So...whats for dinner?

Minus, I do plastic canvas and latch hook rugs and now crochet.

Carole, so glad to learn that Zeta spared you any hardship!

Last night DH grilled chicken breasts that I’d pounded and marinated with a fajita sauce. I had a side salad and made our resident semi softie eater some tiny microwaved potatoes, and well-cooked summer squash with onions. I think he’ll be fine with baked salmon tonight with sweet potatoes and not sure what else. I’ll have a side salad tonight. I realize how rarely we eat soft foods as I tryto follow this week's regimen!

Taco's for Thursday, we had something different for Tuesday (which is our usual taco night).

WC3 - your "regrettable" comment made me literally LOL! I can always tell if my DH finds something I made regrettable, he will say "hmmm...interesting..." and then I never make it again. The good news is that has happened only occasionally.

minus - the kids job changes are exciting, but a little nerve wracking, cuz.. I'm the mom and my job is worrying, ha! DS has long wanted to move to CO, and just had to wait for a lateral job offer to do so. I am hoping he will settle down there, the girl he is currently dating long distance lives just outside of Denver. Because he is in VA now, it is a plane ride for us to visit in any case, this is just a slightly longer one, but there are plenty of non-stop flights from Tampa to Denver, so it is all good. DH and I used to say we wanted one house at the beach and one in the mountains, so this just might work out! DS has logistics to work out - getting his stuff to CO, himself, and his large and fluffy dog. DH is flying to VA, and DS got one of those POD things to move his stuff. DH, DS, and grand-dog will drive in his truck together and then DH will help him get set up. Hopefully he will have found a place before they start on the journey. DD's situation is easier - she just needs new clothes. She has worn shorts and jeans with a work polo and flip flops for the last four years, now will need nice pants and shoes - like cute neutral flats, but will still wear a company branded button down or polo. She has to be able to crawl around a boat but still look professional. And a purse - she is a reluctant purse carrier, but I loaned her one of mine for her interview and she liked having it! She is focused on getting details about when her health insurance ends, how to move her 401(k), etc., right now. She starts the new job 11/9.

Dinner has been meh, or nonexistent, around here lately, but we had a nice time on Tuesday for DH's birthday. He had an appt in the morning with the ophthalmologist after his imaging and labs, all were fine, doc says ocular migraines. DD took us out on her new boat for the afternoon - we had mimosas and cruised down the Hillsborough river at idle speed looking at the beautiful houses and listening to music, and even took the dog (who loves the boat!), it was really nice and relaxing. We saw a bunch of the crew boats for Tampa Catholic (which all had the names of saints and nuns!) and enjoyed waving at the girls rowing. Afterward we grilled steaks on DD's Traeger, and had sauteed yellow squash and broccoli, Alfredo angel hair, and I made yellow cake cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting. We all went in together and got DH a cordless rechargeable weed whacker - he was very happy! We are all about the functional gifts in this family - he and I are discussing new appliances for the kitchen and doing that in lieu of Christmas gifts. I think I finally found the built in stainless wall oven and microwave combo from Kitchenaid that has been out of stock (it is 27") and hard to find. We would get a new side by side counter depth fridge, and downdraft gas cooktop that is 30" - also hard to find - all stainless Kitchenaid. My existing gas cooktop is Kitchenaid and when we took out the electric cooktop with downdraft we just went without the venting, but if we sell this house at some point we need it, so the downdraft replacement makes sense now 14 years later. We already have a newer stainless Kitchenaid dishwasher with no exterior handle so we don't need to worry about matching.

Planning to opt out of Halloween. DD will be dog sitting, and DH is going over to her house to stay, in case of neighborhood shenanigans. It will be good not to be tempted by leftover Halloween candy!

illimae - glad you can get to your cabin for some relaxing, and hoping this finding is a blip.

lacey - your DGD is adorbs! She is growing so fast! Is that actually a Dr. Fauci bobblehead? Love it!

carole - glad you had no storm damage - LA has to be getting tired of this weather nonsense! What a crazy hurricane season this has been.

Carole - very relieved to hear you escaped storm damage. It appears that some of our favorite gulf coast haunts were not so lucky.

Yesterday was a Costco run so of course that meant meatloaf for dinner (DH accompanied me.). There is enough left for two days of lunches and a quantity of mashed potatoes that will be destined for something like shepherds pie. We also went to Fresh Thyme which resulted in a porterhouse steak for tonight’s dinner. T bones were on sale but they were out so they gave me a porterhouse for the same price. Good deal! They also had whole Maine lobsters (cooked) for 6.99 a pound. I picked up the largest one I could find, now it’s steak and lobster night here.

