Robin's Nest

 Merry Christmas from the bottom of the basement floor. Yep, that is how I am going to end the year, I guess. I was doing very good at playing nice with gravity and then I got in a hurry to make sure that SIL was not heading for the basement steps. The rest is gravity's fault. We managed to pull off a nice peaceful holiday yesterday and today. SIL has been as constipated as one can be and not require hospitalization. She still might if I cannot get move of it moving along. For the moment I will apologize for breaking my two-week hiatus from devices. There is much to be said but it doesn't need to be said so I won't. November was ripe with drama and December ended with more of the same, only this time it was dog drama. Christmas eve was fun for me but stressful the dementia dream team teamed up and drove me crazy and now I am on my way back to reality.  SIL will stay tomorrow and leave for the facility at some point on Wednesday. Just as I had expected her only adult interac...

 It is Saturday morning and usually I would have baked biscuits and made gravy for the men's breakfast, but not this week. I am making breakfast sandwiches out of the last of the English muffins made earlier in the week. While at the Commissary this week I opted for a small, sliced ham instead of Canadian bacon. After all that is what the latter is, and I need more than the small package that is carried of the same. English muffins same before baking Cosmic brownie copycats Meal planning is not my strong suit. I am still working on using up what we have in our freezer. I am trying though, sometimes very trying. I am debating on making more English muffins for this next week or just using toast for the same. If there is time without causing undo stress for me, I will probably make the muffins. The plan was to only buy things that I needed to go with whatever I was making out of the freezer; it still rang up to 80+ dollars. Three weeks or so ago I purchased a different bag of dog foo...

 It is Saturday and that means only two more days off of school for the kids. This snowy weather makes me appreciate the privilege of homeschooling. We are currently not homeschooling; I just appreciate that idea in this kind of weather. I am not impressed with their current school, but I can tolerate it at this point. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes.  Other areas of my life are getting less attention when they deserve more. My Great Aunt went on hospice this week. She is working on 104, she is not quite there yet. A recent respiratory situation has prompted this change, I think it is totally appropriate as it gives her live-in caregivers some extra support. In other news to report, there is nothing.  I made bread this week and tomorrow it will become French toast Stix, breadcrumbs, Italian breadcrumbs and maybe more if I can think of anything else, did I mention the loaf was never even cut? I will make a fresh loaf later today or maybe even as...

 It is the day after Thanksgiving and the ground is covered. Black Friday shopping is not something I normally do, so this is not an inconvenience for me. We went to my daughter's home for Thanksgiving and a much smaller group of friends and family were there. My son was not feeling well so we took him some leftovers on our way home. Because the meal was not here, I do not have to deal with the leftovers or the post meal drama of what to do with all the leftover food. But that means no snacking foods either... it is a no-win situation. I get to make fresh food though and that is a good thing. I just tried to go out and return a medical device and the roads were very icy. I decided it was unlike Dunkin' Donuts, not worth the trip. Not to waste getting as far as the General Store I did buy the kids some soda for movie night tonight. We already have lots of popcorn and still some candy available. Now to find a good movie. the dog is being lazy Instead of a good movie we found that...

 It is the day before Thanksgiving and our plans have drastically changed. We will not be going to my daughter's home, and we will not be having turkey with her. I did manage to find a turkey and it looked smallish to me. Turns out it was only a pound smaller than the smallest one at the commissary. We will go for the bone density test this morning, and I will drop the dog off for groomer at my daughter's this morning on the way to the density test.  It might be a ham thanksgiving this year if anything at all. I am not complaining. I don't want to clean or cook as no one in this house even eats all the stuff. That was all yesterday and like everything in my life it changes hourly. We made it to all of our appointments and with the kids in tow! We did not get to any stores, because I do not do stores with kids if I do not have to. The dog got dropped off, the bone density test was done, the equipment for the sleep study got picked up, and 5 D tanks of oxygen. We even managed...

 It is an exciting time of year and scary! Especially with kids who believe in Santa. While we do not want to ruin things for them the stress level for us is off the charts. Well for me anyway. How do you keep the fun in "Santa" as the kids get older and have friends that don't "believe". When do you tell them? Or do you? I do not remember anyone "telling" me.  I am sure with all of the siblings that I had someone must have told me. Or maybe not getting that Easy Bake oven that was so popular did it. I did eventually get it, but it was years later. I do remember my parents being so disappointed that I was not as thrilled with the brand-new bicycle as they were or as my sisters. The pictures they took told the whole story for 3 years. Eventually I must have realized it at some point. Moving on, the Thanksgiving holiday just days away, leads me to testing recipes looking for a crescent roll that is tasty, easy and foolproof. Mainly because I am the fool ...

 I have never had much of a Monday thru Friday work life, even much of my Army time was not a typical schedule. "Retirement" is parading around no differently. It is Friday and it will prove to be my busiest day of this week.  May Heaven help the first kid to ask to go to town over the weekend. At this moment I know what my part is and what needs to be done to make the day work. Oh boy did things turn out way different than they started out. The morning was on track, even DH was up and ready to go to town with me. Plans change by the second here in my world. He had stated he was not going to go with me, so I got ready quietly and headed out to warm the car. I came back in and there he was totally dressed. Picking up meds at the base took a long time. We arrived home about 30 minutes before I had to leave to take the neighbor to her appointment in Aurora.  On the way to her appointment, I received a call from DH that he was having some kind of episode. After about 5 to ten...