Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[easyas123]

My son isn’t in the fray, but Carols is, so I’m going to put a call out to all on this thread to do what you do- vibes, prayers, or good thoughts...let’s send it his way & hers.

 

[sparkle78]

Will do. This is crazy. People have a right to complain, but not put others in danger.
prayers

 

[sweetpeama]

Weather here in my part of MT is unseasonably warm and dry. We are having weather in the mid 40s and as of the most recent drought monitor map which comes out each week on Thursday using data that was current as of Tuesday we are at a D1 indication here. Considering the majority of our moisture level is from snowfall we need a good shut down the roads to all but emergency travel storm.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MT
If we don't get some moisture around here even though I am in an irrigated areIa so right in my immediate area can be kept somewhat wet and green I am going to be extremely skittish when we start getting the late spring and summer thunder and lightening storms due to the fire danger. Right now we are not under any restrictions but we could be facing a gas powered equipment which includes the farming equipment can only be used between the hours of 8 pm and 8 am unless being used on a paved or maintained gravel road. In case anyone is wondering this means that you don't go visiting anyone who is running a farm in the middle of the day because that is naptime to make up for the lack of sleep at night.

Not sure what the plans are for dinner today. Plan for Thursday is making a meatloaf along with some sides for DH's 50th Birthday as that is what he requested along with a cherry chip cake done in a computer pan which my almost 16 year old will decorate. I need to find out if she wants to at least bake it tonight and then take that and a cake board downstairs and place it on one of the freezers. I already have burger that was raised just a few miles from us at a good friend's place (I probally even saw the steer that half of it is in our freezer at some point on their place or met the parents) and some home made sage sausage that DH and my dad along with my brother prepped from the hogs we got from the Hutterite Colony. Sage is what we used to season part of the sausage with and the other half we did as a maple sausage using pure maple syrup. We use the sage sausage in more savory dishes and the maple in more of the breakfast type dishes. Anyways the meat is all thawing in the fridge ready to be mixed together with the other ingedients into a meatloaf. I am depating if I want to do a bacon wrapped version this year or perhapes just lay some strips of bacon across the top. I haven't decided but we do have plenty of good bacon to use as well.

DH and my dad should be starting to put the starter back in the car DH drives when we need a 2nd vehicle. Normally if the girls-we also have a 13 year old who has multiple special needs-and I stay home he takes the truck. It will be nice to not have to take him into work on the few occasions we need the truck and then my having to go and pick him up anytime between 1 and 5:30 AM when he gets off work. It varies depending on how much they have to load on the trucks which will take the food to the resturants and other places like schools and hospitals for that particular night.

They got the car into the shop on Sunday aka my dad's man cave to keep him out of my mom's hair. He has a small bathroom in there so no need to go to one of the houses to use the bathroom and a tv with a remote and lots enough room that it fits 2 4 wheelers, the bobcat, the car, my dad's mechanical service truck, and the latest project that he and my brother and nephew are rebuilding and doing a bunch of body work on-that is surrounded by hanging tarps for when they are using primer and eventually paint.

Sunday they put the charger on the battery and determined that the reason that it would not start was not the battery so it had to be the starter. DH started working on getting it pulled before he had to go to work.

Monday DH went to go work on pulling the starter and discovered my dad had already gotten it done before DH could get up and get over and into the shop. DH is able to show up on a day after he works at the shop later so he doesn't get over there until closer to 11-11:30 while my dad is usually out at the shop no later than 9 and sometimes even earlier if he doesn't wander around the countryside stopping to visit the collection of various neighbors, close, and distant relatives-those being oh their grandparent and one of his grantparents were either siblings or 1st cousins of some sort since there is a relative somewhere with the same last name but a lot of that oral history got lost and it is either completely lost or hasn't been located and dug up from the places a lot of the ethnic group in the old country hid a number of vital records in the old country during the years of persectution and then because for years the information was not permitted to be in the spoken language which a lot of even mine and my kids generation can read and if necessary translate into English it all needs to be translated into at least the ethnic language spoken both in the old country and here if not into English. Considering that it was necessary to start hiding anything that was not taken with by those who were able to leave the old country in the first decade of the last country and they just started finding some of the stuff in the first decade of this century a lot of the people who knew where things were hidden are no longer with us and they hadn't dared breath a word to their children or grandchildren even on their deathbed.

