how about drinking?

ED, your heart is aching and I'm so sorry. Winter is moving in and you won't have your garden retreat. What are things that you and your DH did in the past in the winter time? We always went a few times a year to Laughlin to get away and gamble. Not now.

I'm still not feeling well. Took an hour and a half nap, and slept for 12 hours last night. I can walk out to the barn and back, and my legs feel like they are going to give out on me. I have to keep plugging along. It took me all day yesterday to get my one bathroom cleaned, laundry room floor and foyer. I can usually do that in an hour. All I had to eat all day was a half of a can of Campbells chicken noodle soup. Tomorrow DH gets his power chair. Gonna try and get my other bathroom done today!

DOTD: Riverboat Gambler

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum infused with Darjeeling tea
3/4 ounce Cardinal Spirits Flora
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
2 strawberries, one for garnish

Add 1 strawberry and Flora to a shaker and muddle to break up the strawberry. Add the tea-infused rum (recipe follows) and lime juice to the shaker, than add ice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a strawberry.

For the Darjeeling tea-infused Tiki Rum: Place two Darjeeling tea bags in a bottle of Tiki Rum (750ml) and let steep for two hours. Remove tea bags and discard.

Lori, I wish you could take it easy! With the time change (and early sunsets, especially the further south), Seasonal Affective Disorder--a type of depression--can set in and even have physical manifestations such as fatigue. Add to that the stress with your DH's illness, and it's not surprising.

Kim, this "no touching" is getting ridiculous. I'm not surprised, though--just read an article about how Gen-Zers are so emotionally fragile and entitled that they're driving their millennial bosses crazy. More and more people are taking words literally and fewer can recognize context or irony. I'm liberal, but "wokeness" is being taken way too far.

I can see how someone who knows her immune system is crap is willing to keep rolling the dice on her own COVID risk--but she is risking everyone around her too.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy Monday Monkey Day! Getting in the dark to lots of rain. Going to be a wet and chilly day, from the looks. Some places up north got some snow overnight. Now the news is talking about a shortage of snowplow drivers for the upcoming snow season. It is just amazing how much things have changed in the last few years.

Sadie says Hi to everyone!

Chi--I hadn't thought about the effect of the time change on Goldie, but that is a very good point. And the no touch law is going to create a whole new raft of problems after a while. I can see it being extended to include all the other kiddos in the school, too, and that will be a nightmare. I know there have been incidents of inappropriate touching by adults, sexual and violent, and those need to be stopped and prosecuted, but to remove touch from school entirely is going to have serious negative effects on the emotional development of the kids. The world is getting more frightening every year.

Teka--LOL!

The Flying Monkey

Ingredients

1 oz. (30ml) Creme de Banana

1 (30ml) Coffee Liqueur

1 1/2 (45ml) Irish Cream

1 (30ml) Half & Half

Bananas

Garnish: Whipped Cream, Banana, Cherry,

Directions

1. In a blender with ice, combine creme de banana, coffee liqueur, Irish cream, half & half, and one banana. Blend thoroughly until smooth.
2. Pour mix into your serving glass and top with whipped cream, a banana garnish, a cherry, and ground nutmeg.

From <https://tipsybartender.com/recipe/the-flying-monkey>

Good morning, Loungettes!Happy Twofer Tuesday! Winter is definitely settling in, the weather people are talking about wind chill factors for today. Brrr. Not ready for this. Yesterday was a sort of bummer day all the way around. Found out one of my uncles died yesterday ayem, he had dementia and had been declining for last few months, although I did not know that he had been in the hospital recently. So not a surprise but I didn't know it was imminent. One of our students who has been out in quarantine because a family member tested positive lost their grandparent who lives in the home with them over the weekend. Then a person tested positive at the sister school, so I helped with that lot of phone calls. The general response from parents was one of resignation and tiredness."Again?" was the response of the day. Not enough participation in the pooled testing program to prevent sending the entire grade into remote learning.Having a bunch of kids in quarantine through Thanksgiving is going to create some issues for families, I'm thinking.