Special - I’m shopping for all new appliances too. Are you happy with Frigidaire? My positive appliance experiences are mainly with Whirlpool except for my GE profile gas range which I loved. Worst experiences were with Samsung (which seem to be dominating the market here.). I have no experience with LG appliances. I welcome any input on the stuff. I am not looking for particularly high end appliances like sub zero.

We’re having second thoughts about hosting the kids for thanksgiving dinner. I’m just not sure it’s wise. The title company is doing curbside closing next Friday but even so we’re going to have to be around people more than we like. DS and DDIL both are back to work full time and even though their jobs take precautions I worry about exposure. No Halloween for us either. Saddens me because I always enjoy the kiddos.

Tonight was leftovers

SpecialK:

Is your husband in education by any chance? "Interesting" was the term my professors in college used when a student turned in a spectacularly wrong answer.

MinusTwo:

Stouffer's sounds good!

WC3 - for the record, I say mac n cheese and cookies is a legitimate dinner choice. My husband is not in education, but rather spent 28 years on active duty in the USAF, then became the deputy director for plans, programs and budget considerations for military special forces. I think he uses the "interesting" line in an effort not to bite the hand that feeds him, lol! It is gentle code for never make that again!

minus - forgot to comment on your benign biopsy - phew!!! Right? I know the feeling of running out of skin to cover yet another thing that needs to be dealt with!

Lacey what a cute little bat!! Hope you don't have covid and are feeling better soon.

We gain the hour but the changes either way just mess up my sleep 🙄 so I don't usually notice a plus side to it.

Shrimp and grits tonight with a side of numerous Reeses cups. I dutifully set out a small basket of treats but as expected no Halloweeners (as my dad used to call them). I had hoped to get rid of the small stash of chocolate and candy I keep around; alas DH went to the store and bought MORE 🤣 so now we have what we had and new stuff I don't need too!

Minus, totally missed that your biopsy was negative. That’s certainly good news. Hoping your COVID test is negative as well Lacey so you can visit with your adorable little bat!

Did some socially distanced shopping yesterday for exciting things like new toilet seats, light fixtures and faucets. Every bit of hardware from door handles to light fixtures to shower fittings in the new house is gold. If it’s metal - it’s gold. I think it’s all original. Not our style at all. It’ll take a while to get it all switched out.

Making Julia child’s French onion soup today - a rather lengthy process if I make the stock. I usually have a supply of chicken and beef in the freezer but not here. It will be worth the effort though. Minus, on your recommendation I tried the Godiva pudding. I usually don’t care for instant pudding but this was really good! So thank you for that. We’re trying the dark chocolate tonight.

Special - thanks about the biopsy. I think you & I are in a contest for the most skin cancers. Interesting about your DH's job - but not meant in the same pejorative connotation as his meal comment. Good code tho. Lacey - love the Bat (girl) but so sorry to hear you're under the weather. And 7" of snow??? Fingers crossed your tests are negative. Carole - there were a lot of skeletons in my neighborhood but I never would have suspected that price. Nance - Oh yes, how exciting (not). It's always a slog getting all those small necessary items. I've managed to switch most of my bathroom & kitchen fixtures to brushed nickel. Your soup sounds delicious. Reader - I hear you about the candy. I stash stuff too and sadly just found in a top cupboard a huge box of Snyder's individual mini pretzel bags. I don't believe in expiration dates, but these were 7/2019 and tasted stale so I regrettably tossed.

I think Eric is the only one who posts on this thread who lives where the time doesn't change. And how is your MIL Eric? Did they let her go home? I believe HI is also a state that sticks with one time. I'll agree with Beaver - keep the daylight savings hours. Although people further North may have a different choice. I too hate that it now gets dark earlier in the evening, but since I'm still forcing myself to walk everyday - it's a good thing to have it lighter earlier in the AM. When I don't start until after 8am, it really cuts into the day. Today was day #205 and I walked 6 brisk miles.