I had to run some errands to go pick up some stuff at the feed store and at the grocery store both of them being online orders and then curbside pickup and we had to get a new starter DH came along with me so he could go in and get the starter. My dad was able to find out that the guy at a shop that does a lot of the farm equipment starter repairs was able to do the one for the car as well so we dropped it off. If we hadn't needed to get home so DH could go to work we could have gotten it picked up the same day as we got the call it was done while we were still in town between the feed store and the grocery store.

Tuesday DH and I went out and picked up the starter. OK he went in and got it while I drove and went along with him leaving the girls home with almost 16 year old in charge. We also stopped by another grocery store and got the items that they were not able to put on the order due to them being out of stock along with items that I had forgotten to put on the order and some more bagels. I had gotten 2 bags of 6 count and 1 was eatten Monday Night mainly by 13 year old who had at least 3 of them as I had one and almost 16 year old could not remember if she had 1 or 2. DH was able to get ones that are made in the store instead of the prepackaged ones. He got some plain, some seasame, an onion one, and the rest so variteties of cheese including asiago. We stopped and got some quick service Mexican which we brought home and enjoyed-this was a request from 16 year old.

Today my dad had to haul a trailer of steers to the processing place in a town a few hours away so they will not get a chance to work on putting the starter back in the car. Having to use the one there instead of the one that is a 46 minutes trip because that one is doing so much just for their retail store so people can purchase meat especially if there ends up being a shortage from the national producers that you can get in the grocery stores.

 

[lynxstch]

@Breezy_Carol Adding my prayers to the others on this thread, that your son stays safe. This is just horrible (and shameful!)

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Welcome back, Sweetpeama. Prayers for rain out there.

ITA, Lynxstch!

 

[easyas123]

cherry chip cake done in a computer pan

Greetings!

Neat that you guys butcher some of your own meat, we do the same. It's not something to many folks do these days.

Cherry chip cake sounds like something my husband would like - is it simply chocolate chips added to cherry cake - is cherry cake a thing? Does it come in a box I'm not a very good baker so if it's not in a boxed cake mix form, then someone else better have made it! And I must admit, I've never heard of a computer pan!

Had to take a break from the news this afternoon/evening. I've taken a look 2 or 3 times in the last 2 hours, just to make sure nothing major has happened-then back to reruns of Star Trek TNG - nothing much else is on anyway.

Think I'm going to make stuff shells tomorrow. I have a bit of ricotta and a bunch of spinach. I haven't made the in years, but its fairly simple so shouldn't take so long that we aren't sitting down to eat by 6:30 tomorrow evening. It'll be our no meat meal of the week, trying to work in one no meat per week and then hopefully add in a second. Just trying to shift diet a bit away just a bit since husband has had to start taking blood pressure meds. I suspect eggs once a week for dinner may become a thing since we are struggling to keep up with the eggs the ladies are producing every day! When the eldest moves into his new house and take his brood of chickens with him we will have to decide if we are going to get some to stay on the farm with us or not.

A bit of news to help me sleep better tonight. Youngest's Commander has informed him they - depending on things tonight -may be called up to provide support, but it will be behind the scenes not a front line presence. And he doesn't need to go in tomorrow, he can work from home.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday. This week has been weird, seems to have sped by and I feel like I've got nothing accomplished.

Have a good evening all -

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Thanks for all of your good thoughts. DS texted at about 5:30. He was on the metro heading home. His wife would pick him up from there. He is ok.

Had to take a break from the news this afternoon/evening.

Not us. We can't turn it off. Had to take DH's car to the dealer for a recall appt tomorrow. Didn't want to leave.

@easyas123, please remind me what your son does in DC.

We started the day with a COVID test because we are supposed to finally have our family Christmas Saturday. It was so fast at Middletown HS, in and out in 15 minutes. Then we drove to Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge. While leaving we saw a huge flock of snow geese take off and fly. It's why I kept going to refuges, I wanted to see snow geese. Then stopped at CFA for lunch.

Now home, still watching the news. And I placed my grocery order for pick up tomorrow.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I haven't decided what to defrost for dinner either.

I made chicken tortilla soup. Cold day, so good day for soup.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

So very thankful your sons are safe, Easyas123 and Carol!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Busy week, just caught up. Glad things seemingly went well with the surgery, and glad the young men in Washington DC are safe. Perimenopause symptoms can sneak up on you and you don’t even realize that’s what they are. I used to be cold like that sometimes, too. Hard to warm up, and then would pass out for a bit under a pile of blankets. (Female hormones help regulate temperature, that’s why things get funky when they’re off.) Also had very strange dreams! Nightmares, even! That’s actually how I figured out what it was, from a Dis thread here. If you do a Search, there was a good long thread on perimenopause several years back that was informative.

