So...whats for dinner?

Glad the ribs were a success, Nance.

Your summer home in NH sounds lovely, Lacey. I wish we could all drop in for a visit. Your boat is what we call a ski boat. We looked at one used model at a dealership. The guy was so nice. He questioned us about our plans for using a boat and said, "This isn't the boat for you." We were more interested in less speed and a live well for all those fish we were hoping to catch. Someone hold up the sign that says LAUGHTER!

Eric, your daughter continues to make you proud and to make us admire you as a dad. I enjoy hearing about her.

More fingers and toes crossed in hopes of good blood test results for you, Susan. Please, please, please....

Could I brag on my golf game today? I played very well for someone at my skill level. When I posted my score online for handicap purposes, the computer said, "This score is out of range." I pressed "Post it anyway."

DH had errands in town after golf so we had lunch at Good Life café. I hate the remodel of the interior. Gone are the little tables for four and now there's a line of booths down the middle. We do not like booths and probably won't be going there as much as previous summers. We split a reuben and shared an order of battered fries. Our cute young waitress must have said "awesome" at least 5 or 6 times.

A container of eggplant parm from the freezer is thawing for dinner. Leftover beets and green and yellow "snap" beans from last night will serve nicely as easy sides. I'm all for easy these days. I keep taking stuff out of the freezer and it keeps looking full of stuff.

I bought red fishing lures today. To be continued....

Carole, congrats on the golf game! We always had good luck with white or yellow twister tails and jigs, some with spinners on them.

Tonight was just a "bolognese" with an Italian salad. This cold has turned into something really nasty with bronchial overtones and a low grade fever. It's kicking my butt.

Susan, I love how you are expanding your young guest's food horizons! If anyone could do it you can. I do not envy your mom's task of reporting on that tragically sad incident. And no, I am south of there, but did not look at it on the map, and when a newscaster indicated it was just north of Concord, I had no idea how far north! Newfound Lake is just south of Plymouth. Just saw your post with test results, and am really hoping your MO can shed light on them that is helpful. At the risk of sounding like Carole's waitress, you are "amazing" and do not fit the profile of what you described in those test results.

Yes, Carole, ours is a ski boat. Speed is the key with these male family members! It is also a smooth riding boat for which my back is thankful! Congrats on your golf game! When I joined our friends and DH after their game, they were hysterical laughing as they told me about his first swing (of the year!) which was so mighty (it was the tenth hole on a very narrow course...he was only playing the back nine) that he fell over and did a tuck and roll. Oy! Glad I was at home dealing with thunder and lightning!

Nance those ribs sound great! I do hope you are seeing the doc for that cold turned bronchial nastiness!

Today I spent some time making a menu for our neighbors' visit on Thursday. Tomorrow I will head to the store to get the ingredients, and make the salads and easy desserts. Of course, I was thinking that they could be here (food wise) for beach/boating snacks and grilling dinner. DH informed me he thought they should also come for lunch. Yikes! I decided if they want to do that HE will be in charge of that meal.

Hope you get the grille, Carole!

Since you guys have been forced onto my roller coaster, wanted to let you know that my white cells are doing fine. Reds are less happy. But the big number, CA27.29, reversed last month's huge jump up. There is still some hope!

Dinner tonight is veal parmigiana [great sale at the market], pasta, and a salad with some garlic bread. And, as a treat, I bought a cannoli "kit" and will freshly stuff them for dessert.

*susan*

What Special said, only double!

Susan,

so glad for your good scores, enjoy those cannolli

Susan - hooray from me too. We're certainly not forced to share the med journey. On the contrary, I hope you don't think we're too intrusive for asking.

My MO gave me iron when my red blood cells got too low. SloFe or Feosol are supposedly the most gentle on your gut. Some ladies get iron infusions. There was talk of a blood transfusion when it got to 2.8, but I managed to skip that. It did take a long time for all my numbers to get back to the normal range.

The range I was given for normal RBC was 3.8-5.1. And hemoglobin range was 11.5-15.5. My RBC got to 2.5 and my Hemoglobin to 7.4 so you can see why "they" weren't happy. And as long as I have my spread sheet open, I was told normal range for WBC is 4.0-11; Hematocrit normal range 34.0-45.0; Platelet normal range 130-400. I found those numbers useful, but then I am surely OCD.

Thumbs up for you Susan! And I love that you think of this as you safety zone during the roller coasting. Unfortunately, I am a complete dunce about the blood count issues. I have been trying to decide if my WBC at a 4 needs any attention....being on the cusp seems unsettling...and goggling to get the info does not soothe one! So I will just stick my head in the sand until I next see one of my too many docs.


