Best Of

Tonight should be leftover pork medallions dish with leftover brown rice. I may add carrots, precooking them first. You may sense my lack of enthusiasm. LOL.

The sliced beef strips I bought for the fajitas last night were a little tough but still tasty. As usual I ate more steak strips than dh did. He ate all the sauteed onion and most of the sauteed yellow bell pepper. His guacamole was especially good. And I always like refried beans.

Maggie, you have lived such an interesting life and educated yourself in so many ways. This is the first mention of your father's pharmacy.

It has cooled off somewhat, enough, I hope, to allow me to get some yard work done this morning. I plan to attack invasive trees and vines in the flower beds. It's an ongoing war. Yard work counts as exercise.

I’ll definitely have the bloodwork results and hopefully the cerebral spinal fluid ones before the cutoff date. My steroid inhaler is used off label for RIPF so the other asthma drugs on the formularies won’t work. My pulmonologist will attempt to get it covered so I’m looking for an insurer that is more amenable than the United Health plan in my zip code. I now appreciate what I learned when I had to work in my dad’s pharmacy because it was really busy.

Wally, I hope the antibiotics clear the infection.

Carole, It’s easier to choose lower calorie cooking methods when you have a full kitchen. Adding a few pounds while enjoying yourself is worth it imo.

Dinner tonight was chicken and asparagus in cream sauce.

Maggie, good luck in your decision-making on health coverage. We considered switching to an Advantage plan because it's so much cheaper but stuck with Medicare and BCBS Federal, even though we pay a lot monthly. So far there is never a hitch with getting prescription coverage or approval of treatment. Advantage plans are great for healthy oldies who require very little medical care, just routine screening. Humana and People's Health are two popular Advantage companies here.

I lit the big oven last night to cook the sweet potatoes and the barbecue chicken. Both were excellent.

Tonight will probably be steak fajitas with refried beans, sauteed colored pepper and onion, and guacamole. We'll probably skip the tortillas. I'm back in "lose weight" mode, hoping to get back to my lowest weight last winter and then whittle that down. The Viking Cruise put on 3 pounds and the summer in MN added another 3.

It's supposed to be more comfortable outside today, with lower humidity. DH is playing golf. I'm hoping to get to the gym for an 11:30 exercise class after being on hand to pay the couple who mow our big lawn during the summer. With luck they'll come early enough for me to make the class.

I’m in a quandary replacing my cancelled part d plan since I might need new meds next year. I have finally seen a neuromuscular neurologist. The EMG yesterday had results she did not expect so I'm scheduled for a lumbar puncture and lots of bloodwork. I'm thinking I might go with a better rated insurance carrier with a more extensive formulary and pay for my costly but not stratospherically expensive inhaler. A crystal ball would be nice.

Wally I like living in NH except for how hard it is to get medical care without driving a distance. The summers have gotten hotter over the years which you wouldn't like,however. Cutting into beautiful wooden floors is sobworthy.

Eric, Sorry to hear your MIL was hospitalized but glad it is something treatable. My favorite avocado soup has curry in it.

Illimae, Making your own pizza allows you countless ways to customize it.

We’re in Boston so dinner tonight was steak tips, spinach and mashed potatoes in bordelaise sauce for DH and beef tenderloin tips in a bourbon bbq marinade with smoked apple salsa and sweet potatoes for me. We lucked out and got a room with a microwave.

eric - it's my understanding that people in assisted living places (& for sure nursing homes) develop frequent UTIs and the facilities don't always diagnose the side effects properly. Glad they caught your MIL's

I'm very happy with my original medicare & supplemental plan - even though I have to buy a drug plan separately. Since I don't have many meds, I selected a drug plan with a zero premium. So far I've been really happy, since even the few RX drugs I've needed never cost over $2.00.

Wally - I didn't think about freezing avocados. Do you need to add lemon juice before freezing so they don't turn brown? I hear your 'sob' on the floor. Hope all goes well.

Maggie - like Carole, I've never tried avocado soup either.

Minus, I bought a bag of avocados from Sam's so I am in the same situation. Over blessed with avocados. Maggie, I have not eaten avocado soup.

The leftover red beans were delicious again last night. Tonight will be chicken thighs, probably oven barbecued, and sweet potatoes.

Illimae, Your breakfast looks amazing!

Wally, The cap on prescription drug costs makes such a difference. Unfortunately this has caused an exodus of Medicare advantage and part d insurers/plans from NH for 2026. Only one of the six part d plans left covers all my meds so I’m stuck with a low rated company that tends to deny drugs that need preauthorization.

Minus, Advocado soup is a good way to use up the bag.

Dinner tonight was meatballs in Rao’s on spaghetti.

Spaghetti tonight.

Sharon and i have made avocado toast, but nothing looking like that!

I agree on the med cost. Wow!!!!

Our fed ex is not great but it beats flying to Arizona, though I could visit :-)

Yeah, the 2K is a "blessing" from the 17K/month. The cap means no more than 2K/year…funny how drug prices can annoy even the pharmacists. DH's initial med, aberatirone, was thousands/month (sadly, the cap back then was 5-7K) and now, you can get it for 20 bucks.

For anyone as ill-equipped to make decent hard cooked eggs as I am, I have now done my hard cooked eggs in my air fryer (3 times) and they are near perfect.

Editing: hot dogs and beans and spinach tonight