Exceedingly Mundane

tidbits of random nothingness

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Dec
06
Posted by Stace

Thanksgiving and The Sickness

Thanksgiving was a very busy, very fun week around our house 🙂 Then, the sickness arrived, horrible black plague that it is!

Let’s see, on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we had about 16 people here. Suzanne’s son Kirk, his wife Nichole, and their three kids came over to visit. Gail and Don came down from Indianola and stayed with us till Friday. Kathryn, Jeremy, Katelyn, Sam, Elizabeth and David also came over to visit. Suzanne brought pizza and everyone stayed to hang out and visit for a while. It was the first time we had met Isabella, Kirk’s youngest baby, and other than seeing Lillie and Max at the funeral, we had not seen them much, so great to see everyone and catch up.

Wednesday, Tim had the day off, so he and Don went to play golf. Gail and I ran to Kroger for some last minute items and then I spent the next 5 or 6 hours in the kitchen, cooking and preparing stuff for Thanksgiving. I made Chicken Santa Fe in the crockpot for supper for everyone, and Suzanne came back over to eat and visit. Kirk, Nichole and the kids had gone to see his dad. Thursday morning, Suzanne had a run, then came over, along with Elizabeth and David. We all had the normal – turkey (Got up at 6 AM and Tim got it in the smoker), Gail’s dressing, broccoli rice casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls. Elizabeth made pumpkin pie for dessert and I tried a new recipe for pecan pie bars (the first attempt failed, but the second, with modifications, came out great). We all went to see Interstallar at Malco in the late afternoon. Then we came home and cranked up the fire pit for its grand inauguration and had cocoa and roasted marshmallows.

Tim and Don went to play golf again Friday morning, while Gail and I hung out here some, then went to get Margaret’s car over at Nancy’s house. We all got caught in traffic getting home (not Black Friday, but a bad wreck on the highway), and a little bit later, Don and Gail left going home and to the Lamb, Bass, Barger party. Tim collapsed when they left, and admitted he had been sick. He was sick all the rest of Friday, Saturday on his BIRTHDAY, Sunday and on into the next week, even though he worked every day and didn’t take a single hour of sick leave.

I went to Walmart on Saturday and picked up some Mucinex and a few items. I went back to Kroger Monday morning for more meds and some orange juice, clementines and a few things. I was already starting to feel bad Monday morning, but had to get up, since the Lowe’s repair guy was coming to look at the fridge (seal on the bottom freezer drawer has been leaking and holding water). By later Monday, I was running fever and feeling horrible.

We were both sick all week, so it wasn’t very merry around our house. Luckily, we had put up the Christmas trees (two, first time ever, since we had a short brand new one from the old house, and a new 9′ one for the new house, high ceilings) and the Snow Village before everyone came before Thanksgiving. When Tim got to feeling better later in the week, he hung the outside garlands and outside decorations for me. I didn’t feel like doing much of anything until Thursday or Friday. Friday afternoon, we had a new refrigerator delivered from Lowe’s. We had to get all the coolers out and unload everything and reload the new one, that job in itself wore me completely out! Tim took pity on me, plus rewarded himself LOL, by driving us to the gas station at the interstate and getting us Krystal burgers for supper. Hahaha, he loves them and I am still not up to cooking much (tried Thursday night and it was ok, I MELTED my plastic steamer basket that I had used for twenty years on an electric stove, I melted it to my aluminum pot on this new gas stove, sigh). So, I thought Krystal was a great idea!

Needless to say, with both of us sick, we’ve been sitting in our chairs in the keeping room, watching tv and movies. We had a free movie preview weekend around Thanksgiving and so we recorded a lot of movies on pay channels we don’t normally get. We’ve watched The Wolverine, Pacific Rim, The Book Thief, Red 2 and Tim watched Lone Survivor, The Escape Plan and A Good Day to Die Hard. We also caught up on most of our shows on the DVR 🙂 Lots of tv time, snuggled up under blankets.

Today is Saturday and I’m still not feeling great. We are supposed to meet Mark, Amanda, kids and friends later today, they are in town for one of Abby’s cheer competitions. After that is over, we’re supposed to catch up with them and have supper, I hope neither one of us get them sick. AND, I hope we get to church tomorrow, we’ve been sick and haven’t been able to go the last two weeks 🙁

I need to get back into the habit of uploading photos, I know these posts are boring, just an online diary, but at least I’m going to try to keep up with everything going on 🙂

Nov
27
Posted by Stace

Thanksgiving & Christmas decorating

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and another day filled with family and food 🙂

Wednesday was busy. I got my hair cut and highlighted in the morning, and also went to Kroger to pick up a few last things. We smoked a turkey this year, since Tim got his smoker last year for Christmas. We also put some sweet potatoes in there, but didn’t end up eating them, since Gail and Elizabeth brought sweet potato casserole. We also had appetizers (pickles, olives, cheese and crackers), bread with chive butter, green bean bundles, broccoli casserole, dressing and cranberry sauce. Gail made an apple cranberry crumble and I made a frozen apple cheesecake pie, but both Elizabeth and David commented that next year they wanted pumpkin pie! So the regular food went over better than dessert 🙂

Daddy came, just for the day. Everyone else stayed till late. Tim and I, along with Gail, David and Elizabeth all went to the first ever early Thanksgiving Black Friday sale at Walmart on Thursday night, starting at 8 PM. I wanted the Harry Potter movies on either DVD or Blu-Ray, and Elizabeth wanted the three Potter movies she didn’t have. We got the movies and got back home in about an hour, so a really good experience!