Worked some shifts. Busy. Spent a day at FIL’s house going through some things. Always hard. Found some family history stuff that was interesting for DH, the kids and DH’s sibs. Things we knew but in more detail. And pics of a long lost relative we didn’t know were there. Had to find places to put the things we brought home. My mom’s anniversary. At some point I have to tackle her house. It’s just so hard to get rid of her things, and there is really no rush, as her apt is not being used.

DD’s hamster became sick suddenly, and passed relatively quickly. I was glad things didn’t linger like they did with the last couple we had. But we were all sad as even though just a little guy, he was much loved here. Toto was quite involved, too, as he knew something was wrong. He saw all the goings on, and we let him sniff him just before we buried him. DD spent an afternoon bleaching the cage and throwing things out. (We don’t think what he had was infectious, but we always do a thorough cleaning anyway.) Later we went to four PetSmarts and Petcos before we found a new little friend who is absolutely adorable. Stock was low after Christmas so it was a little difficult to find him, and things for the cage that we like, etc. So we have a new little guy that we haven’t even named yet. Still sad about the last one (and the ones before that) but it is nice having life in the cage again. We‘ve had so many losses over the past year, glad this one was a relatively easy fix.

RIP



Welcome




QCKG Quack!

 

[sweetpeama]

Greetings!

Neat that you guys butcher some of your own meat, we do the same. It's not something to many folks do these days.

Cherry chip cake sounds like something my husband would like - is it simply chocolate chips added to cherry cake - is cherry cake a thing? Does it come in a box I'm not a very good baker so if it's not in a boxed cake mix form, then someone else better have made it! And I must admit, I've never heard of a computer pan!

A bit of news to help me sleep better tonight. Youngest's Commander has informed him they - depending on things tonight -may be called up to provide support, but it will be behind the scenes not a front line presence. And he doesn't need to go in tomorrow, he can work from home.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday. This week has been weird, seems to have sped by and I feel like I've got nothing accomplished.

Have a good evening all -

Glad that your youngest is going to be in a behind the scenes roll and not on the front lines.
I had never heard of a computer cake pan either till almost 16 year old and I found it last summer in a local thrift shop along with a hot air balloon pan and an angel pan among some other things. Due to the pandemic we have not been doing as many trips as we normally would do into the thrift shops. I literally have a route of 4 if I just go to the small city and 5 if I include the one in the smaller town as well. This is down from a top of 2 in the smaller town and 8 in the small city 9 if I would get desperate and go to Good Will which due to their paying a lower training in wage and then letting people go as soon as their training is over so they don't have to pay even minimium wage while their CEO makes a 6 figure salary and the management of the stores making a 5 figure salaries plus how they treated the family of a friend of mine when attempting to purchase some land held by her grandmother after her grandmother passed away I do not care to support them if I don't have to so I go everywhere else including looking at buying stuff new and from garage sales first. They wanted my friend's family to give them the land basicaly by taking less than 2% what it was valued at plus in addition they wanted the family to pay for putting in the proper roads needed to do a comercial development.


https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-2105-1519-Computer-Cake-Pan/dp/B002PAC0YM
Yes the cake comes in a box that you add oil, eggs, and water to mix and then you bake it.

https://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crocke...ds=cherry+chip+cake+mix&qid=1610001701&sr=8-2
It happened to be a flavor that was in the cupboard so when I mentioned we had one to DH he said it sounded good rather than getting something new at the store. As long as we are not taking a cake to something for my side of the family since my niece can not have dairy we can use just about any brand-for her we have to use only Duncan Heins as those are dairy free.

We ended up purchasing a lot of cake mixes a couple of years ago when almost 16 year old was taking her 2nd year of cake decorating and 13 year old was taking it as an exploring 4-H activity as part of that project because with DH working evenings into the night when the project meetings were held I needed something to do with her as well. They dropped the project after that year due to the amount of time it took plus we ended up with the leader having to stop doing the meetings so they would be on their own.

When you have 2 kids each doing a cake a month from November to June plus the cakes they would take to fair in August not to mention taking a cake to the carnival for the cake walk every year plus ones for birthdays and holidays-though the meetings were sometimes held so the kids could all decorate their cakes and have them to share with their families. Anyways you go through a lot of cake mix boxes-we would buy ours at the scratch and dent store where they were less than a dollar.

