Oh no, just 45 weeks until Christmas

Other than finding a couple of recipes I would like to try, I did next to nothing to get ready for Christmas 2025 this past week. 

Not what I want for Christmas meals,  but it makes me laugh

I did get started in the upstairs room whose closet is supposed to house all seasonal decorations. I have been good about taking things up there, but not good at all about putting them away. I had already decided I would go through each and every container in the closet, and also those strewn about the room putting my hands on each item and making a decision to keep said thing or let it go*. 

So far the only things I finished are (1.) the container with the carolers (which are all repaired and waiting for their appearance on the foyer table next season), (2.) the wrapping containers (one each with gift wrap, gift boxes, and Christmas gift bags) and (3.) 3 boxes of living room tree decor (now condensed into one large container).

Judging by my progress (or lack thereof) I figure it will take me several days workings pretty steadily to go through everything and get it packed up and stowed**.

Now you have to remember that normally I decorate for each holiday and have a pretty large selection for every one, so this is not all Christmas related. But there is no point in doing a half-assed job is there?  I will be working my way through every single holiday's containers before I am completely through. 

If I were a brave puppy I would have taken a picture of the room and closet before I began just to show you how bad it was. I will admit there was a box of skulls and a horn of plenty hanging out in the room beside all of the Christmas stuff. Instead I will take on when I get the project completed. 

*So far, I have one copy paper box filled with things to give away. It was pretty easy to look at something and see if I was hanging on to it because I use it regularly, for sentimental reasons, or just because I used it years ago and never got rid of it. 

Now I just have to figure who is still accepting Christmas decor so I can give it away.  

I also separated personalized brass ornaments my mom gave each of my sons every year until they were adults. Those are all going to them the next time I see them. 

** Don't even begin to think I am going to do this consecutive days until it is done. I have living to do, the door to the room can be shut, and I still have at least 38 weeks until I am ready to get it back out and start the Christmas decorating process again.  

A Week in the Not So Exciting Life

This week was a fairly humdrum week around here, but still enjoyable. There was no reason for it to be enjoyable, but also no reason for it not to be.

Planned but mostly didn't happen:

1. Chili, coleslaw, cornbread

2. Veggie dinner TBD

3. Smoked trout toast, shirazi salad

4. Big salad meal TBD

5. Out to eat, or takeout

6. Conecuh sausage and steamed cabbage

7. Valentine's Day meal TBD (based on weather)

Daily joys and what we really ate:

Monday joy: TheHub and I stayed around the house, except for going to ThePig to pick up both the Monday and the weekly free items. You only have to have 10 dollars of additional purchases to get the freebies and they had 4 produce things I needed that were cherry picking prices. It was a win all the way around.

Monday dinner: I should have made coleslaw to add to the meal since I had a head of cabbage in the fridge, but I did't get around to it. 

Chili, cornbread

Tuesday joy: BIL's biopsy result was negative and there was nothing bigger to be joyful about!

Tuesday dinner: We were not really hungry and this was on hand

Vegetable beef soup

Wednesday joy: This is a huge joy. After 9 weeks in the hospital BIL was able to go home.

I had class then TheHub and I did some running around, but we stayed close to home in the event My Beloved Sister needed help transporting BIL to their house (She didn't)

Wednesday dinner:  Meal compliments of the freezer, fridge, and pantry.

Country ribs, sautéed cabbage, baked potato

Thursday dinner: I had thawed some ground chuck anticipating cooking burgers, but changed plans.

Hamburger patties, with sautéed mushrooms and onions, mixed winter vegetables, dinner rolls

Friday joy: It was Valentine's Day, and though we no longer go out with the restaurant crowds to celebrate, TheHub still brought me a gorgeous rose and hydrangea bouquet and we do exchange cards.

