Today I am taking an R&R Day! I am so tired, sleepy, aching, cold, miserable and exhausted! Becuz:
All this week, and past weekend, I have had one destination in mind, preparing everything and everythought for hosting the annual "Arthritis/Fibromyalgia Education and Support" Christmas Party.
Which was last evening, from 5:00 till 9:00 pm. We had a great time, everyone said so. This is how it went: At the November meeting, they voted to go to The Bellevue Hospital Cafe for dinner, rather than everyone bringing in dishes and goodies from home. So we met at 5:00, had a lovely dinner of Swiss Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans or peas, salad bar and beverage. And Coffeecoffeecoffee!!!
At 6:30 we returned to our meeting room, ie, the Conference Room, where we had decorated the tables, people brought in desserts, and we played Card Bingo.
Friend Pat and I had wrapped and brought in a couple dozen little prizes, some useful, like the jar opener, and a reacher and a back scratcher, compliments from a Pharmaceutical company. Then friend Beverly brought 8 gift bags she had put together of candle holders and candles and Susan brought in a dozen Christmas mugs, filled with the mix for Hot Cocao and candy canes. We gave them all away as prizes for the winner of each round of the Bingo game. There was a tremendous lot of hysterical laughter!
I had baked my favorite Cranberry-Orange Nut bread, and made an Orange Marmalade Cream Cheese Spread to slather on it. There were also plates of homemade Christmas cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake., pretzels and candy canes. The hospital Cafe sends us a beverage cart for each meeting, with Teas, Coffee, and cold soft drinks, and all the additives.
Baking really tired me yesterday, and at one point, at 3pm, I had to lay down, just could not take one more step upright. But, I didn't dare fall asleep, as Pat was planning to arrive at 4:00 pm to load the car and me and my walker and go over to the hospital to decorate the tables. Had to hurriedly change into party clothes as it was! Wore my new black heels that I had gotten for the wedding, they are very comfy! Oh, OK...wore navy blue slacks and a white pullover shirt with an over-lay of lace woven with Christmas trees and snowflakes, topped off with my currently favorite blue crystal beads spaced with silver beads.
In the rush to leave my house, I forgot to take the photo-memory card out of the viewer and put it back into the camera, so I had the camera, no way to take pictures. Pat took lots of pics and will forward them to my computer.
Now, I need to bake a couple kinds of cookies and another Cranberry Bread to send to son Duane in California, as he will not be home for Christmas. So, if I develope some ambition and energy yet today, I may bake a batch later.
The first shipment of my on-line shopping over the weekend , has just arrived. Now I hold my breath. If I open the box and something is back-ordered, I will be p--ss--d!
So everybody hang in there, we're almost there! Oh, yeah, have to start the cards too!! Think I'll go take a nap first!! Cheers, Loret
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Goodness, what a busy time you've been having Loret. No wonder you're pooped! I'm sure that all your group appreciate the big effort and it sounds like a very good time was had by all:-}
So have a decent rest before you embark on another round of baking.
My loret,i could taste them over here in the uk. You have been very busy haven't you. Now you mustn't over do it or you'll be bad for xmas. Are your family coming to you or are you out for the day? I wish we could have a group like yours here it would be very useful. The best we have is this site.
It is freezing hard here tonight and we are expecting some really rough weather blowing in,so it doesn't look like i will be going far this week. We have delivered all the presents to family and my daughter has had her tattoo display with her standard in birmingham, which sadly i couldn't go to as it was a long day and hubby and i decided it would be better for me to stay home. I did and i over done at home instead. I'm walking round with a few bruises i can tell you.
Now my friend you take it easy and rest.
Love Sylvi. xx
Hey Loret that was a great taste of your life on of the other side of the Globe - I couldn't bake even one cake for my Tai Chi class so I'm seriously impressed! And it's made me realise that my tasks before bed are to hoover the house and clean the toilets and that's not exactly on a level with yours but the occupational therapist is coming at 9am tomorrow morning and I feel like i'm going to be assessed on my lousy house wifely skills so better get going - thanks for making it seem so relatively easy! Take care, Tilda x
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Tilda, How did it go with the OT today? Sure hope it was the way you expected. Take care, Loret
wow those goodies sound yummy! is the cake and spread hard to make?? your group party sounded like great fun, i wish there was more of that thing where i live. make sure you rest before baking again
Love the idea of an overlay of lace with christmas trees and snowflakes - very seasonal. And you Yanks are hardy souls if you can drink coffee after 6pm! Hope you bounce back tomorrow and can carry on baking - sounds delicious. Polly
Polly, some of us "Yanks" can drink coffee anytime, i think I must surely be conditioned to it. Interestingly, I rarely drink coffee in the summer, after the morning cups. Just love sipping coffee, sometimes a good tea the rest of the day., once the weather turns to this current mess. Besides, research keeps coming up with more reasons to drink it!
