So...whats for dinner?

Monica, best of luck with your surgery!

Monica  Will be thinking of you on Friday...lets hope this is the last and the best!  Love your new avatar.

Susan After telling about your dinner, you really shouldn't follow that with "husband then went to the hospital"  ha ha I was laughing until I realized it really wasn't related. Hope all is well with him.  MRI are not fun. Your DH is one lucky man to have you cooking for him. I love to hear of the interesting things you and the rest of the gang cook up.

Pot of chili yesterday and homemade beer bread.  The bread was a little sweet for my taste, need to look up a different recipe. DH loved it, but he will eat almost anything.

Pizza party at work today for birthdays, so no cooking tonight.

Monica, sending positive vibes your way for tomorrow....hoping for the best of outcomes!

I just returned from giving my first team workshop on personal safety to a third grade class. I got to "perform" with both of the directors of the program being the rest of my team, and I truly think that they have been worried that I would be "going rogue" and not sticking to the very rigid script we are supposed to memorize, since I have handled these topics with my own lessons in my former job. Memorizing actually IS a challenge for me on Tamox, but I worked hard for hours and mastered it, lest I violate the integrity of the program.

I loved being back in the classroom and working with the kids....not so much my director/teammates. In the middle of transitioning to the last parts of my workshop, the main director came over to me and reprimanded me for "touching" a child's back as she walked past me. I did not. But from her angle she was unable to see that, and afterall, she thinks I'm going rogue on them so of course I'd be inappropriate! Her harsh comment (in the middle of the lesson) totally disarmed me, and it took a lot to regroup and continue with the rest of my presentation. Jeeze! Afterwards, when we were reviewing how the workshop went, (a program protocol) she mentioned this again, recognizing that she may not have seen exactly what happened, and said "you must have thought I was crazy" and I responded "Yes, I did" and told her how it was a challenge to finish my presentation after her remarks. I can't recall a time when I have ever been so forthright with anyone who totally offended me due to her own anxiety and need to look for things to nit pick and make things perfect.

But bottom line....this is a VOLUNTEER position that has taken many many hours, and I am not going to be bullied while I teach/preach about maintaining one's right not to be bullied! It was all so ironic! After the workshops ended, both directors fell over themselves praising me for the wonderful job I did.......ick! I sure did love being back in the classroom tho......:) Thanks for providing me space to vent!

So for comic relief, when I returned home, DH and I went out to pick up a Xmas tree....and got a rather small one, which is fine since our grandkids are small and won't even notice! It makes life easier for DH (the set up guy)...except for having to choose which of too many ornaments to use.

DH needed to do this soft food thing again last evening, so I made a zucchini lasagna....cooked til good and mushy! Tonight he is off to a seminar, so I got some salmon and green leaf lettuce for a salad for myself. I haven't been making salads in deference to DH's needs, and last night just had to have some roughage....so I made a very small cuke salad and put it next to my plate. DH went to grab for it and I had to remind him it was off limits, lest he disrupt his healing gums again. I felt badly, and probably should have snuck in my roughage after dinner! He insists that he is healing better. I too will be happy for that! Soft food is not my forte.

Freezing here in MA! Hope everyone is staying warm.

Laurie, apparently, the people in my "safety" program are not allowed to touch the children (which I totally can understand, and abided by today, since we are essentially unfamiliar "teachers"). That said, there is a growing movement for teachers not to touch kids....but clearly with the young students there have to be thoughtful judgement calls based on a little one's need for comfort, redirection, etc. We live in such a crazy world, that which should make sense, sometimes can't. I do hope your boys continue to have appropriately nurturing teachers like they now have!

Haven't been on much lately.  Tonight we're having new york steak, scalloped potatoes, and broccoletti.  Probably a glass of wine as well. It's been a long day.

Garden, good to see you post! Hope things are well, home getting settled, and retirement dreams are actualizing!

Never made my salmon....DH and I will enjoy it tomorrow night. Had a small bowl of ( you guessed it!) kale soup, a crusty bread, and two (!) glasses of red wine instead.

Laurie, we are also spending what feels like a fortune on our cards (about same number mailed as you)...and DH initially decided we should go electronic next year. Then tonight when we talked about how we could let people know that plan in this year's card, he backed off and started to think about how we might still do hard copy. Okay.....I frankly leave it up to him since he is the prime mover for getting holiday cards out. And........if anyone wants one, by all means PM me your address.

All the best Moonflower.

Monica - You are in my thoughts and prayers this morning. Hope to hear of success soon.

Also thinking about Moon, wishing her well with a speedy and uncomplicated recovery.

Baked up the salmon I never had last night, along with baked winter squash....mushy food anyone?

Spent today baking some not so easy cookies (very crumbly yet had to be "formed"), but worth the effort in that they worked out.

Laurie, DH drove up to the lake briefly today and went through some big squalls near you...was it like that all day?

Nancy,

Oh you have to get to the party!!!! But if not, you can send the fettuccini East. I will share with Lacey and Laurie. They would find good homes.

*susan*

I bet they are fantastic! Are you warming them at the party? If so, the potatoes will give back some of the moisture. If not, they will be delicious anyhow.

I need to get serious about creating my Christmas menus. Just can't get focused right now, for some reason.

*susan*

Susan,

Hope your treatment was, and continues to be, kind! Hope that DH's MRI is not due to anything serious. No fun no matter what the circumstance!

Moon,

Thinking of you and hoping that your exchange was flawless and that you are recovering well!

Sleep well Monica. Glad things went well.