Friday dinner: Celebratory Valentine's dinner at home

Grilled lamb chops w/ rosemary mint compound butter, tossed salad, baked potato, brownie

Saturday joy: We did a few chores, got dressed and went out for the morning to run some errands,

I have a love seat in the den that is positioned perfectly for TV watching. We have had it for decades and I have reupholstered it 3 times and is really in need of a fourth recovering, but it no longer services my needs. It had a low back and for sitting is fine, but as I have aged sometimes I doze off for a few minutes late at night and it hurts my neck. La-Z Boy was having a presidential sale and we stopped in to have a look.  30 minute later I was the owner of a love seat with adjustable footrests. Best of all it has a relatively high back so when (not if) I doze off for a few minutes, my neck won't hurt.

Plus after our running around we made it home in time to see Auburn beat Alabama in basketball. Oh well!

Saturday dinner: Once we came home I started cooking chicken quarters to make broth. Dinner that followed was inevitable.

Chicken vegetable soup

Sunday joy: We went to the communion service, church, Sunday school, home for a quick lunch then out to see "Six".  

The play is a very high energy production (though calling it a play is really a misnomer) Their voices were outstanding and the songs were all so well written. I am really glad I saw it, and did enjoy it, but I do not have to see it again.

I took the bones I had saved after cooking and deboning the chicken meat from the leg quarters Saturday, and added them into the saved liquid I had cooked them in originally. Once the liquid was hot and boiling I turned it down to a simmer and left it for the rest of the day. The results of the entire process in addition 5 bags of cooked chicken was 7 quarts of broth. Nice return on the 5 bucks I spent for the chicken quarters.

And an entirely unrelated question: I have been wondering why after a week of springlike weather, did winter have to come back. I had to move my plants back in the house, and now have hibiscus  and lime trees blooming in my kitchen . 

Once I get a taste of spring, I am through with winter, but it seems it is not through with me.

Sunday dinner:  We just wanted a simple dinner. 

Mac and cheese, turnip greens, corn relish

What could possibly be on the menu this week:

1. Stuffed bell pepper soup, coleslaw, cornbread

2. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, cooked carrots

3. Chicken divan, cucumber slices, dinner rolls

4. Veggie dinner TBD

5. Tacos or taco salad (weather dependent)

6. Soup TBD (depending on what I decide to make)

7. Out to eat (I am meeting several of my female cousins for dinner and gabbing)

Books Read in February:

Confessions of a Christmasoholic

Long List

A Confederacy of Dunces (a re-read)

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan or with no plan at all

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

Oh no, just 46 weeks until Christmas

 Let's see. What was done toward holiday prep this 46th week  until Christmas? Very little. 

We had a week of full blown spring temperatures and it had me looking through seed catalogues, and paint samples for the front door. Right now I am leaning toward a dark charcoal gray paint with bluish green undertones, and looking for mashed potato squash seed (which I had never heard of before this past fall but NEED to plant this year). 

While I was looking at paint, I did mentally imagine what a wreath would look like against it, and also what color and design I would like for the ribbon. 

Imagining is always a problem for me, because when I actually start looking for something I created in my mind, it is nowhere to be found. I suppose I could always join the ranks of the traditional and just use red velvet ribbon, but why?

While I am imagining I can't help but think that with thinking about Christmas every week, this might be the very first year that the house could be as decorated and festooned and I always hope for.

Hope springs eternal, correct ?

The last Byers caroler was found, bought and is on her way. She is slightly damaged, which is why she was cheap enough for me to buy.  It looks like whatever she had in her basket is long gone, but that will be a very simple fix. 

Now the only thing I have to do is decide whether to include the fur babies in the carol family or not. Right now I am leaning toward no, but I will continue to look, and if the price is right I could change my mind.

I also read a Christmas book for the month of February. It is Confessions of a Christmasoholic.

I will not recommend it to anyone unless you enjoy some extremely graphic gratuitous smut sprinkled in an otherwise sweet tale. There were large portions of several chapters that I left unread because that type of writing does not appeal to me at all. 

I was just glad it was a Libby E-book and could be returned. I just wish there had been a little heads up in the book description, and I would have never chosen it even though it had a cute Christmasy cover. It just reinforces the old adage about never judging. 

