppe called me back. 

Brown basmati rice is also worth buying any time you spot it.  All brown rice is not created equal!  So Lacey is the kale queen.  I can be the brown rice queen!

Golf was cancelled.  Boo hoo.  Lunch was not cancelled.

Luv - I could have gone all day w/o hearing we're due for another blast of cold air. Brrr. And you're much further north than I am!! I know - we really shouldn't complain to loud w/all our friends in the east & the mid-west, but Eric will understand.

Carole - The only signs of Christmas in my house this year were the wrapped packages which were on my son's bed and the basket holding Christmas cards I received. The gifts were dispersed. The basket is still out. I didn't plan on being a Scrooge but it made little sense for me to decorate since I went out of town.

Lacey - good luck w/the kindergarten class. Wonder if you could get away w/wearing a mask and calling yourself some kind of super woman? I guess you could tell them you're sick & don't want to spread your germs. Maybe a teaching moment?

I think of Apple often too. And Michelle.

Eric, I hope you can find an easy transition for your Mother. My parents absolutely would not move anywhere but the home they'd always lived in - unfortunately in a different state than my home. After my Mother's stroke, my Dad insisted on installing a hospital bed in the dining room & promptly fired everyone I hired to help as soon as I left town. Their wonderful doc - who made house calls - finally told my Dad that if Dad didn't keep the caregivers & accept their help, he (the doc) could be sent to jail on charges of not reporting "elder abuse". At 90 i finally told my father if he climbed up on the 3 story roof one more time & something happened, I would make sure he & mother were sent to different nursing homes and would never see each other again. That worked for the roof, but he still broke his collar bone at 92 falling while he tried to carry a TV down from the second floor. Sigh.

Susan - belated post but I've been thinking of you having to tell your family about the progression. What a difficult thing. Hope you'll rely on us when you need to bitch or moan. Mini rants or full blown rants are always accepted.

I still have a wreath on the front door, the back door and the bathroom door, as well as a nativity set that is still out.......

Took most of the pork loin and practically all the veggies to my dad.  He needed eggs so I went to store, and scored some beautiful beef short ribs.  If I can get the Lentil soup consumed ( isuppose I could freeze some of it)  I am going to make my moms vegetable soup again like I did before Christmas.    They say it is going to get warmer here on the weekend.  Suppose the car washes will be impossible.... 

My doc phoned in the compounded migraine med for me, now I just need to wait for them to call me that it is ready----promised my Dad a ride to Morton (30 miles) and if he can keep his blood sugar down, we might stop at "the Busy Corner" for pie.....its a little restaurant off I-74 at Goodfield, IL.

It shouldn't be too bad of a transition as this will just be an increase of the stuff already being done.

Minus, bread is among my absolute favorites, too.  Same with the butter!  Not so much with salty snacks.  I enjoy toasted almonds and walnuts with no salt.  Same with peanuts "parched" in the shells.  We always called roasted peanuts "parched peanuts." 

Posed the question to dh, "Have you eaten soba noodles?"  He said, "Sure.  Lots of times."  He was stationed in Okinawa when he was in the army and also visited a buddy in Japan.  That was back in 1962-1964.  He said in Japan they bought a little bowl of noodles from street vendors for 20 cents or so.  There was broth on the noodles and two little strips of pork on the top. 

chicken thighs or drumsticks are great eith balsamic and honey with garlic. With a bit of soy or not. Oven baked to get really sticky and a bit crisp.

Eric my dad moved himself out of assisted living 3 times. Always less than 2 weeks after we moved him in. He told the social worker his kids would not help him so they hired movers for him. All 8 of us refused to help him move back into his house where he was found lying on the LR floor! LOL. Stubborn coot. Passed away at 88 after a fall in assissted living when he forgot he had 1 leg and got up to pee. Ended up with a fat embolism that took him after that. I hope your Mom is more accommodating! It's hard to do what you know has to be done when they don't admit they need help.

Specialk, you had a very busy time. Glad you could at least read up!

Bedo, I'm with you. I sleep in and stay up till 2 or 3. Such is my life.