Anyway, hoping for a less depressing day today.Sadie says I should take her to school with me, and I wish the rules would let me take her!

Goldie--Sunny is good. I like sunny. I don't like getting up in the dark and driving home from work in the dark. That happened yesterday. I'm hoping the driving home in the dark was because of the rain and my working an hour later than usual

Cool Wind Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 oz Vodka
• 1/4 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1/2 tsp Cointreau - orange liqueur
• 1 oz Grapefruit Juice
• Glass: Cocktail Glass

Directions

• Stir all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass.
• Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and serve.

From <http://www.completecocktails.com/Drinks/CoolWind.aspx>

Lori - I hope you are starting to feel better. You are great about listening to your body.

Kim - sorry to hear about your uncle.

I don't like the time change - it's over a week and I don't think my body has adjusted to it yet.

NM, I'm sorry for your family's loss. I wonder if we'll see a big surge after TG. Sorry you are getting crappy weather already.

Karen, bummer you haven't adjusted to the time. But at least you have a nice trip coming up to look forward to.

I am still not well. My DH is running me ragged. He has his chair, doesn't utilize the things that it's capable of, guy came yesterday with the ventilator, of course when he went to bed, it wasn't working right. I'm just tired of being pulled in all different directions. Depression is setting in. TG next week. No one seems to care how Lori feels, or what all Lori has to do. The one DD from San Diego, her husbands mom lives about an hour and a half from me, they usually stay there. Well, she won't let them now, because of Covid, but let them stay there a few months ago!

DOTD tonight will likely be some bubbly: latest eye scans showed the tumor shrank a little since August! (Raising a glass to my BCO "pocket pals").

Sandy, glad your appt. went well the tumor is shrinking.

Well, I've managed to hit my low weight, 135. At 63 yo, and 5'9", it's not a very healthy look!

It's a miracle! Been giving DH kind of the cold shoulder. Guess what? He dressed himself yesterday. Pants, button shirt AND got his socks on.

DOTD: Skinny Hurricane

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 ounces White Rum

2 ounces Light Orange Juice

2 ounces Light Cranberry Juice

Garnish, Orange Peel Twist

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy TGIF day, and I am so glad it's TGIF day and for this week to END. We had our first round of pool testing for COVID at school this week, and, of course, one of the pools came back positive. So I ran in early yesterday ayem to rapid test myself, since I was in that pool, and rapid test everyone else in the pool. The infected person is one of the adults, not one of the kids, and has very few close contacts so, good news was, no one needed to quarantine. Bad news, someone who should not have had known who tested positive found out somehow and started talking to the staff, and some of the staff decided that I should have closed the school, giving me a hard time. I'm still shaking my head. I don't have authority to close the school. There is no medical reason to close the school. The very same people who want the school closed for fear of catching COVID will NOT wear masks correctly and will not get vaccinated, but it's going to be my fault if they get sick because I did not do something that won't make one bit of difference, even if I could close down the school! I'm still fuming even though the principal and superintendent have taken over the situation and an email sent out about the situation makes it clear that all appropriate steps have been taken and outlines who has what authority. So today will be a day for lavender in the atomizer and my letting go of all that stuff. Then the vaccination clinic in the afternoon, and I'm going to get my booster and hopefully won't end up feeling crummy over the weekend. I originally got the Moderna vax, this clinic is using Pfizer, so it will be interesting to see how I react.

Goldie--a big surge of COVID after Thanksgiving and Christmas is all but a given with more and more people getting sloppy with masking or not masking at all and all the people planning to travel. I expect my school will end up going remote after at least one of the vacation breaks, if not both. I'm sorry you are feeling so pulled apart, that is a very uncomfortable and stressful feeling. You are well within your rights to tell people they can come visit but need to stay somewhere else because you need to concentrate on taking care of DH. You are not responsible for their travel arrangements, they are. And please pay attention to the depression. Talk to your doc, medication or a medication change can be a big help, I know from experience.