So other than listening to a few Christmas tunes and looking at a few potential Christmas recipes, that sums up my Christmas prep for the week.

And just in case you were wondering, I still have the door tightly shut, and have done nothing to the room strewn with Christmas. This week is supposed to be rainy so there is the possibility I might actually get to work sorting and packing away. I would not place any bets on it though.

The past week in review

Like a lot of my weeks, things just happen as they will and I tend to just go with the flow. 

Some plans work out and some don't. I get to do some of the things I/we planned and some have to be booted or rescheduled, and the world keeps spinning regardless of what I intended.

Meals that were planned: (Haha)

1. Steak, baked potato, cooked carrots, tossed salad

2. Grilled tuna, chopped veggie salad, dinner rolls

3. Grilled lamb chops, rice pilaf, asparagus

4. Spaghetti, tossed salad, dinner rolls

5. Hamburgers with all the fixings, tater tots

6. Veggie dinner TBD, cornbread

7. Out to eat

Daily joy and meal that really happened:

Monday joy: I knocked around the house for a good portion of the day, broken up by going to My Beloved Sister's house to do some dog tending. 

Her sweet pups have had their routine altered terribly, so I went over midday to do a little loving on them, then went later to feed and pet them. Finally at about 10 went back to her house to get them settled for the night. I feel so sorry for them because they are missing all the attention they got all day before BIL's never ending hospitalization. My joy was being able to do something that would really help her. A drop dead gorgeous day didn't hurt my joy either!

Monday dinner:  The day almost demanded for us to fire up the grill, so we obeyed!

Steak, baked potato, tossed salad

Tuesday joy: The day was just a mostly regular day, with the exception of a phone call from Sluggy, but the night was delightful. The American Baseball Foundation has a summer program teaching baseball, reading and math to underserved kids in the Birmingham area. TheHub has been a supporter of it for several years and one of the ways we support it is at their annual fundraiser. He purchased a table and we were able to invite 6 of our friends to join us for dinner and an evening listening to Goose Gossage (former MLB pitcher). He was fun to listen to and as one of our guests said "I think he could talk to anyone, anywhere except for church". He was entertaining, but was unafraid to use some very salty language, which was a little too salty for a banquet filled with several hundred people.

I am not a prude ,and have been known to drop expletives but I do know there are places you just should absolutely not use some of the saltier words.

Tuesday dinner: Banquet food, what else can I say?

Chicken over noodles (odd choice I thought) asparagus, green beans, carrots, tossed salad, cheesecake and The Club's locally famous orange rolls.

Wednesday joy:  I went to my Wednesday class. We meet at my church on Wednesdays and this was food pantry Wednesday. Every other week our church provides foods for about 245 families. I do volunteer sometimes packing it, but my left knee will not allow me to stand in the parking lot for 3 hours handing out groceries. I wish it would.  It is always nice to be there on those days just to see some of the faces of folks.

(Even though I do not participate interacting with the participants, it is a ministry I support both with goods and finances)

After class I met 2 friends at Panera to eat (and talk, mainly talk). I really do like both of them very much and enjoyed the meal and a ton of laughter. Laughing with friends might be the golden elixir for an otherwise ordinary day.

Wednesday dinner: I love when my freezer decided what we would be heating. I wanted a meal that would almost make itself.

Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad

Thursday joy: I had a phone conversation with a friend. We have not spoken since before Christmas and it was so very nice to catch up.  

Right after we hung up, I got dressed for the day (as opposed to just keeping on the frumpy clothes I was wearing all morning) and TheHub and I went out for lunch. I would have been fine eating whatever leftovers were in the fridge, but he needed a small adventure. As long as he is paying, it's fine with me. (Of course it does not matter who does the actual paying since all of our accounts, investments, and what nots are pooled income sources. ) Even so there is something mentally gratifying about him picking up the check.

Thursday dinner: We had what I call a big lunch and the need for a real dinner was off the table. 

He had a bowl of soup and I had the tossed salad leftover from Wednesday night.

