Less Hustle More Coffee

Momma had a good birthday at Uncle Bud’s in Donelson. The atmosphere, the food, and the service was very good. It was so enjoyable. See there is a smile on her face. She did not feel her best as her toe and foot hurt her more than she originally let on.

Did any of us need the fried food? Naw! But it was really good. I got the chicken tenders and catfish platter. They already had navy beans and hushpuppies and pickle on the table family style. And this came on a bed of a few home fries. They were the good kind too. Dinner fries! lol I did not eat all of mine. I had left overs and ate catfish for breakfast yesterday morning. I had mayo and cubed pickle in my little office fridge and made my own tarter sauce to go with it. I’m getting to be quite the chef in my office, lol. Often I make tuna fish or chicken salad with the mayo and pickle. And since I have some balsamic vinegar vinegar dressing – I’ve even made slaw out of my left over asian salad kit by mixing mayo and balsamic vinegar dressing, lol. I love my mayo which I am sure keeps the tummy and hips plump! :-O

We went to the Dollar General Market. Mom did not feel like making it through the store. So I had to go around and get everything. This one’s layout was working against my brain. I like for there to be a systematic flow from produce and then aisle to aisle. It was confusing. I wanted to go one way and Mom went another and then George even elsewhere with our own buggy. This drives my brain nuts. There has to be a systematic approach. Anyway as I put Cascade in the buggy it was the wrong format. I knew if I got tabs it was supposed to be liquid and vice versa. They did not have everything she needed. And then she forgot to put hairspray on the list so we have to get that later in the week.

Mom said she just can’t do more than one thing every time we are out now as it’s too much for her. That is unfortunate because we can’t be over there all week doing different outings one thing each night. But we decided that we would order groceries and have them delivered and/or pick them up. Ya’ll have been suggesting that for a while but Mom enjoyed getting out so we hadn’t started it yet. But now I think she is mainly wanting to just stay in. The foot and gout has really taken a lot out of her. She can get up and do things still around the house a little at a time. I’m not sure she can even cook a long meal anymore. She said we’d have to come over and help her cook and she’d share her food with us. Sadly we cannot do that every night either. But maybe every now and then.

At every angle it is looking more and more like assisted living staff. We are not it. I don’t have time to cook and clean over there as I hardly have time to do that here either. We are doing our best to follow her wishes but at some point it is going to be time. I knew it when we moved her in the house that she had about a year or two in it and that was going to be it. I was hoping she would bounce back from the gout but she is not as good as she said she was. She moaned and groaned in the back seat at every turn and bump. I felt bad for her.

She has already declared that she is no longer going to go to church. There was an issue over baptism I think which I don’t even understand what the issue was. For some reason she thinks they don’t baptize people for remission of sins. They do. So I’m not sure what the deal is. I was not there when the conversation came up in Sunday school. My guess is they embarrassed her in class or something and so she doesn’t want to go back. She had made her mind up from the beginning that she didn’t want to go to that church and has looked for something to be out of line. I told her no church is going to be perfect. So she is back to doing her church on line. I think she kinda doesn’t want to spend the energy to get ready and go out anyway. She says that we don’t want to go to church anyway, which is the untruth. We do love that church and love going, but sometimes it is not feasible as our lives are spread thin. But in our world, we know that our worship is not limited to a church building. That said, I enjoy being with a body of believers anywhere I am. I am lucky to be with them every day at work too. I have some “sisters” there and I also have some “sisters” just about everywhere! Even on here! Are you a “sister”? I need one. The real one is MIA. 🙁

Katy sent Mom some pretty flowers and a fruit tray and had it delivered from Publix. That was so sweet of her to do.

