how about drinking?
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Finally home and have had time to rest and reset to the point that my body isn't totally confused about what time zone it's in. The trip was wonderful even if I did end up on crutches for more knee damage. My cousin and I both came home with what we thought were colds, until she tested positive for Influenza A. First day home Colt cuts his leg on something in the yard and I end up at the Veterinarian's all day. The stitching up didn't take all that long, but the waking up from sedation--whoo boy. Colt does NOT like to wake up quickly. It took him 3 hours to wake up enough to walk steadily enough to get to the car safely after getting total sedation reversal for a 15 minute stitch job. Even then he slept almost all day yesterday and didn't get really interested in eating again until this morning. But he's pretty much back to his usual self now.
I've skimmed through the last few pages of posts, going to go back and read more thoroughly a bit later.
Amsterdam
My cousin Laura and Me on the Rotterdam on Dressy Night
Just in case anyone didn't think we were related:
I've always wanted to see the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. I thought it was bigger.
A German cruise ship that was in several of the same ports we visited
My Drunken Dutchman, Laura's Cosmopolitan, not sure whose water glass
Orange Party Night
High Tea
From the tour Laura went on that I couldn't because of my knee
Dipping our toes in the North Sea
More coming, with stories, as I write them up and organize the pics!
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Welcome home!! Thanks for sharing the great pictures. Sorry to hear about your knee. Hope it's something temporary.
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Welcome home!!!
I had a different Rioja last night and it was quite good. My labs are trickling in and I think I am still a watch and wait. DH is doing well post radiographic ligand therapy…and the trip to Edmonds and back went smoothly.
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It looks like you had a great time! Wonderful pictures, and I hope your knee is feeling better soon.
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Took Mom to Auntie Diane's service yesterday. There's just Mom and Uncle Kenney in Texas from that side of the family now. Mom has several half-sibs, many were at the service and Mom had a nice visit with some of them. Mom and I had our usual dispute about the shorter/quicker/easier route to and from the church. I followed GPS and it took about 40 minutes and 28 miles, her route took 65 minutes and 49 miles, but her way was proven shorter and easier! I think she gets nervous when she doesn't recognize the road she's on, and up until a year ago I was driving around on those roads every day making home visit and know right where I am. It's kind of funny listening to her complain about how much places have changed since she lived in the area when she was in her teens and 20s. I was asked to take some pictures of the photo display at the service to send to Uncle Kenney, which I did. This morning he called me, no one had told him that Aunt Diane had died! What a way to find out that your youngest sib has passed away, huh. Oh well.
Wally--glad to hear the DH is doing well and the trip was good. Praying for ongoing watch and wait. It's nerve-wracking but better than some alternatives.
Miriandra--we did have a great time. The knee is behaving a bit better, but that's probably because I'm not anywhere near as active at home as I was on vacay. Going to have to call and get an appointment to get it looked at tomorrow.
Teka--We were quite relaxed, and very tired during the Orange Party! The Orange drinks were good, but neither of us drank more than a few sips. I had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner just before that and was pretty much at my limit, but I really wanted to try one. At least the flu symptoms didn't hit be until the day after this!
Orange Crush
Ingredients
• 1 Navel Orange (freshly juiced)
• 2 ounces Vodka
• 1 ounce Grand Marnier (or another orange liqueur)
• 4 ounces Lemon-Lime Soda (like sprite or 7UP)
• add Garnish (wedges)
• 1 sprig Fresh MintDirections
- Fill a glass with crushed ice. Pour the vodka, grand marnier and fresh orange juice in the glass. Give it a gentle stir. Top it off with the soda, an orange wedge and a few mint leaf. Serve!
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I'm back, too! And I caught up on posts. NM, which woman are you in the photos? Long hair? Short hair? Sorry about the knee. Sounds like you had a great time.
Unlike some of you, I'm a white wine drinker and only occasionally drink red. I'm not sure why because I do enjoy a smooth red that isn't vinegary. I don't make a habit of wine with lunch but the wine glass was there at my place setting every day at lunch on the Viking ship and a waiter was handy with the bottles of red and white. So I indulged. Some days I had draft beer. At dinner it was a given to have wine.
In Croatia and Serbia we sampled plum brandy. Whoo! Strong stuff. It's legal for the people to make their own with plums they grow in their yards. So most families have a home distillery. I bought a little three-pack of brandies made from different fruits in Bulgaria and brought it home.
