Christmas Day was quite pleasant; we had a leisurely breakfast. We had no gifts to open--James hadn't wrapped mine (the Law & Order monopoly game) and his hadn't arrived from Amazon yet (a new food processor), so we watched The Little Drummer Boy and The House Without a Christmas Tree until it was time to go to the Butlers for dinner, conversation, fuzzy Christmas feelings, and a gift exchange.

The food certainly beat Bay Breeze all hollow: perfectly cooked turkey, ham, and Clair's pot roast, over half a dozen veggie sides, desserts from pie to the little Favorina florentines, and of course Lin's cinnamon-and-sugar piecrust folds. She always makes them and I always hug her for it. I remember when I was a kid and would only eat the pie crusts; the filling didn't interest me at all. One of my aunts used to make the little pastries out of piecrust. too.

Later we had a mad gift opening—I opened everything so fast I'm not sure I know who gave me what—but everything was nice, from cross-stitch kits to dessert treats. We checked out Christmas lights on the way home, but weren't able to go on to check out the lights in Smyrna because we both needed to "hit the head" by the time we got to the house. Ah, the pleasures of being old!

Tuesday was a funny day: usually it's me who has post-holiday gastric distress, but today it was James. He remained close to home while I ran errands: went to Barnes & Noble, only to find this year their post-Christmas hardback sale is only 33 percent off, and there was nothing I wanted that bad for only 33 percent off. Instead I went to Hobby Lobby and got Oliver a new cage cover, as the one I bought at JoAnn was too small (I ordered a yard and they gave me only 30 inches—not cool, JoAnn). Then I got Butch gassed up at Costco and finished up by picking up something at Kaiser for James and then went to Publix. (I was actually heading for Big Lots, but traffic was stopped dead for a big accident; I ran past three accidents in the two hours I was out, and in two cases one car had hit the other car so hard that the wheel was bent. In fact, one of the cars had its left rear wheel broken off with the axle sticking out of it! After seeing the third accident, I just wanted to get home unscathed.)

James was better by Wednesday, so we went to physiotherapy; this is his last until Kaiser gets off their duff and re-ups his referral. On the way home we stopped at Lidl.

Thursday it was James' turn to get gasoline at Costco. This time we went inside to get the rest of the things for our Twelfth Night party. I also did a search-and-destroy through the garage and tossed away a garbage bag full of stuff, plus a bunch of old magazines. And to make it a medical trifecta, James had an iron infusion on Friday. Made the mistake of eating at Whattaburger afterwards. I am so not impressed by this place. The burger tastes of that fake "grillmark" shit and James clearly asked them for my burger as "a bun, the burger, and ketchup only," and they gave me the whole darn salad (thank goodness they remembered to omit the mustard). I burped the crappy thing up the rest of the afternoon.

Yesterday we went to a nice little gathering at the Spiveys home to celebrate Alice's birthday and watch the UGA vs. Florida State game. The company was great, but Florida State did a crash and burn. Later we learned the final score was 63 to 3!

Today I washed towels and cleaned the bathroom so I didn't have to do it on New Year's Day. Still have to sort meds for the week, but that's a twenty minute thing. For supper James made something he calls "egg roll in a bowl," ground pork cooked up and then blended with diced coleslaw, carrots, and celery. It was yummy. We watched a few Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes, then Rudolph's Shiny New Year, the Ellery Queen episode "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne," and finally the M*A*S*H episode "A War for All Seasons."

I put on the live feed from Times Square at 11:30, but the music was dreadful, so I found an old Guy Lombardo special from New Year's Eve 1976 to watch until it was almost time for the real Happy New Year. So we saw 1977 in about 11:55, then switched back to Times Square for the final countdown.

HAPPY 2024, EVERYONE!
Linda
James
Tucker
&
Oliver

Labels: birthday, Christmas, errands, food, gifts, health, illness, New Year, restaurants, videos

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:59:00 PM

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The lower GI troubles reoccurred throughout the week. It was bad enough when it happened on Tuesday—I had to transport James to Urgent Care with a severe pain in his hip; after x-rays determined there was nothing wrong, they sent him home with pain meds and a referral, and I was so upset by thinking it might be something horrible (like appendicitis) that I worked my way into constant toilet trips (in fact, I was in there so long I managed to finish all of Alan Shayne/Norman Sunshine's book Double Life)—but it happened again on Thursday, which means we didn't get to start grocery shopping until after noon, by which time it had become hellishly hot. (I think I had some sort of low-level stomach virus. It could have been triggered by the heat; I tend to get sick when it's hot anyway. Or it could have been the lamb stew, which also gave James grief on Monday.) So we only went to Lidl and then were going to the Publix on Floyd Road, but they were out of handicapped access carts, so we ended up in Smyrna anyway, with me finding it extremely painful to sit.