Just talked with almost 16 year old and she is tired so if she does not get up to get the cake done so it has time to cool and she can be decorating it while I am mixing up the meatloaf and doing everything else we will have that on Saturday when he opens his presents. Some of them are scheduled to be here tomorrow by 9 pm but since he leaves for work at 3:30 in the afternoon I can not count on it being here on time so we are going to have a mini family party on Saturday so he can open their gifts. Easy enough as if almost 16 year old is not up and moving by 11 or so I will just have 13 year old make the micowave chocolate chip bar cookies that she needs to do for one of her microwave cooking project activites to be completed this year and we will just have brownie Sundaes instead of cake and ice cream for dessert tomorrow moving the cake to Saturday.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning everyone. Trying hard not to watch the news, but glad that @Breezy_Carol and @easyas123's sons are both safe. Planning on doing some cleaning today, but not really in the mood for it. The dreary weather and being stuck inside most of the time are wearing on me. I just don't seem to have the energy I used to have. Lily is home and settling in, though that's the only thing I know,,but that was good to hear! Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers for her. Have a great day everyone!

 

[lovemygoofy]

Good Morning All,

I was praying for us all yesterday especially @Breezy_Carol and @easy123 sons. I need to take this morning to be still and quiet with a journal and some prayer. One my goals this year is to re-center myself and hit the mute button on all the outside noise going on. Just know I'm sending love and thoughts to all. @lynxstch I'm so glad Lily is home! I hope she can continue to get the care she needs. She showing such strength and maturity trying to get the help and support for herself. I'll be back later. I'm going to take some quiet time this morning now.

 

[tazdev3225]

Morning all.

Glad everyone who was in harm's way yesterday is safe. Having a husband who is a retired Sheriff, a son who is a Corrections Officer and a nephew who is a Police Officer I know the worry and fear. As I told my DIL when my son got hired, you pray for safety and leave it in God's hands. You worry but you don't obsess because you can't control what you have no control over to begin with. It got me through some trying shifts with my husband.

Been a couple days but trying to get some things done here for the kitchen remodel. I was approached by my husband and daughter about letting my grandson move in with us. We had a long talk and I said when all the rehab work was done if they still were interested we can talk. I have been an empty nester for 14 years so it would be an adjustment for me as well as them if we do it. Although the idea of a baby in the house is a nice one. It would be short term til they find their own place. My grandson understands my reasons for waiting, with dust, paint fumes and all that it is not a good environment for a newborn. I'm also concerned about them bringing the virus into the house. So many things to think about.

Monday was my daughter's birthday. It's hard to believe she is 36, seems like yesterday she was born. Now my grandson's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. He is so funny, every time I see him he reminds me he will be 7 and he wants Roblox FIGURES for his birthday. He is so happy he will be older that I tell him that he must have grown again. He just grins and says he always gets bigger after Christmas. Something to smile about amidst the turmoil.

Have a nice day.

 

[easyas123]

Good morning all. Glad to have woken up to things being a bit calmer.

@easyas123, please remind me what your son does in DC.

He's in the Laurel area, so outside of DC, not in the capital thankfully! He's got about 4-6 months left in a second deployment w/ the Army Nat'l Guard in a position that requires security clearances. He's pretty tight lipped about it, but has given us the general gist of what he does...luckily he can take his "skills" to the private industry once he is out, and he's been able to juggle finishing school in-between it all and should be done in a semester or two, which was my concern when he started talking ab out being 'volun-told' he was being deployed the first time! Lucked out that he is so close to home-

Also had very strange dreams!

Oh man, I need to go find that thread. The dreams I have had lately downright odd and stay with me! And I'm not one to usually remember dreams. The other night I dreamed my Mom & I decided to go to Rome, to see Vatican City. But when we got there the square was more of a flea market, and each big booth had a dressed to the nines bishop or priest, some orthodox, but instead of selling stuff they were all having raffles. You had to fill out a post it note and write what you wanted to donate in terms of $$ for the raffle and put it in these old, huge ornate bibles. My Mom wanted to write f*** cancer (not a word my mother uses, nor a phrase! ) but she said I do write my a's so much better than her, so could I write the a in that phrase, in red pen. There is no a in that phrase. So then I'm like, I'm looking for the real Vatican City and I'm going thru this weird flea market type set up and I see the guy who played Gandolf has a big booth, set up with a background to look a bit like Mt. Doom. He is not selling raffle tickets, he's just sitting there, but he does have glass partitions all around him.
I woke up very ticked off that St. Peters Square was NOT what I expected!
Also, I'm not catholic and no one I know has cancer or has recently had it.
Sorry, I know that was kinda wordy but it has stayed with me for DAYS!