Friday joy: Advil! I had a screaming headache and when I went outside I saw why. Tree pollens have begun falling. The proof was all over my dark blue vehicle, which did not look so dark. Achoo!

Friday dinner: The upside of the warmer weather, which was causing the trees to bud a bit early, was the grill on the back deck screaming "Use me! Use me!"

Grilled tuna steaks, baked potato, tossed salad

Saturday joy: We did not do much, but we did watch Auburn play basketball in the afternoon before watching the Alabama game that night.  TheHub ran to Sneaky Pete's to grab us a hot dog for lunch. They  make the best dogs in town. Though I am perfectly capable of cooking them myself, they never taste quite the same. I gripe about it, but, there is an upside to TheHub wanting to eat out or do take out so often. Having to eat a delicious slaw dog for lunch occasionally is definitely an upside.

Saturday dinner: We had intended to use the grill again, but decided to just have a comfort meal instead.

Chicken pot pie, apple carrot and raisin salad.

Sunday joy: We woke and went to church, stopping by Publix on the way home. After fortifying our Super Bowl noshes, we settled in for a day of game watching (and snacking). Since the day was overcast it was an easy day to hang out in front of the tv. While we were about to settle in to watch the actual game, Son2 and DIL 2 stopped by for a bit. We do always love seeing them no matter when or where! They watched a few possessions of the ball then headed home to see their pups

The Eagles won and we were happy!

Sunday dinner: We ate during the halftime show. I am sure it was fine, but we are both out of the age demo for the show and did not care one way or the other about watching it. Instead we sat at the table and talked while we ate.

Turkey sandwich, mandarins

This week's possibilities;

1. Chili, coleslaw, cornbread

2. Veggie dinner TBD

3. Smoked trout toast, shirazi salad

4. Big salad meal TBD

5. Out to eat, or takeout

6. Conecuh sausage and steamed cabbage

7. Valentine's Day meal TBD (based on weather)

Books read in February:

Confessions of a Christmasoholic* 

Long List

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

* This was like an x-rated Hallmark Movie in book form. There were large parts of chapters that I literally skipped over. The story was cute and would have been perfectly fine without the graphic love and lust. 

If this is your cup of tea you might like it. For me those parts were just a waste of paper that I avoid reading. I will be much more selective with my March Christmas book and not choose one based on a cute cover. 

Oh no Just 47 weeks until Christmas

 The 47th week until Christmas has now passed and along with the passing came a new month. So now it is officially just 11 months until Christmas. I have got to get busy!!!

I know this song is not about Christmas, but when I was young I really did like Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. Even though the song is about the Vietnam War the name is appropriate for the post, even if the song itself isn't.

Not much is going on in the Christmas prep week.

During the holidays I like to have assorted cookie trays  to set out for guests. Of course this past Christmas I did no baking and I missed it. We were sick and did no entertaining either which made having no cookie trays a moot point anyway.

I am also getting tired of the same old cookies I usually bake.  

Instead of waiting till the holidays to try new recipes I intend to do it all year long to see what might make the cut. 

I will be reducing the recipes in half or fourths, because we don't need too many cookies available with just the two of us here. Or maybe I will make full batches and just give them away to friends. 

I did try a new to me cookie recipe this past week. . I had a bunch of lemons that needed to be juiced while they were still at their peak, so making something using them was a no brainer.

Lemon shortbread found here,  but copied and pasted below if you don't want to hit the link.

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice (Needs more zest )*

coarse sanding or turbinado sugar for sprinkling

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, lemon zest and juice on medium speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until the flour is incorporated. (I used a bowl and a wooden spoon, it worked perfectly fine)

On a piece of parchment, press the dough together firmly to form a rectangular block, 12 by 2 by 1 inches (use a ruler or metal spatula to square off the sides).  (Did not do this at all, just shaped the dough with my hands and kind of banged it on a cutting board to make it somewhat squarish) Wrap in the parchment and refrigerate until firm, about 3 to 4 hours. (Did I let it chill even one minute? No! Why? Patience is not one of my virtues.)