On Friday, we needed to pick up what prescriptions James didn't corral at Town Center on Tuesday. Because he was picking up insulin, the pharmacy clerk (our favorite lady) at the Cumberland office gave us this big "icepack," so we were safe stopping at Sprouts for some fruits and veg before going on to Patak's butcher shop. We have only been here on the first Saturday of the month, the only weekend day they are open, so used today as an opportunity. To our relief, they have remodeled. Now you get to line up inside instead of outside, which is very helpful on a day like today. The smell in that place is incredible! If we brought Tucker here he would pass out from sensory overload. So we got a pound of fresh mortadella (half the price of Publix), some pastrami for James, fresh chicken wings (not as cheap as Nam Dae Mun, but larger), Italian sausage, kielbasa, and a pound of lovely stew beef (seriously, I need to come here for stew beef; Patak's price is what Sprouts has for a sale price).

We dropped this off at home and I put the insulin in the fridge and left the icepack out. We then had lunch at a new pizza place at Belmont Plaza in Smyrna, Your Pie. The place is nice, but the ceilings are high, meaning the acoustics suck, especially when they have background music. Had trouble communicating with the lady making my pizza because the echo was so bad. Pizza was okay. It had a crispy crust, and the service was quick. However, the crust is nowhere as tasty as Uncle Maddios. It kind of has this bland cracker taste. And somewhere either in the crust or the marinara sauce there is more stupid pepper! James also noted that, while he liked it, the Italian sausage is very spicy! He got the wheat crust and also found it pretty bland.

Finally we went to Barnes & Noble. I feel bad for the people working at the Akers Mill store: it is bloody hot in there! No air moving at all. Found Time's Convert out in paperback and discounted already, so used my coupons on Don't Make Me Pull Over ("an informal history of family road trips"), also finally in paperback, and a nifty graphic novel version of the story of the moon landing, Moonbound.

Remember those fresh chicken wings? We had them for supper. Yumm!

So we ran around for two days and discovered we had still forgotten enough stuff to occupy this morning. We had to go to Costco to fill up the truck, then stop at Petsmart for birdseed (bojemoi! big bag of seed now $19!), and I nipped into Titan Comics to see if they had any recent copies of the "Rivers of London" comics. Alas, just old ones. We had also made a brief stop at the Spring Road branch of Nam Dae Mun in search of the elusive TVP, which they call "soya." Found enough bags of it to make a small store again, including some with caramel coloring that will make the pale ground turkey meat James uses in his breakfasts look more brown and appetizing.

In the meantime, we continue to enjoy more of season one of Perry Mason and A Taste of History. I didn't know the latter was originally a PBS program.

Labels: books, food, illness, pets, restaurants, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:44:00 PM

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So, of course we are away from home and can't sleep. This is normal, but I hate it. I think we've gone on vacation once where we found the bed so comfortable that we could sleep properly. Either the mattress is too soft, or hard, or the pillows the same, or the room is too warm...it's frustrating that our bodies are so contrary. And, ironically, the one time the bed, pillows, and ventilation were perfect, we were so dog sick we couldn't enjoy them. I pretty much couldn't sleep because I had to keep rolling over due to my hips hurting. Annoying and not the hotel's fault, because they put in a new mattress last year.

We had breakfast in the common room (they have a nice buffet that includes eggs and sausage; I hope they do some bacon this weekend), then decided to walk into Helen. It was chilly this morning, with a strong breeze, so we had to don flannel shirts over our short sleeves, and jackets over that with hats. It didn't seem so bad until we came out of the lee of the hotel; goodness, what a gust! Otherwise it was sunny and lovely, the just-budding trees waving back and forth in the erratic wind, the occasional blossom or two coming loose and swirling around. We loved it! It's the kind of wind that puts heart in you. Also saw something neat as we left: there was a pickup truck parked behind the hotel, with a big German Shepherd lying down on top of the toolbox. He belongs to one of the maintenance men, who brings him to work every day, and he stays there until his person is done. He was there when we left, and then when we came back over an hour later.

We stopped at the olive oil shop to get a new supply of white peach balsamic vinegar; sadly, we forgot our bottle to refill. We also got some honey sesame ginger vinegar as well. This will not only be good on Asian salad, but should be a good finishing sauce for chicken, too. Then we hiked up the hill to Hoher's Bakery and bought a treat for each of us: I got a cinnamon twist, which is the closest I can get to a cruller these days, and James got a German chocolate brownie. We also stopped at the candy store to get my annual dark-chocolate almond bark fix and James got a small assorted box of sugar-free candy. We enjoyed the stroll, admired the spring flowers (especially the ones against the Christmas decorations still remaining—it was funny seeing garlands of pine and fir with tulips and daffodils swaying in the background), and stopped at Wendy's for James to get lunch (I had leftover wings and waffle fries from Bigg Daddy's).

When we got back to the conference room, we started talking and our plans changed. We had decided we were going to the new Thai place for supper, but everyone was going there for lunch. Well, lunch would be cheaper, and it's no fun going alone... So we put James' Wendybag in the room refrigerator and went off to Spice 55 for lunch: us, Alice, Ken, Aubrey, Jessie, Dorothy (Kristine's sister), Alex, Pat, Shari, Charles, Terry, and Juanita. I think this is a new place; I don't recall it being here last year (but then last year is rather a blur). Anyway, the food is outstanding. Alex and Pat raved over the sushi. I had Pad Thai and probably the best I've ever had. It had ground peanuts in it and tasted wonderful. James had Pad Cashew. Everyone else was pleased as well.