Dinner will be something with BokChoy since I snagged a lovely batch at the store this week. When you could still buy Spice Islands Mei Yen seasoning, I loved to just saute the BokChoy with that. I also have a bag of Spinach that needs to be used. Oh - and a spaghetti squash. Not sure what happened with me and the vegetables this week.

minus - I actually had nothing skin cancer-ish on my last delayed visit with the derm - I said we should break out the champagne! It is a rarity and I know you can relate! My derm ended up cutting a mole off at the corner of my mouth that I was concerned about - it was not looking sinister, rather was growing. Kind of a lot, and looking kind of like I was an undercover witch. He didn't excise it because he was concerned about where it fell in the marionette line from my nose to mouth corner and he didn't want my smile to be crooked if it scarred weirdly - which I appreciate. So he just guillotined (a word??) it off at the skin level, and it is now a lovely flat mole - which is the way it started out. It looks a bit like Cindy Crawford's mole - although nothing else about me looks like her, unfortunately. He said it may grow again, but we can just keep doing the same thing.

chisandy - I also moved to Vivera retainers after my Invisalign was done - wore the regular retainer for a while, then got the Vivera. I found that my teeth moved too, and it was after I had been released to only wear at night! I was still under Invisalign's warranty so my doc re-scanned me, submitted the scan to Invisalign and I received a four tray corrective set, at no cost. I will also be someone who has to wear the retainer more hours of the day than others have to. The upside of staying home is nobody will see me in trays again, and also if I am out I have a mask on! I am in tray #2 right now - I was delayed by the mole cutting off thing mentioned above - the bandage didn't permit getting the trays in and out, lol!

DH spent the night at DD's house last night, as she was dog/house sitting for someone up by our house. She was worried about the security of her house since it is downtown, and Halloween sometimes inspires hijinks. He was also working on some repairs, so it was just as well. I packed him a dinner for last night and breakfast for this morning. Nothing happened there, here, or at the dog sitting home, lol! Not even trick or treaters! I didn't buy any candy and none of my neighbors did either.

Since I was by myself from yesterday afternoon on, I cooked! I made mac n cheese with three cheeses, and Mulligan Goulash, which was my MIL's recipe. I cooked a whole box of cavatappi and divided it between both dishes. I also made Greek orzo salad - I seem to have been in a carby mood, right? We had brats and mac n cheese for dinner tonight.

Special, I have decided to treat my Vivera retainer exactly the way I did my aligners--except I don't use the TrayMinder timer app, which doesn't have settings for those who have completed treatment. I will see my DDS Tuesday for my 3x/yr cleaning, and ask about what can be done (short of bonding) about the stains on some of my teeth. I suspect thinning enamel is the culprit; if so, I will get bonding (if he recommends it) after the pandemic and then get re-scanned for new retainers. I've started using a Colgate whitening toothpaste & rinse--hope it helps. The Pronamel stuff tastes and smells disgusting, like fish oil.

Lacey, I'm glad/relieved the test came back negative! And, happy anniversary. :-)

Most of Arizona does not "change time". The exception is the Navajo Nation. They observe DST and that often catches people unaware...especially where a road meanders in and out of the Navajo Nation. Five or six time changes in 10 miles gets a bit much to keep track of. As for DST here, I wouldn't like it. Here, in the summer, everyone wants the sun to go down as soon as possible. I also missed the negative biopsy news Minus. That is also good to hear.

WC, your steroid story reminds me of Sharon's "post steroid frenzy"....eat everything is sight and zoom around the house like an untied, but inflated, balloon being released.

Sharon doesn't have a stock phrase for "interesting" or "regrettable" foods. Mickey had one though. Hers was, a scrunched up face and, "Ahh...if we have friends over for dinner....let's not fix this". :-)

My MIL is home, but unless she gets markedly better, I have my doubts as to her being able to safely stay in her house without help. She does NOT!!!! (her exclamation marks) want to stay over here and she does not want a live-in aide. Sharon agrees with me and MIL has also said that she wants to check out some of the nearby assisted living places. Still, I'm glad she's out of the rehab place. She said she that besides the physical therapist coming every other day, it was "zoom in, zoom out" for the staff. When we picked up MIL, the staff, to me, looked like "burned out zombies". Even on a disaster deployment, I don't remember medical staff looking so tired and frazzled.

Oh, the soup I made. It's very good, but the recipe (like I thought it would) made enough to feed us for many days. So I transferred it to 8 "sort of full" quart mason jars and am freezing it for days when neither of us feel like cooking. I will make it again when we run out.

edited to add...

We only had 12 kids stop for Halloween. Ours was the only house on the street that "had the lights on". It was very weird.

Off for my yearly MO visit. Even though I don't expect any problems, it's a nasty reminder. Who know what I'll do for dinner but I guarantee it will include wine.