The cruise lived up to the commercial that hooked us into signing up for it.
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Welcome, Carole. I'm heartened to hear your trip went well and your concern over being american was not warranted.
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Wally, some fellow cruisers from Canada and Australia revealed a tinge of Trump resentment but there was no political discussion except with two women from Ohio who share our own views. Our conversations were just among ourselves. We had MSNBC and BBC News on our stateroom tv and watched some news. There wasn't a single tv playing in public places on the ship, which was nice. Of course, the time difference meant we watched nighttime US tv in the morning and vice versa.
The guides all avoided mentioning the politics in the various countries.
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We had dinner with next-door neighbors last night at the Mexican restaurant where we usually go with them. It was too hot to sit on the patio. I ordered a top shelf margarita on ice, no salt, and my usual house special nachos. Neither was as good as usual. But the company was great. They picked us up, driving their cute little white Jeep. Imagine an older couple, 82 and 85, climbing into the back seat of a Jeep. Someone should have had a camera! LOL. The neighbors are in their 60's and very active. They took a shorter Viking river cruise last year so we compared experiences.
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Love the visual, Carole. I hope your DH's jaw pain has lessened.
I'm making duck burgers tonight as a belated b-day I can share dining with my DH.
He gets his labs done June 12th, so we'll see. He's not sure he wants to continue with this treatment. It really takes a toll on him….but never say never.
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Carol - I've been having trouble at 81 getting into the FRONT seat of a jeep. Interesting about the plum brandy.
Wally - I bet both you & DH are anxious for June 12th to hurry up. Sorry the treatment is difficult.
NM - hope you found everything OK with the mother when you returned.
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NM, I'm missing your posts. Hope everything is ok with you, the pups, and Mom. Hi to everyone else not posting.
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Good Morning Loungettes! Happy TGIF day! The big news around here is that Mom has decided that it's time to move into an assisted living situation. So the search is on for a one bedroom apartment that is not in the middle of town, where the windows are low enough that mom can see out when she sits next to it, that has outdoor space where she can grow some plants, isn't too far way that I won't visit regularly, has lots of activities, and doesn't cost too much. It's going to make for an interesting summer, I think. She has picked out a couple of places she wants to look at and I'm setting up tours. And she still wants to take a trip to Texas and a trip to North Carolina, and about a million other things. Taking care of an aging parent really can be a full time job!
Carole--I am the one with the longer, darker hair. The white-haired one is my cousin Laura. She's 10 years younger than me. We did have a good time! I'm a white/rose drinker myself, although I have had some nice red wines. I'm glad you indulged while on the cruise, that's part of what vacation is for, after all! The plum brandy sounds yummy, too.
Morning, Wally!
Minus--Mom did ok while I was away, but the state of her apartment and the report of the neighbors did make it clear it's time for her to not be living alone, so we are now looking for an assisted living place for her. I think she will be a lot happier with more people around.
Carole--everything is pretty much ok, I'm just still very tired from the trip and the lingering cough and fatigue from the flu. All I want to do is sit around and nap! But I'm getting moving, and getting appointments set up for work on the house and doing some CPR classes, and for Mom. Colt gets his stitches out on Tuesday, and is back to his usual self, which makes Zoe happy to have her playmate back in full fettle.
A Long Winter’s Nap
Ingredients
• 2 ounces of Bourbon, Whiskey or Rye
• 2 Tablespoons Infused maple (or plain maple syrup)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• garnish with star anise and lemon sliceInfused Maple Syrup or simple syrup
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup (or make simple syrup- 1/2 cup sugar +1/2 cup water)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sliced ginger
• 3 star anise pods
• Optional additions – Douglas Fir, crushed cardamon pods, cinnamon, whole clove, peppercornsInstructions
- Place maple syrup and water in a small pot. Add ginger and whole spices. Heat over medium heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes on low heat. Let stand 10 minutes. The longer you infuse, the more intense the flavor. You could let this sit overnight or strain it right away.
- In a cocktail shaker, pour the bourbon, infused maple syrup and lemon juice over ice. Shake and strain into a small glass or martini glass. Garnish with a star anise pod and lemon slice (or zest)
Notes
This can also be served warm. Stir cocktail ingredients together in a small pot, gently heating, and add a little water to taste ( 1/4 cup-1/2 cup), serve in a mug, like a hot toddy!From
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I would definitely try a Long Winter's Nap.