Just keep Momma (Billie) in your prayers. She is having a tough time feeling good. She is out of breath a lot with her heart, can’t get around as good, doesn’t feel like doing much. Help us to know how to help her and to know when it is time for assisted living. Personally I think it is almost time. I think we wait and see if the foot heals. I keep waiting for her to tell me when it’s time. I don’t want to force her into anything. We have a lot of doc appts coming up and also Fancy appts and hair appts. I have my own as well. We have the Friday afternoon eye appt next week, right at quarter end but I’d warned my superiors of this so they didn’t wait til the last minute to give me the data to do my part but they have been too busy and now we’ll be down to the last minute and I will be doing payroll and Mom doc appts. But I had this planned a long time and we do this every month so – no surprise there. I’m not worried over it either because I’ve basically had no control over it. I can file returns for which I have no numbers. (The tribe has spoken, lol).

The clouds were pretty on the way home the other night. I dropped George at the house so he could be with the dog. The dog is alone all day and we hate to leave him alone at night too. So I dropped George off and took Mom home and unloaded her groceries and her birthday surprise. And we put the gift from Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken in the freezer of their Omaha Steak delivery. She barely had room. Her freezers are full of food.

I cooked last night and fixed the Hello Fresh meal and it was Honey-Butter BBQ Pork Chops with red pepper flakes. The green beans were steamed in the microwave and you added grated lemon zest, and butter and sneezes from two lemon quarters. Oh my gosh they were good. The sweet potatoes were boiled and then mashed and butter and sour cream and salt and pepper added. Have never added sour cream but they were ok. I would have liked to have add cream or milk instead I think. However I am still in love with the concept. I’ve never made mashed sweet potatoes before and I will do that again. I also loved the lemony green beans. Wow! And the honey butter pork chops. Now I know I can cook pork chops and it taste good! And quick too. I think it was about 4 min on each side. And look, mine looked just like the picture! 😉

Tonight I’m cooking a pasta dish with spinach in it. It was on sale so I ordered it and really meant to fix it for work day lunches but we have had other things to take and so George suggested we have it tonight as a side dish with these frozen cordon blue chicken things we have. It is a creamy sauce I think instead of tomato. The meals are easy to follow from Hello Fresh, but they do get all involved and you are busy once you start it. But it comes together fast. The instructions are so well put together. I feel like a REAL CHEF in there whizzing about making things happen. It’s fun, but I’ve discovered that Tuesday’s – the day I do payroll is not a good day for me. I need to unfocus those Tuesday evenings. It’s brain overload. Any other day is fine.

I read some last night after dinner and after we ate watermelon. It was nice to just sit and read. Dexter seated between us.

Here’s a video clip of Dexter and the cat in the house yesterday. Little Bit needed a break from the heat and Dexter’s shots have kicked in now so I figure it was time for them to mix around and play some. They have nosed each other as it’s been hard to keep them apart. Soon after I had to pen up Dexter to coax little bit back outside as he was hiding. I was afraid I’d get in a situation I couldn’t handle by myself. I don’t want them to be scared of one another. Dexter wants to play. Little Bit wants to be loved but not chased, lol.

We are really looking forward to the weekend and down time. The work days are busy and long. I long to be home more and more myself. I really hate leaving home every day to go to work. But I suppose retirement will get here soon enough. I really wish my job could be done at home. A lot of companies are doing this now, and I don’t see why ours can’t work toward this as well. It really is a good way to attract workers. It is a highly coveted perk for sure. So we are gearing up for a relaxing weekend and much needed. I need to order George’s birthday gift. I know what I’m getting him pretty much.

No video tomorrow. I think it will be ready by the NEXT weekend. This one is longer and I’m trying to cut down the footage. I’ve been through it several times and having to go back and weed things out. What is left should be a good story of our December. Lots of video and less photos. Both of me and George. I’m enjoying working on the video one day and blog the next.

I’m leaving you with a good pic of Dexter. He was being a good and patient doggie yesterday, having just eaten, been outside, played with the cat, and he and I sat down for a minute as I read messages and caught up with the news on my iPhone. Oh he slept with me from 2:30 until 4:30 this morning. He did good. I had to go to the restroom and I let him come in and join me the rest of the night. No zoomies in bed this time. lol

What you guys planning to do this weekend? I’m Over and out. Need to get to work.