Gail and Don stayed both Thursday and Friday night, and we had a great time hanging out with them. Friday, we all went to see SkyFall, the new James Bond movie (which was really good!), and also went to Lowe’s and Walmart. We ate out twice, lunch at Corner Bakery and supper at Majestic Burger. All delicious 🙂

Saturday, Don and Gail left after lunch, and Tim and I started getting out Christmas decorations. Tim put out my garland, both front and back, and also the lighted trees out front. I put out my Snow Village, and Tim got out the tree and plugged it in, only to find that a whole bunch of the pre-lit sections were not lighting up. So, I wanted to just put lights on it and keep going, but Tim wanted a new tree, so off to Lowe’s we go. He picked out a new tree, and when we got it home, I realized it was smaller than our previous one. It’s just not very wide and full, it’s sort of pencil shaped, which I did not want. But I didn’t want to pack it back up and take it back, so it’s staying up. I’m slowly getting used to the smaller size, so I think it will be ok in the long run! 🙂

Monday, we both had our doctor’s appointments. Mine was a normal visit, but this was Tim’s first time to see a regular doctor since we’ve been married. All of his numbers were good, except his blood pressure was a bit high. So, we’re going to work on diet and try to exercise more and hope to get it under control without medication.

Nov
18
Posted by Stace

Random & Assorted

My best intentions about blogging more regularly appear to be sliding yet again!

So, a few thoughts about what we’ve been doing and a few other things.

Weekends continue to be busy, while the weekdays are filled with the same ole-same ole, and yet fly by equally fast. Last weekend, we watched some movies (two I got at the library: The Debt and One for the Money), and also watched some football and stuff on the DVR. We ate out at a new-to-us place, Kent’s Cajun Kitchen. It was delicious, a bit overpriced, but good food. Tim played golf, so the weekend flew by.

This weekend is more of the same. Tim won’t be playing golf because he hurt his back again (this time helping me, he was getting the Christmas dishes out of the attic for me, in time to use for Thanksgiving). We had plans for the weekend, but they got tabled due to his back. So, we’re hanging out at home and watching more movies, football, tv, etc. I’ve been making regular trips to the library (2 more movies: Cowboys & Aliens and Joyful Noise) and I also checked out some “real” books. I read two of them (Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber and The Hidden Flame by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke). I have one more book, but Tim wanted to read it (The Rook by Stephen James), so I’m happily back reading on my Kindle. I much prefer my electronic devices to read on.

OK, a few bullets!

    * Football season is flying by. Sigh. The Eagles are 0-10 (worst record in college football), and it’s time for our new coach to leave. The Saints are doing better, 4-5, and hopefully on a upswing. I hate to see football season closer to the end than the beginning.
    * Thanksgiving is this week. Lots to do! We’re going to do the turkey in Tim’s new smoker. Lots of the other regular sides (dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, broccoli casserole, bread, etc)
    * Yesterday would have been my mom’s 88th birthday. I still miss her every day.
    * Tim’s birthday is coming up, and once again, I don’t have a clue as to what to get him!
    * We both go to the doctor soon. Ugh. At least Tim is going, for the first time since we’ve been married. So glad he’s going to go get things checked on, and find out about his blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.
    * Madison opened up a Christmas on Ice yesterday, through the first week of January. Looking forward to going soon! I won’t get on the ice rink, but will enjoy the music and the Scripture trail.
    * My new favorite snack: Chobani Vanilla Chocolate Chunk. Bummed that I can’t find it at Kroger and have to trek to the Walmart to get it. But trek I do, that stuff is sooo good!
    * I used up a bunch of my Swagbucks and Amazon gift cards and ordered myself a Cuisinart griddler, and also got the waffle plates. I’ve been having fun using it, I’ve done paninis, grilled salmon and made waffles. So far I love it 🙂
    * I’m in denial, as usual, as to how close Christmas really is. I have no idea of what to get anyone. It seems to get harder and harder each year. Everyone just seems to have anything they might want or need.
    * The nights are getting cold, and we actually had to start turning on the heat for a bit in the mornings, last week. When it gets down in the 30’s the house cools off enough to need it in the AM. Also, I’m back to enjoying hot tea and some decaf coffee in the mornings. Extra calories, but oh so good!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

[poll id=”5″]

Nov
24
Posted by Stace

Poll – Thanksgiving Plans

I know there are probably too many choices to list, but here’s a few to pick from. Hopefully one of them comes close to fitting your plans for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Gobble Gobble – Happy Thanksgiving!

[poll id=”4″]