Heat oven to 350°F. Cut the dough into ⅓-inch-thick slices and place on baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart; sprinkle with the coarse sugar. (I had no white sanding sugar and used granulated. I think the coarse sugar would work much better)

Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through until the edges begin to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.

* This are not a terribly sweet cookie, but they are sweet enough. My only issue was the lemon flavor was not sharp enough for me.  I will make this at Christmas anyway. They will be a tasty, quick and easy cookie for the  platter with just a few alterations.  In addition to doubling the zest, I will most likely make a tart lemon icing and pipe it on the cooled cookie to make it look like a bow and ribbon, just to give it a tad more tartness.

And just in case you are wondering,  I have not found the female brunette caroler that I still need.  

I  have not touched the room with Christmas stuff strewn all about that is waiting for me to get my rear in gear,  organize it, and put it away. The biggest disadvantage to having this house is my ability to shut the door to that upstairs room and totally ignore it, 

At one time it was my office, then it became Pip's room, then a craft room for DIL3 during the covid  restrictions. Now it is just a catch all room. 

I really need to just tackle it, but I am obviously just not feeling it! 

Ho, Ho Hum! Maybe this week!

this week

Wow! This week is completely different from last week when the weather was cold and made me crabby. Today the sun is shining, the weather is warm, and there is a slight breeze.  I have the screened porch door opened to let in fresh air.

Speaking of air, to me a day without music is like a day without air.

This is not my favorite Bach piece, but I do love listening to it.

What was planned:

Beef stew, coleslaw, french bread

Chicken divan, cooked carrots, tossed salad

Soup, cornbread

Out to eat

Chili, coleslaw, cornbread

Taco salad or tacos TBD later

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, some green veggie TBD

Joys and what we really ate:

 Monday joy: TheHub and I hung around the house getting  a few things that needed to be done, done. It was not a glamorous day, but interior progress is still progress I guess.

Monday dinner: Some rescued broccoli from the crisper and a bag of cooked frozen chicken were the inspiration (or lack thereof) for this meal

Chicken divan coleslaw

Tuesday joy: Tuesday was supposed to be the best day of the week according to the week's forecast, so we decided we would have a little adventure and go somewhere we had never been before. About an hour and a half north/northwest of us in the very tiny town (hamlet?) of Oakville, Alabama is a museum dedicated to Jesse Owens, who lived on/adjacent to (not sure which) the property the museum sits on. I will admit I went silently thinking it was no where I wanted to go. Some of the best things happen when I am dragging my heels. The museum was a small place, but filled with history, especially about the 1936 Olympics. 

They were held in Berlin and Hitler was planning to use them as a visible validation of his Aryan race superiority policy. Didn't quite work out that way when Jesse Owens not only won 4 gold medals, but also set a new Olympic record. 

The museum had a 40 minute film narrated by Jesse himself with film from the Olympics including a lot of the Leni Riefenstahl's footage of Hitler with Goering, Himmler and other inner circle Nazi's. 

Once we had learned all we could want to know about Jesse and his life, we headed  out to eat. The place was cute, the food lackluster, and everything was fried. Oh well, you live and learn.

After lunch we headed east and stopped at the Dutch Oven Bakery, a Mennonite haven of deliciousness. They had baked goods, breads, and all sorts of other things, including a small section of the store devoted to pickles, relishes, jams and jellies, and an entire wall filled with Melissa and Doug toys.

I had never been before but it will not be long until I go back. They had the best sourdough loaf I have ever eaten in my life and a full size tube pan pound cake for just $7 bucks. Unreal!

Tuesday dinner: I was not hungry and didn't eat. TheHub made his own dinner

Campbells soup ( no idea what kind he ate)

Wednesday joy: I had class and enjoyed it, came home and right as I walked in the door TheHub told me his lunch plans had been cancelled, so what did I plan on having for lunch. I thought he was meeting a friend yet I was supposed to plan a lunch anyway. Uh, no!