Chi--it's just amazing to me how many people want to stop doing the very things that make a difference and still expect to be protected. Just crazy. That restaurant sounds lovely! CONGRATS on the tumor regression!

Goldie--YEAH!Good for the cold shoulder treatment!Love the skinny hurricane, too!

Morning, Illi!

NM, it sucks you have to deal with people who overestimate a situation while lacking good sense themselves.

Funny, I had a dream last night that I was small performance room, very sparsely populated but I forgot my mask. I left to go get it, stranger danger.

Ha ha BabyGirl, it wasn't to feel accomplished that he dressed himself. It was cuz he was getting the cold shoulder for several days, and so we weren't speaking, therefore he wouldn't ask for help. Did your dream have you freaking out?

NM, do use that Lavender and let that go. Of course it's those that won't wear a mask properly, and of course be the first to complain. Glad the higher ups took care of the situation with staff email. Oh, it wasn't me telling the kids they couldn't stay, it was his mom. I don't have the room, I only have 1 spare bedroom and there's 4 of them. What has me confused is that they will be there every day visiting with her, they are doing TG dinner with them, but they can't stay there. They stayed there back in May when they came to visit! DH's other DD and her DH are staying here.

Morning ED. Use this time before your DD and GS arrive as part of the excitement. Is your DD afraid to travel because of Covid? And be glad you can do those stairs at all! But do be careful my friend! YES, you have your memories of your brother, a lifetime of them.

Some of the comments made by DH to cause him to get the cold shoulder. I had fallen asleep on the couch, he says "I woke up and you weren't in bed, I thought you left me." REALLY

Leaving yesterday to go to town for shopping "Are you coming home?" REALLY

Then because I wasn't talking to him, he says "Do you just want a divorce, you can take all the money and just put me in an assisted living" I went off on him, basically telling him that I can't deal with the negative BS that comes out of your mouth, therefore I choose not to talk you to you. If you want to change your attitude, and we can get back to our lives, then I'm good with that. That's it in a nutshell. So he apologized, and said he would try harder to be more positive.

Kind of a spring cocktail, but oh well!

Lavender + Rhubarb Gin Drink

• 1 1/2 ounce gin
• 1/2 tablespoon lavender syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon creme de Violette
• 3 1/2 ounces tonic water
• ice
• rhubarb stalk for garnish
• strawberry slices for garnish
• Into a cocktail mixing glass, add a single plump ripe strawberry, and two one-inch pieces of fresh rhubarb.
• Using a muddler, mash the strawberry and pieces of rhubarb to release the juices.
• Add 1 cup of ice.
• Add gin, lavender syrup, and the creme de Violette.
• Using a long-handled cocktail bar spoon, give the mixture several turns.
• Add the tonic water.
• Strain the mixture into a chilled mojito glass filled with fresh ice.
• Garnish with stalks of rhubarb and slices of strawberry.

Lori - good for you for standing up for yourself. I hope your husband stays more positive. How are you feeling? Anything to see the doctor about. Keeping you in my thoughts. Hugs my friend

Good Morning, Loungettes!

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy Saturday! Boy, did sleeping in feel good this ayem. I'm still a little tired and my leg is aching where I got my COVID booster yesterday, but nothing another cup of coffee won't get me through. The vaccination clinic yesterday was fairly successful, first estimate is over 250 5 to 11 year olds got their first shot, with a goodly number etting first or secoof 12 and upsgnd shots, and many adults getting boosters. The next one is in 3 weeks, and all those kiddos getting the second shot will be fully vaccinated as of Christmas Eve!

Sadie says Hi to everyone.I had her DNA tested for fun.Silly Sadie DOES have some hound in her, like I thought!