Minus, bread is my downfall. I love Bread smith french peasant loaf. Absolutely the best basic bread you don't make yourself.

My DD2 called and asked if I would come and help her out today so she could nap. Seems the little one doesn't like to sleep more than 2 hrs at a time. Gah. I remember those days. So Busia to the rescue!

Subs for supper, stopped and got them on the way.

Weekly pic of Miss Felicia Rose(with Busia):

Add me to the list of those with parent worries. My poor 87 year old dad gets less and less mobile all the time, If we could only get his feet and legs in shape, I think he'd go for a long time. Right now he's suffering from a swollen painful knee. His primary doc x rayed it and brushed it off as arthritis. Dad feels like something else is going on so has an appt with a bone doc today. We'll see what happens with that. I'm two hours away so can't help him as much as I'd like.

DH had a lengthy eye doc appt yesterday, so I killed time by browsing around a nearby TJ Maxx. Unfortunately, I happened upon a bag of dark chocolate covered walnuts which I managed to nearly consume in one day (fortunately it was a small bag). I tried to make amends by fixing a large chefs salad for dinner using some strips of the previous night's roast beef and an assortment of cheeses as well as veggies. Not sure it made up for my transgressions, Chocolate covered walnuts are the bomb.

I also picked up a rotisserie chicken yesterday and will use some of it for chicken enchiladas with some pinto beans for dinner. I have some avocados and pico de gallo that I made a couple of days ago languishing in the fridge, so they'll be put into play too. I'm so glad I can eat an avocado a day now ;-)

chocolate covered caramel!!!!!!

Well now I am craving fudge and green olives... Thanks bunches, youguys.

Cooking a turkey tonight. Bad planning since I had a lovely, huge, fancy steak lunch w/my SIL. I got the turkey on a Christmas special & really need the room in the freezer. Now it's been defrosting in the fridge since Monday. Oh well, at least it's cold enough to have the oven on. I guess I'll cook & dismember & re-freeze lots of the cooked portions. Could be a long night!!

ps. LOVE the picture of Busia and baby. Nice that your daughter knows that she can call you when she hits the end of her rope.

Ditto on loving that Busia and Felicia Rose pic! And yes, your daughter is fortunate indeed to have you as family support during this exhausting time. I remember those days so well.....and having no family nearby was awful....especially with a total non-sleeper. He was born at 10 PM and lived his life on that rhythm...but also never slept during the day. Rough times.....I would jump at the chance to help a new mother after barely surviving those years.

Re-entered the world of the living today. I cannot really say that I am well, and at this point am exhausted, but I made it through the day. Taught two social skills classes, and did a major food shopping trip afterwards.

Am thinking, since DH has a dinner meeting, that I will sauté up some kale and onions and have a poached egg with it....might even include some mushrooms in the sauté. Feel the need for healthy goodness to enter my body!

I also had a cortisone shot in my knee some time ago and with that and the muscle strengthening exercises I learned to do (and have kept up), my knee made an amazing recovery. I would probably never jog on that knee, but it sure does everything else it needs to. I also recall that when my mother injured her knee trying to dance at my DS2's wedding, she had a shot (or two?) of something called Synvisc which supplemented the fluid in her knee, and she did well after that. Am feeling for all of you who are working hard at helping aged parents maintain their best quality of life.

And yes, Special, you are the energizer bunny in my opinion.

Maybe if I have some chocolate covered anything (walnuts, caramel, malt) I might get a boost!

Ah Monica, what a sweet picture. . . .

I'm the only one here who likes olives too, but that doesn't stop me from buying them. It just means more for me

Buy some Susan. Eat them on the good china.

I am the one at my house who doesn't really even LIKE olives - of any kind. I have learned to tolerate a few Black slices mixed in a casserole or something. But that's it. I am surrounded by 5 finger olive eaters! LOL. Too each their own.

Before my knee replacement, I had the cortisone shots every year. When it got so it did not last more than 3 months we switched to symvisc. Didn't work at all. I'm glad it worked for so many though.

Thanks I think Little is Felicia is pretty cute too! LOL

Much love to all.