Wednesday dinner: I had made this in advance to have Tuesday night but we were not hungry then so it became Wednesday's meal.

Beef stew, sourdough toast, coleslaw

Thursday joy: TheHub went out to lunch with his friend and I had a couple of hours to myself. While I was enjoying my time  and eating a bowl of 15 bean soup (not a planned lunch but something languishing in the fridge)  I called and talked with Sluggy. TheHub was not the only one who had lunch with a friend!

We went somewhere after TheHub got home but I don't remember where. All I know is I had on makeup and I do not wear it unless I am going somewhere. TheHub has known me forever and he knows what I look like, so the unadorned me does not scare him. Small children and dogs? well that is an entirely different scenario. 

Thursday dinner: TheHub had a big lunch out and I was not particularly hungry. When life rolls like that I am always going to take the path of least resistance when it comes to making dinner

Veggie soup, toasted english muffin

Friday joy: The day came, it was gorgeous outside, my plants were happy to be back on the deck and there were two hibiscus blooms on one of them.  Along with the day, came the bug man. It was time to renew our termite bond. It is not a big deal but it does take us being home so he can examine the wood in the basement. No signs of termites and the termite baits around the perimeter of the house were all untouched, except one bait trap on one corner of the house. It is where I usually find tiny little sugar ants and I have seen none this year. The bug man added that bait last year and he is pretty sure the ants were the ones who got into it.  Whoo hoo, inspection and I only had to pay to refill the single trap. 

Unfortunately for me he does not trap groundhogs! My nemesis had been up and around during the warming spell. Jokes on him though, I have no foods planted right now.

Friday dinner: We had a food minimum that needed to be used in January. It was a takeout kind of night.

Either grilled snapper over orzo and spinach with a chickpea sweet potato salad (I had a bite  of the salad and agreed with TheHub, it was gross) or shrimp and grits with tortilla soup (weird combo so I saved the soup for later and added some sliced cucumbers to my plate)

Saturday joy: TheHub was invited to go to Tuscaloosa for the basketball game followed by a dinner fundraiser  for Bama baseball.  This meant he had to leave the house midday and I had to be at home all by myself until about 9 pm.😁

While he was gone I did a little laundry, had phone calls with both my cousin and my beloved sister, had control of the remote, was able to read uninterrupted, and did whatever I wanted. It was a great day

Saturday dinner: Since TheHub was not home all bets were off

Breakfast pork chop, raw cauliflower

Sunday joy: We did not do the church thing Sunday. Instead our Sunday school class provided and served lunch to those at The Church of the Reconciler. It is an inner city church that caters to Birmingham’s homeless population. We have done it for quite a few years now and is a good way to meet and interact with people we might not meet otherwise.

After we were through serving and cleaning the kitchen, we left and as a group went out to eat. It was great to have that fellowship.

Once we were through with our meal we ran by Publix to do a little cherry picking, then headed home.  Whatever we did, we were in different rooms doing whatever we wanted to do. TheHub messed around setting up his new phone and I read your blogs.  Even if I did not comment on them, I read them all. Thank you arthritis!

Sunday dinner: We both had eaten a nice lunch and were not hungry.

Soup and corn chips 

Planned for the week: (Weather is perfect for grilling)

1. Steak, baked potato, cooked carrots, tossed salad

2. Grilled tuna, chopped veggie salad, dinner rolls

3. Grilled lamb chops, rice pilaf, asparagus

4. Spaghetti, tossed salad, dinner rolls

5. Hamburgers with all the fixings, tater tots

6. Veggie dinner TBD, cornbread

7. Out to eat

What I read in January:

The God of the Woods (was not great)

Half Mammals of Dixie (delightful book of thematic short stories)

The Secret Book of Flora Lee* ( interesting premise but overwritten)

Cold Fire (enjoyable read but went beyond the bounds of believability)

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days (Xmas short stories and recipes) 

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers,

Anne

Well That Was Quick

 Welcome February