What's on your Christmas eve's eve menu?

totally not me...not at all...lol

Good Saturday mornin. My appointment ent fairly well yesterday. Finally was prescribed something for the pain all be it not a strong dose. Hopefully we'll work up to something more substantial. They are also going to try nerve ablation for the back pain. She said there isn't much they can do for the leg pain. I have a ton of nerve damage thanks a lot to them dragging their feet on treatment. I also had to pay out of pocket for a weeks worth of the pain med because they weren't able to get the preauthorization before they closed and the pharmacy isn't open again until Tuesday. BUT I at least have something to ease it a bit. No itchiness but insomnia is kicking in.

Not a lot planned. We are getting out super early to go to the grocery store. We just need bananas and some bread for my mom. We are doing banana pudding for Christmas so we had to wait for them. We are also doing a lemon pie and special brownies for the desserts. I wish the kids would like tiramisu but alas they wouldn't. Italian food for the main meal. Lasagna and baked Alfredo. The lasagna is frozen as the kids and brother are so picky it's insane. They won't eat onions or any other veg. Why slave over something they won't even eat? Makes me sad as I make an awesome lasagna. They don't even like chicken in their Alfredo. I was never allowed to be so picky as a kid but oh well. I'm at least able to make the Alfredo. Their fav Alfredo is the bottled Walmart brand....yuck.

I got a lot of chainmaille done this week. Three substantial bracelets. I'm excited about the possibilities with the single one in the photos. I am going to make a smaller gauge one that'll be wider and use some different colors(titanium). The black in the bracelet is titanium put through an anodizing process to blacken it. It's so light weight but the stainless steel makes up for that. I really love it and will eventually make a nice one for myself. Right now me and my "boss" are building stock.

sorry for being so chatty and long winded!

QOTD: what do you usually do the last week of the year?

this year for new years we are going to make a variation of "cowboy caviar". Black eyes peas are a tradition for good luck here. My grandparents had to have it. I like em so the cowboy caviar will be yummy. We may get a ham too. Ham is good! I noticed they had a salted caramel ham at Sam's and Walmart. Not sure we'll get that but it sounds interesting.

Breakfast is eggs and 4 crackers...coffee x 2 or maybe 3

the rest...who knows. I may have a bit of chicken salad my mom got at Sam's.

Mornin' Weekenders!

I've got my latest loaf of bread in the oven - it was being a real PITA yesterday, but probably because the house might be too cold. I was expecting to get it all wrapped up last night, but by 10:00 PM it still had a ways to go (as far as rising), so I stuck it in the fridge because I didn't want to risk it over proofing over night. Took it out at 4:00 AM because I wanted to get it all done by 10:00 this morning, because I promised a friend I'd give her half of it (I usually freeze half of it, but my freezers are packed with bunches of cranberries and lots of Christmas stuff, in addition to the usual fare, so I don't have much room for anything else at the moment). Anyway, I just took it out of the oven, and it looks great!

I'm meeting my niece and her boyfriend at 10:00 this morning for coffee, and then I'm heading over to a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch with the aforementioned friend and her husband. I've never met him before - she teaches here at UW and he teaches at the Univ of Florida, so he's not around much, but he's here for an extended period now given the long winter break and the fact he's on sabbatical next semester. Anyway, looking forward to meeting him. And I hope my bread tastes as good as it looks! (since I'll be cutting it in half, I'll try some before wrapping up their half!)

Not much else going on today other than I need to get some exercise, and I have to work on a couple of things for the Christmas dinner on Monday - like make ricotta cheese (for the lasagna) and salad dressing. I made the marinara sauce yesterday. I'll put the lasagna together tomorrow - the rest of the stuff I can do on Monday.

QOTD: I don't have any particular routines for the last week of the year. Back when I worked the "routine" was usually lounging around and sometimes working on stuff I never had time to otherwise (such as doing things around the house), but now that I'm retired, it's no different than any other week. Although DH will be off work, so hopefully we'll be able to do some fun things as long as one of the "moms" doesn't have a health crisis.

B: coffee with half & half, bannock with butter and jam, L&F yogurt

MS: coffee at the coffee place

L: we'll be at the restaurant, so I don't know. They'll have lots of healthy choices there, though

AS: probably nothing given the bigger-than-usual lunch

D: hot and sour soup and/or a salad with chicken strips

have a great day, everyone!

before and after (the oven) bread photos. Too bad I didn't rotate them before uploading. Whoops!

That bread is gorgeous and I bet it taste just as good!

I love this bread - I had it every day when I was in Denmark and Sweden (and started making it myself when I got back because I just HAD to have it!) Got design ideas from the internet (although not everyone puts designs on it, of course). This design is my favorite. It looks even better before it goes in the oven - too bad raw bread dough is kind of inedible!!

Is that sourdough rye?

yep! It's rugbrod (which just means "rye bread" in Danish). It's a Danish-style rye, full of various grains (in addition to rye) and seeds. It doesn't have caraway seeds in it, so it doesn't taste like the rye bread we know here - instead, it's got an "earthy" taste. It's especially good with butter and jam - the sweetness from the jam and the earthiness from the bread are great together. They eat it that way for breakfast - and for open-face sandwiches at lunch (piled with meat and cheese - I've never had it that way, though - just the butter & jam version)

Happy Christmas Eve Eve. JB just left with my daughter to be at Costco when they open. It's kind of nice, having a handy excuse to stay home.

I've heard very little christmas music this year. I never listen to the radio anymore, and the only place I've heard it is at PT. There have been christmas movies galore on tv though.

QOTD: We usually just decompress after christmas. I'm not sure if we've ever done anything for New Years. I think we tried to stay up to see the ball drop one year, but didn't make it.

That meme !

That just might be the best Christmas meme....EVER!

Good morning - I'd take insomnia over itching anyday. I hope things continue to get better for you, Mel. Yesterday was a really nice day! I was able to get my work organized, but if i want to meet all my deadlines this month, I will be working some over the weekend and alllllllll day from home the day after Christmas. It's fine, I just want to move on to the next thousand hurdles. I really though this past last year was the worst of it, but I was flying blind so stressful. Now that my eyes are wide open and with all the changes coming it will be a enormous growth/progress year. Today we are taking the dogs to the park, I need to get some recipe items for the dishes we are taking to my sisters for Christmas and WRAP!!! So lazy this year. TJ's sold out of almond Kringle - bummer, I should have grabbed one last week. We have chocolate Babka, almond and double chocolate croissants for Christmas morning.

QOTD - Recover from Christmas and make plans to do better next year. No food traditions.

Accountability - Great. 189.6 today

b- coffee x 4

l- green chili chicken low carb burrito wrap in air fryer

d- enchiladas

s - beef jerky

818/91

e- walk the dogs

v/w - on reminder

Have a great day!!