An assisted living situation that meets your mother's needs (and wants) seems like a good idea. My mother was sad at having to leave her home, but she ended up being happy during her three years in a nursing home. The social life was good for her. She was much more isolated living at home.
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Good evening, friends:
I hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend. A time of remembrance for those who served and lost their lives in any of the wars. We have had family in most wars since WW I that I know of (chances are before that too) and lost a great uncle in WWI at sea long ago. I know many people who have lost children in the most recent wars and a hard weekend for many. If you are missing anyone who served this nation and lost their life in battle, my heart goes out to you this weekend.
I am having a catch up weekend after being away last weekend to the yoga retreat in Northern NM. It was really wonderful and was able to catch some hot springs time for a day soak on the way up too. I had a yoga colleague in town who needed a ride up and she joined the trip to the hot springs and was thrilled to check this one out as she had not been to this one before. They live in Houston now but hope to return here for retirement in a few more years. The retreat included some folks I know from earlier retreats and times and enjoyed some good yoga, healthy food, and also took a trip into Taos which was not too far away and something I did not do last year. The weather was cooler but the Taos plateau has never been greener and that in combination with the white capped mountains made for a beautiful ride up, down and around the area. It actually snowed the day after we left, which is not unusual for that area through May. I got some great confirmation from the yoga friend about the place I want to do the yoga training as she used to teach there and also talked about what to expect for time commitments with the 200 hour teacher certification. I am working on my plan to do this next spring (and also my exit strategy from this job).
The weather has been cooler here in May but has been getting hot quickly here as we come into the end of May. We had a couple of days late week up to the mid 90s- we are not ready for the hot yet. June-Sept tend to be very HOT anymore and don't look forward to that. We have a chance of some rain again this coming week.
MinusTwo- chair yoga is a good idea. I expect I will begin my teaching with some basic classes and need to do more specialized training for the actual population I want to teach. I want to help make yoga accessible to people who want to be able to do it but sometimes feel intimidated by the newfangled yoga many places now teach that are more aerobic and often include heat. Not everyone needs to put their foot behind their head, do headstands, etc. Thank you for the suggestion about doing a chair yoga class (I have done them too and they are great!)
NM- your cruise looked amazing and love the photos of the food, you and your cousin, etc. I was sorry to hear about your knee, the problems with the pup, your mom's sisters passing. I do think assisted living will provide her with more care and hopefully ease things up a bit for you. My mother was in assisted living the last 7 years of her life and per one of the comments here by another sister, she may enjoy the social environment. My mother was sad to give up her home but actually thrived at the place we moved her to out in CA near my sister. If you have an elder attorney at your disposal, always good to check with them as they know the good ones and the ones to avoid. Sometimes you have to get on a list and wait too until a room/bed is available. I wish you luck with this sister and yes, it can be a full-time job. My sister and I juggled our moms care for years while working FT in our careers but assisted living was really a blessing for everyone.
Time to get to bed and one more day before I am back in to the fray. Wishing everyone a good rest of the weekend and month and back again when I can.
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We have a chair yoga class at the YMCA with an excellent instructor. I haven't attended it lately because of travel and getting ready for the trip to MN.
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Jazzy - great to hear about your trip north. Are you going to try to start the yoga training before you leave the job at UNM? We've been having weeks of ferocious winds and it reminds me of Albubquerque - except for the humidity down here.
Carole - I think you leave tomorrow? Or maybe I'm ahead a week. Safe trip.
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Hump Day! I took Mom out Monday to buy flowers for family gravesites and spent the day driving around places she wanted to see. It wound up being a long day but a good one. Tomorrow she has an appointment to follow up on the fitting of the new dentures, the bottom ones are giving her a little discomfort from time to time. Yesterday Colt had an appointment at the vet first thing. His leg is healing up well, but he did manage to get in and get all but one of the stitches taken out himself. A small area of the cut has opened up a bit but it is not infected and is healing in, so poor Colt gets the cone back on and a dressing back on the leg for a couple more weeks. I've got a person coming to do an assessment and make an estimate for a deep cleaning of the entire house that I've been struggling to catch up with for ages now. I'm hoping that will get me back on top of the housework so I can start scheduling other work that needs to be done before winter weather comes around again.
Jazzy--sounds like you had a great weekend! Love the plans for Yoga certification and teaching. The vacay was a lot of fun and a great break, but it did bring home the need for mom to move somewhere with more support and where she will be less lonely. Good idea about the elder attorney, I will look into that.