4-H activity

My kids were not involved w/ 4-H but I can vividly recall the cakes at our little county auction were the most popular and every grandparents was bidding big dollars!!

I just don't seem to have the energy I used to have. Lily is home and settling in, though that's the only thing I know,,but that was good to hear! Thank you again for all your thoughts

I'm so glad she is home and on the mend.
I feel you about the energy.

For me, it is a combo of this time of year & feeling like I'm trapped. By trapped I mean constrained in terms of travel and lack of ability to live with a bit of spontaneity due to Covid. I know it will pass, and I often feel like a little brat for indulging myself in my pity party considering things could be a lot worse. I need to work on my approach to things, the way I think about them. I've been very lazy about my physical activity and I think that is part of my problem. I'm out of whack.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Good morning.

@easyas123, thanks for reminding me about your son.

@lynxstch, so glad Lily is home.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

That's all I've got right now.

 

[lynxstch]

There is a very strange light outside..I think it might be the


even stranger..the pkg that was sent to me from an ebay seller on Dec 8 , was just delivered to me by the mail carrier. Only took exactly 30 days to get from MI to MD??? One I sent to Florida as a Christmas gift,,,still hasn't shown up at her house

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good Morning, Everyone, Many prayers today is calmer and brighter all-around for everyone! Much extra love and prayer to each of you!

Is the smilie search down for any of you right now? It wasn't working for me yesterday either? I use Edge as a browser.

So thankful that Lily is home, praise God! Also very grateful Carol and Easyas123 your sons are safe.

Stay well friends. Hugs!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I just received a Christmas card today from NJ to MD. I am betting they mailed before Christmas. Still haven't received the one my brother mailed from CT before December 19.

And a package was mailed to me December 29, priority mailed and insured from Kitty Hawk, NC that was to arrive January 4. Now it says "In transit, arriving late, delivery date unknown."

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’m glad to read that things are better with Lily now. I hope she continues to be well. She sure has a beautiful name!

Oh man, I need to go find that thread. The dreams I have had lately downright odd and stay with me!

That was a strange dream! Lol. Sometimes I wonder if dreams can be more than we think they are. Last week I dreamed of an old friend two nights in a row, which was really weird. I figured I better check in with her to see if everything is ok. We have a strong connection including with dreams in which weird things have happened before. So sure enough she told me she’s been really sick since November! I was able to give her some articles that she found helpful. My dreams during the perimenopausal stage were almost like night terrors, where things were extremely vivid, and (to put it lightly) not nice at all. I would sometimes wake up screaming and thrashing! I still have those types of dreams on occasion but not nearly as frequently as I had them back then! They are awful. At any rate, I hope you find the thread and that it’s helpful.

Speaking of packages, the item my DD bought me for XMas never arrived. Tracking said it was hung up somewhere. Meanwhile from the seller, she was getting emails asking her to review it, etc. So a few days ago she called the company and they completely refunded her the cost of the item. They said it might show up sometime, and that we could keep it, but that it was unacceptable that it didn’t arrive for Christmas. Kudos to Nordstrom Rack.

@Sweetpeamama It’s great that your kids are getting so much hands on experience making cakes! DH has taught DD to bake and decorate, and next up, DS‘s girlfriend wants to learn. He has taught for Wilton, and at one time we had a small cake business going on the side. There is nothing wrong with boxed cake mixes. Many bakeries use them for a good and consistent product. Baking isn’t like cooking, it needs to be very precise, and customers want to know they’re going to get the exact same item every time they shop. One or two flops and that can be it. I’ve also found some unusual cake pans in thrift stores. People buy something for an event and then never use it again. Their loss, our gain!

@TazDev You have some legitimate concerns. Do you have a way to keep your families separated? Lots of things to think about. Your comments about LEOs in your family and friends, and Carole’s and Easy’s, I can understand your worries. DS is working toward that as a career, currently working in security in an area that’s closed down where a homeless population has moved in. He was threatened the other day, and it involved the police. I am worried. Many of the people around there have gotten to know and like him, but there’s this one guy... I am new to this type of worry.