Breed Mix

We detected 10 breeds in Sadie's DNA.

• Sporting
  • 48% Labrador Retriever
  • 2% Golden Retriever
  • 1% Flat-Coated Retriever
• Hound
  • 14% Treeing Walker Coonhound
  • 5% Bluetick Coonhound
  • 3% American Foxhound
  • 2% Catahoula Leopard Dog
  • 2% Redbone Coonhound
• Herding
  • 22% German Shepherd Dog
  • 1% White Swiss Shepherd

I've never heard of Catahoula Leopard Dog or White Swiss Shepherd.

Chevy--even though there isn't a huge amount of research on mixing the Moderna and Pfizer vaxes, the research is trending toward fewer side effects and slightly better protection with the mix. BUT, the differences between mixing and not mixing are very small, less than 5%, so probably won't be statistically significant in the long run. I've had people ask me which way is better, and I have to tell them there really isn't enough difference to make one approach better than the other, and it's probably more helpful to choose based on comfort level. If you are more comfortable getting a booster ASAP, take the first appointment you can get, for either one. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of mixing brands, get the booster of the same brand your initial 2 shots were. Both will be just as well protected in the long run. I, too, keep running into the "what happened? I used to be able to do that without any trouble at all. " phenomenon. It's almost scary sometimes! Our mothers and grandmothers lived by theaxiom "Wear it out, use it up, make it do, or do without" so if there is any little tiny bit of life or use left in something, better keep it or you'll be sorry some day! But that is easy to morph into hoarding.

Illi--Interesting dream you had! I've been having more dreams that leave me feeling uneasy or slightly anxious, but not one like that yet. Someone pointed out yesterday that my school is a very small school and so is subject to very large bouts of hysteria, a group dynamic that I had not thought of, but is very true! It was good to be reminded that the stuff happening and info getting passed around is not all about me, but is a natural part of the group dynamic in a high stress situation. Going to depersonalize it by trying to predict the next crazy thing to come up.

Goldie--Whatever DH's reason for getting himself dressed, at leastyou both have proof that he IS ABLE to do that. If DH had dementia, I'd be thinking the paranoia was part of the dementia disease process. I know ALS and depression and schizophrenia are commonly seen together, but his comments sound more like paranoia.I wonder what the kids' Mom reason for not letting the kid stay if they are going to be visiting daily is? I LOVE that cocktail!I so like anything with lavender in it.

Chi--it must be frustrating not being able to get the wines you want.

Karen--I agree!

Golden Dream Cocktail

Ingredients

• 3/4 ounce premium triple sec
• 3/4 ounce Galliano L'Autentico Liqueur
• 3/4 ounce cream
• 3/4 ounce orange juice

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour the triple sec, Galliano, cream, and orange juice.
3. Shake well.
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
5. Serve and enjoy.

From <https://www.thespruceeats.com/golden-dream-cocktail-recipe-759302>

I've had this before, only it was called a Golden Cadillac. It is SERIOUSLY yummy and sneaks up on you!

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Sunday, Funday! Only for me it's a work day. I played couch potato most of the day after visiting with Mom and running some errands that I've put off all week. I felt a bit off most of the day, and the booster shot site hurt, but that's the worst it got. At least I don't feel so totally tired and wiped out like I did yesterday. So now today I need to catch up class work and housework and such.

Sadie says Hi!

LOL, Jazzy!

This morning's DOTD is Kahulua in my coffee, and I invite everyone to doctor up your favorite morning drink with whatever floats your boat!

We’re having our usual “friendsgiving” at the cabin. No kitchen here yet, so cooking at a neighbors for us and our good friends from Louisiana who also bought property down the road. All the normal stuff with my family stuffing recipe and DH is adding creamy garlic Brussels sprouts and Mac n cheese. I’m going to make some turkey soup with leftovers, great for the weather up here, which is getting cold!