Carole--chair yoga sounds interesting. What is it like?
Morning, Minus!
Happy Pill
Ingredients
• 1 ounce Don Q Cristal rum
• 1 ounce Plantation dark rum
• 1 ounce Kalani coconut liqueur
• 3/4 ounce grilled pineapple juice*
• 3/4 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 ounce cream of coconut
• Garnish: cherry
• Garnish: orange slice
• Garnish: grated nutmegSteps
1. Add the white rum, dark rum, coconut liqueur, grilled pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice and cream of coconut into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
2. Pour into a highball glass over crushed ice.
3. Garnish with a skewered cherry and orange slice.
4. Dust with fresh grated nutmeg.
*Grilled pineapple juice: Grill 6 pineapple wedges in a stovetop pan on medium-high heat for 2 minutes on each side. Muddle and strain.From
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ood Morning, Loungettes! Happy TGIF Day! Took Mom to the dentist to look at her bottom dentures, which have been giving her some discomfort from time to time since getting the new ones. Come to find out, when the technician took out her denture to see what was going on, Mom was wearing the new top dentures and the OLD bottom ones! So now Mom has an appointment next week to get her toes trimmed and her dentures checked out on Wednesday. With instructions to bring in ALL her dentures so they can be marked so she can tell them apart easier. I really thought she had thrown the old dentures away, she really couldn't use the bottom ones at all without pain, but Mom had an attack of "just-in-case" and kept them. Next week when we get them sorted I'm going to try to get the old ones put away out of sight and not right next to the new ones to minimize mixing them up again. Gotta love the Momma!
Denture Cleaner
Vodka may be an appropriate alcoholic beverage but it’s also excellent for cleaning dentures. This strong liquid can disinfect your false teeth while brightening your pearly whites.
Place your dentures into a wide jar and pour vodka over them until they have entirely emerged in the liquid. The denture soaks overnight for the best results. Rinse them very thoroughly the next morning before putting them back into your mouth.
FromSHARKS'S TOOTH
Ingredients
30 milliliters Light Gold Rum 1-3Yo
15 milliliters Lime Juice
15 milliliters Pineapple Juice
10 milliliters Sugar Syrup (2:1)
5 milliliters Maraschino Syrup
30 milliliters Aged Jamaican RumDirections
- BLEND first 5 ingredients with 4oz scoop of crushed ice and pour into an old-fashioned glass
- POUR Jamaican rum into shot glass and serve alongside drink, instructing drinker to pour rum into cocktail prior to sipping (without straw)
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NM - love the denture cleaning tip. Really appropriate for this thread.
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Some desert spring bloom
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Sunday Funday! I'm going to Mom's today to help her plant some tomato seedlings I got her for her birthday. They are Early Girl variety, that she really likes and has been having trouble finding the last few years, so I ordered some to be delivered at transplanting time. We found and bought some nice pots to replace her old ones that didn't look so nice anymore, and got potting soil so we are all set to go now that the seedlings are here. We didn't plant them yesterday because it was raining all day, and raining pretty good most of that time. Today is supposed to be just showers, better for doing outside stuff. Mom and I also have an appointment to look at an assisted living apartment week after next, so that process is getting started.
The cleaning people are coming out in a couple of weeks to do a decluttering and deep cleaning of the house so I can finally get back on top of that again. This coming week I've got an electrician coming to get the heat pump back in service, and a friend coming out to cut down a bunch of brush and small trees that have grown up around the house and need to be cleared to give the cleaners room to work efficiently. Then I'll start working on the bathroom remodel and getting the floors redone, and getting some roof leaks fixed. It's going to be a busy summer coordinating getting my house fixed up and finding an assisted living place and getting Mom moved. Of course, that will depend on what we find and the waiting lists involved.
Minus--I ran across the denture cleaner recipe while looking for a DOTD and thought it would fit here!
Jazzy--BEAUTIFUL!!
Absinthe Frappé
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 ounces absinthe
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 2 dashes anisette
• Soda water, chilled, to top (about 2 ounces)
• Garnish: mint sprigSteps
1. Add all ingredients except the soda water into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a large snifter over crushed or pebble ice.