Nance, nice bounty! You really bounce back well judging by tonight's menu! Yum! Does your DH have shellfish allergies, or just not like them


I spent the day doing some much needed cleaning before our neighbors arrive tomorrow. Somehow, we only have compulsive friends, and I just could not let her look out my very unwashed slider window....to say nothing of the last few years' accumulation of mold on the lower track (tract?). So with toothbrush in hand, I got it all out. I must thank her for motivating me to take care of this! I also rid the porch of all the very high cobwebs.
Shopped for tomorrow's meals, (seemed like it took forever compared to what little food DH and I have been buying here this week), and now am starting to make the salads, marinate the meat, and will probably fall into bed.

My red cell distribution width and mean corpuscular volumes are always elevated. They thought it might be connected to the anemia, but none of my docs ever seem to be too worried about it as long as the hemoglobin and ferritin scores are ok. It defies explanation to me.

"Forced"? Good heavens no! We're all in this together, so we might as well hold hands.

Lacey - it is important to note that the ranges for lab tests are for adult males. It is not unusual for women's lab values to be on the low end, mine usually are too - at the low end or slightly below.

Susan - it is possible that all of your elevated values - which all can be connected - are normal side effects of the drug therapy, low B-12, or low hemoglobin. Your RBC may be high trying to compensate for lack of oxygenation - the size, width, and number all related to that. Young cells are usually larger and can skew the size related values. Is your oncologist concerned or is there a tolerance to a certain point

I'm impressed with all the knowledge of blood chemistry. I always look at the column that gives the normal range and check my numbers against those numbers. I'm still waiting with fingers crossed for the MO's interpretation.

The grill looked good on the outside. It is obviously a cheaper model by a name brand manufacturer who produced it for a big box store. The grids are enamel coated and need to be replaced. But good luck on finding parts in this throwaway culture. DH and I decided pretty quickly that the grill wasn't worth $95 to us. We were about to back out and depart. The owner, a pleasant fellow in his 40's, asked what it was worth to us. I said $50 and he didn't hesitate. The gas bottle is probably $30 new and the electric ignition still works. So we have a $50 grill that we won't mind leaving here over the winter. There's a cover that came with it.

We transported our bikes and rode a section of the Paul Bunyan bike trail from Merrifield to Brainerd and back. About 18 miles. For lunch we ate at Harpo's Bar in Merrifield where we had eaten on a previous bike ride a couple of years ago. We shared the Extreme BLT, a triple decker, and fries. We each had a cold draft beer in a frosty glass. No sharing!

Dinner was eat-whatever-you-want. I had a cup of decaf from the Keurig and a cinnamon sticky roll with pecans baked by the Bread and Pie Lady. Later I had some chllled watermelon chunks. DH ate leftover linguine cold. Yuk. He also had a couple of double fudge cookies, also from Mary Dodge's oven.

Meanwhile we'll be going to the gym this morning with the grill in the back of the pickup! DH needs another guy to help him get it down.

Carol Yay for fresh veggies! Our community garden always puts out veggies for pickup by the Camp Street Ministries on Thursdays. Looked like today there should be enough for many many dinners.

Yay on the good news Susan!

I am officially on vacation until the 17th. Yippee!

Now here's a cooking idea for a lazy person that I would do..., unfortunately I don't have a dishwasher.

https://www.yahoo.com/food/does-dishwasher-cooking-really-work-your-125858003251.html

Major thunderstorms here for the last two days called weather cells, like almost tornados with towns with outages and still working on it.

Does anyone know what I can make with Old Bay Seasoning? I think it goes with fish and shell fish?

Bedo, Old Bay seasoning is used with seafood.  

Happiness is unloading your laundry at the laundromat and finding your preferred triple loaders available.  Takes a while to put that many quarters into slots.

Last night's dinner was good.  Flattened chicken breasts dipped in egg and milk, breaded with whole wheat panko and pan fried to crispy brown.  Creamed spinach made with Greek yogurt cream cheese and sour cream.  Salad of tomatoes, cucumber and perfectly ripe avocado.

Have no idea what I'm making for dinner

Oven roasted chicken with carrots, parsnips and brussel sprouts here. Finally a day that's cool enough to run the oven. Plus homemade pear sauce for dessert.........again. Have spent most of this week making and freezing pear sauce. It's good, but I may have eaten my limit for awhile.