My nap did alot of good. I must get to baking tomorrow, as I want to send a box to my son in California, way over across the entire country to the West Coast.
I am wondering, did anyone try the recipes I sent a week or so ago?
I'm planning to try the cranberry ones over christmas - I like the idea of having dough ready in the fridge/freezer for when people drop in. I'll let you know whether they go as well with tea rather than coffee! Pollyx
LOL, Oh, I'm pretty sure they will be just fine with tea!
Hi gals, I took my nap, will manage to get out to the kitchen and make a cup pf something hot and steamy to hold so I can warm my hands. And sip the contents of said cup also
Laney, the Cranberry bread is not difficult, just takes a few extra steps of preparing the orange zest, chopped nuts, chopped cranberries and then measuring the rest.
The spread is simply whipped cream cheese, with Orange marmalade stirred in. Or any kind of fruit jam would be good. I chose the marmalade since the bread contains orange juic and zest. I will send the recipe here later tonight when I get back here.
Sylvia, I am much better than this morning, think I was lagging behind in number of hours of good sleep. But just had a 2 hour nap, so I'm good and will be even better once I go make a cup of tea.. Have some new Blackberry Tea I am anxious to try.
Tilda, Good luck tomorrow. Maybe you shouldn't try to do so much, then she would maybe send you some help!
Sylvie, We are getting the same freezing cold, bitter, sleeting weather here too. No wonder my bones are complaining! I turned on the electric mattress cover before I got in for my nap and then turned it off. Just warm and snuggy enough I went to sleep.
Christmas Day will be much like we did for Thanksgiving, with 3 different family gatherings. First, the newlyweds, Tim and Heather, will come over Christmas Eve and go to Midnight Mass together. Christmas Day Tim will come get me while Heather is at work, and I will go with him to her parent's house to help prepare Christmas dinner while her Mom also works at the Care Center, then we will have dinner and gift exchange, so it will be a late evening. We will have all the Hoy Boys and their families together at Doug and Cindy's on New Year's Day, for which I have been requested to make my Sauerkraut Balls. Am thinking of making a double batch and take some for Christmas evening. uh, maybe not. It is a lengthy process and need to be deep fried.
It was exactly one year ago, at Heather's family Christmas Evening that, after all the gift giving, Tim proposed to Heather, in front of her whole family. Her Mom was sobbing through the whole thing, and from that day forward, the plans for the wedding took shape.
Cece, I think I might be revived! Maybe will do cards rather than baking. That way I can remain sedentary and be in great shape to do some baking on Thurs.
Gotta go get my tea!! Have a good night, I mean a really good, long, cozy night's sleep.
..And to all a Good Night!! Cheers, Loret
Cranberry- Orange Bread Preheat 350 degrees 9 X 5 inch loaf pan
Add sugar, egg, butter, hot water, and orange juice
Stir till moistened
Fold in berries, nuts and orange rind
Spoon into pan and bake 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.. Cool in pan 20 mins, turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
Orange cream cheese spread:
Add 2-3 heaping Tbsp Orange Marmalade to whipped Cream Cheese
gosh loret you put me to shame and i thought i had a busy week. Now you can take it easy and rest a bit. Great to hear from you.
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Oh no, Mads, I don't think so. I move at a snail's pace, usually. This week was not normal! This next week, of all things, I have 2 Dr's appts. One is to go to the larger city of Sandusky, Ohio to be fitted with a hand and wrist brace that should allow me to use my fingers while holding the rest of my hand and wrist in one position. Not sure I will like that. Have a brace I wear at night to keep me from bending my wrist while sleeping.
I have a small list of little things I need from K-Mart or Wal-Mart, but don't have a way to get there yet. Not being able to drive is the worse handicap of all. Sometimes, when I really need to get out, and have no one available to take me, I get very frustrated and depressed.
My daughter-in-law usually takes me when she is going shopping for groceries, but this weekend she is over scheduled with the kids sports games. She has Christmas shopping to do, but needs to go by herself. She doesn't need to have me to keep up with.
I could go out to the main route through town and hitch hike from a truck driver Oh boy, would my son disown me!!
Have a nice weekend, Mads. We're getting down to the wire, just 6 more days!! XX Loret
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