What's on your (PHOTO) Friday Menu?

OMG - I have a potluck next week. However will I survive?

Have you not seen Gordon Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares?? Yikes, restaurants are scary when you pull back the curtains.

So true on the potluck. You just dont know how clean a person house or hands are when preparing food. Also, what is their preparation like, do they cross contaminate foods? I remember one Thanksgiving (after I had been out of the house for awhile) seeing my mom handle the raw turkey then touching other items without washing her hands. I told her she would make someone sick (she was offended saying no one ever got sick when we were growing up). Needless to say, I was ill with a stomach issue the next day (however, to be fair it was only me). So sometimes even your family is not safe!

OMG - potty hands - that is brilliant! I'm shuddering at the thought right now!!

Great Job of avoiding the land minds. So proud of you girl. Put that on your Win list!!!

Ohh, the potluck challenge! That's always a tough one. It can be the luck of the draw sometimes, even with restaurants. One of the popular ones where I work had a shigella outbreak a few years ago that took out dozens of people from the office. If I ever needed an incentive to meal prep, that did it for a long time!

And now I'm thinking about garlic plantains. They've been a guilty pleasure for years. Good to know I'm not alone!

Good mornin everyone!

My eval for PT went ok yesterday. I was informed that Medicaid rarely covers aquatic therapy so this was a "long shot". It's hard to feel positive about much right now. I am in so much pain and I'm trying to fake it till I make it. I had a big ugly cry last night. Sometimes it's cathartic but it wasn't last night. I feel a bit better emotionally this morning so that's a good thing.

Next week I have a lot of appointments only to be out done by the week after that! Then the oh so anticipated neurosurgeon in Lubbock on the 26th. I haven't lost any more weight but I've maintained through TOM so that's a win in my book. Not a lot planned today that I know of. Hoping to hear the final say on the Ozempic. My dreams about dying finally stopped last night only to be replaced with a dream where I was involved in a train robbery. Ha!

QOTD: I occasionally get recipe magazines from Sam's but other than that no. I would like to get America's Test Kitchen but really haven't looked into it yet. The last one I subscribed to was step by step wire which no longer exists. They had chainmaille articles and other jewelry tutorials. I miss it!

B: JUST egg bowl & coffee

L: beef fajita with almond flour tortilla, sprinkle of cheese

D: Might be chili which I didn't make yesterday(fajita kit on sale caught our eye).

S: rice cake with 1 tbs apple butter, pistachios, pepitas and maybe a beef jerky stick.

my pics are of an AI edit of one of my photos, a bracelet I finished this week and of course ms.opal. Don't worry neither of her brain cells were used while I took this picture! lol

Melody-will Medicaid pay for a gym membership? Many insurances do offer to cover gym fees as a way to increase a healthy lifestyle. If yes, how about joining a gym the offers water aerobics?

Well from what I could find no. BUT we are likely to get a month to month membership at one of the local park's facilities. It has an indoor pool and it's only 20 a month for me.

my doctors NP still hasn't heard back from the peer to peer review thing. I'm just frustrated to tears...

Good morning and yay it's Friday! I'm looking forward to a much cooler weekend; we set out latest 99 degree day record yesterday but today the high will be in the 60s and 50's tomorrow.

Busy-is weekend, I have to go to my godson's football game on Saturday morning (and I did agree to go after I saw it was only going to be about 53 at game time, I am a good aunt); I get my bivalent booster and flu shot Saturday afternoon and Sunday night have an outdoor concert with friends. Somewhere in there I will need to do some grocery shopping but it won't be tonight, I have a massage after work!

I'm going to hop on the elliptical after this post and get my workout out of the way before my 6 am meeting so I'll feel accomplished; nothing other than the elliptical - my PT did dry needling on my shoulder yesterday which will help but the day after is always pretty sore for me.

QOTD: I am letting them die as they expire but I will keep Archeology Magazine (it comes with my membership to Archeological Institute of America); Nutrition Action Newsletter; Vanity Fair and The Week.

Menu today is

coffee plus half and half X 2

skyr

PB English muffin

jalapeno cheddar sausage

Lots of pictures today -

These two pictures are of an amazing memorial in Portsmouth, NH. This is only part of it and if you are in the area, I recommend you check it out. They were doing construction and found the burying ground and turned the space into a beautiful but somber location. The man is the symbol of the enslaved people and the woman is mother Africa reaching for her stolen children. I have chills typing this now.

QJB said I would leave Maine with a favorite lighthouse and initially it was Nubble but now it's Portland Head Light, although I seem to have a fondness for the little one called The Bug too.

and finally, a photo that the nice secret service agent* took of DCGirl, QJB and I in Kennebunkport.

*possibly just a friendly jogger but I'm convinced it was SS.