3. Top with the soda water and stir briefly and gently to combine.
4. Add more ice to the glass, forming a mounded top.
5. Garnish with a mint sprig.
6. Serve with a straw.From
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Hello from our summer location in MN! We're pretty much settled after going through a real scare that the refrigerator in the camper had decided to stop working. DH followed some UTube advice and turned the refrigerator off for an hour and then back on. During the night on Friday night, it started cooling down and was cold inside when we got up on Saturday. Hurray!!!!! We are so hoping it will continue to run through the summer.
NM, chair yoga is a lot of stretches and yoga poses while seated in a chair. At the end of the session, we do a couple of poses standing. Then we sit down and have a few minutes of total relaxation.
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Monday Monkey Day! I've got a CPR class to teach this ayem that I'm looking forward to doing. We got Mom's tomatoes transplanted into the big pots for them to grow in outside her apartment window. We do still need to get supports put on, but at least we didn't have to do that in the drizzle yesterday!
The puppers say Hi to everyone.
Carole--chair yoga sounds like something I could do even with the bad knee! Glad the camper fridge decided to work again.
Jazzy--AMEN!
Yummy Yoga Zen Cocktail
Ingredients
• ½ cup Brewed Chamomile Tea (chilled, keep tea bag in cup)
• 1 ounce Whiskey
• 1 teaspoon Honey
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1 Thick Lemon (peel twisted)
• add Ice CubesInstructions
• Brew a chamomile tea bag in ½ cup boiling water and let chill in fridge (with tea bag in).
• To a cocktail glass, add the brewed, chilled tea and its bag, along with the whiskey, honey and lemon juice and mix. Twist in the lemon peel to release its oils. Add some ice and enjoy.From
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Yay on a normal mammogram, Teka! And yay on tomato plants. Nothing better tasting than a home grown ripe tomato.
Refrigerator is still working!
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Twofer Tuesday! CPR class went well. Got a nice surprise in the afternoon when a friend came over with some of his tools and took down some saplings and cleared some brush for me. We went and checked out a newly opened iHop nearby.I love getting bleuberry pancakes for dinner! The puppers got crated while my friend was here as we were going in and out of the dog yard and I wanted to make sure no one got away. Poor Zoe carried on like she was being tortured! It's amazing how much noise one husky can make when she puts her mind to it!
Teka--Hooray for the good mammo results! Happy Birthday, catnip kitty!
Carole--we got a triple Yay this ayem!
Triple C
Ingredients
1 oz blanco tequila
1 oz kahlua
½ oz lemonade
1 oz grand marnier
.25 oz lime cordialDirections
1. Fill a rocks glass with ice cubes.
2. In a shaker, combine tequila, Grand Marnier, Kahlua, lemonade, and lime cordial. Shake well until chilled.
3. Strain the mixture into the prepared rocks glass over the ice, and garnish with a twist of lime and an orange slice to the rim of the glass for a decorative and aromatic touch.From
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NM, I like breakfast for dinner. What a nice friend!
I had asked dh to buy some bourbon in town today but he forgot. How can you forget bourbon? It's cool enough for an old-fashioned for our before dinner drink. A minute ago my laptop had 69 degrees for our current temperature. Now it's showing stock market numbers.
Hope everybody is busy doing good stuff.
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Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy TGIF day! We had the warmest day yet here yesterday, with temps in the high 80's and the "feels like" hitting 90 degrees! It was so nice to have some really warm weather, and even nicer to have the AC. Took the Jeep in for an inspection and to get a couple of leaky tires fixed, came out after 4 hours with a $980 bill. Seems one of the break pads was wearing down unevenly and had to be replaced. Why one break pad would get rusty and worn out when the other three were ok kind of baffles me, but hey, what do I know about cars other than where to put the gas and the windshield cleaning fluid in?
Carole--yeah, he's a nice guy. He was one of my nursing students back in the days when I was teaching. He graduated in 2009. He's the "old man" on the unit where he works. Talk about making me feel old! Not sure how someone could forget picking up bourbon, but the mind is a very funny thing.
Liquid Bourbon Ball
Ingredients
• 2 ounces bourbon whiskey
• 1 ounce white crème de cacao liqueur
• 1/4 ounce hazelnut liqueur
• Chocolate shavings, for garnishSteps to Make It
1. Gather the ingredients.
2. Pour the bourbon and liqueurs over ice in a mixing glass.
3. Stir well.
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
5. Garnish with chocolate shavings. Serve and enjoy.Tips
• The recipe calls for white crème de cacao, though you can certainly use the dark version. The cocktail's color will change ever so slightly, but the difference in taste will be nearly indistinguishable.From
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