I'm not sure what other groups of people do after they have lunch together, but we went to a bookstore together. We always stop at Mount Yonah Bookstore, and the lady knows us since we've been there so often. In fact Terry is on their Facebook page and told her we were coming. She had a big sign outside that said "Welcome, Atomicon! Check in at the front." I found two anthologies of juvenile mysteries and James found an old flying manual plus a real prize: a copy of Igor Sikorsky's autobiography signed by Sikorsky! I had a blast from the past in the kids' section: they had an assortment of the Thornton W. Burgess Mother West Wind books, which I remember from the old Arlington Library on Cranston Street. Back in those days I wanted to read Marguerite Henry and the the Trixie Belden books, and Arlington had what could charitably be described as "vintage books." I once complained bitterly to my mother that the newest book Arlington had involved a girl with a car with a running board. Now I would give a lot for those old books. I did find one of them once, Flax, the story of a police dog in Germany.

Some of the group then went to "the mead place," but James hadn't brought the power chair and had been walking around for a while and his back was killing him. So we just came back to the hotel via Nora Mill and bought some new whisks and a new bag of Pioneer Porridge.

We ended up playing a game of "Roll for It" when we got back with Terry and Jessie (and later Shari). This was fun. You get three cards with different die faces (six sixes, for example, or a one, three, and five, or four twos, etc.) and you throw your six dice trying to match them. Then a group went off to Catch 22, which we went to last year, and a small group to Spice 55, but I got out my leftovers and James had his chili and cheeseburger, and we snacked on the veggie tray that Shari brought. People eventually trickled back in to chat, and then to play games. I spent most of the evening watching Dorothy, Shari, Shannon, and Terry play Rummikub (I was helping Terry, which helped me learn the game). Alex brought a blender with him and was making drinks. There was watermelon with vodka, Bailey's, and some type of margarita. I had a couple of sips of the Bailey's but couldn't really drink what I wanted because it was time for my heart medication. The Bailey's was good, and the watermelon one looked fab.

Labels: books, dogs, food, friends, games, restaurants, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:04:00 PM

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We had a nice sleep in this morning and then finished the shopping at Kroger. I found the cutest Hallowe'en statue, a witch and her cat, with a haunted house, ghost, and jack o'lantern inset in her skirt. I was going to take it to work until I discovered that it lights up! With all the fluorescent lights, it would be totally wasted at work.

We decided to do something a little different today and check out the Microsoft store at Lenox Mall. Before we got on our way, we stopped at another Publix to check out their supply of lower-sugar maple-and-brown-sugar oatmeal. This must be their most popular flavor, since there was one box left. I also got a box of the mixed "spice" flavors which has four of the maples, two cinnamons, and four apple-and-cinnamons. I hate the smell and the flavor of the latter (it's too horribly sweet), but maybe I can mix them with a maple or a cinnamon sometime.

Well, I turned around to see if there were anymore displays of oatmeal out and what do I see but a big table full of discount books, three for ten dollars! And these weren't the kind of books no one wants, either; there were some popular authors in there, including Jan Karon. I found four, count 'em, four hardback history books: Kenneth Davis' A Nation Rising: Untold Tales of Flawed Founders, Fallen Heroes, and Forgotten Fighteres from America's Hidden History; James Bradley's The Imperial Cruise; Evan Thomas' The War Lovers (with the Bradley book, a pair of stories about the imperialistic movement at the time of the Spanish-American war); and Larry Schweikart's 7 Events That Made America America. Cool!

We haven't been to Lenox Mall in years...literally. Headed there through my old route to work, West Paces Ferry Road. I don't think West Paces has been fixed since I used to work in Buckhead, either. I think the rich folks in that neighborhood figure if the road is bad, it will keep the traffic away. These were already expensive houses when Atlanta was a smaller city; now the old homes are either being expanded or torn down to form new McMansions. There are Spanish-style homes, mock Tudor, even a fancy Italianate one, complete with porte cocheres, automatic gates, turrets, and other fancy decor. West Paces is also the home of a classy private school (Pace Academy) and the Governor's Mansion.

The old Buckhead, the "bar scene" part of town, is gone. It's now the home of expensive hotels and even more expensive condos and restaurants.The ugly old yellow-tile building PGO once worked in is now a five-story glass-and-steel building (all they kept were the elevator shafts) with a classy restaurant on top, the Capitol Grill. All the old favorite restaurants of my co-workers are gone, like the Peachtree Cafe and the East Village Grill. There is one building we remember with fondness; it opened as a restaurant called "J. Paul's." The week they were to open, their liquor license didn't come through, but they had all the employees ready to go and the food about to spoil. So they offered free lunches and dinners so long as you tipped the waitstaff the equivalent of what they would have paid if you had to pay for a meal. One of my co-workers discovered this and all of PGO went over to J. Paul's for the free lunch. Well, we had a convention that weekend—Dixie Trek, Fantasy Fair, whatever—and when a bunch of us were looking for a place to go eat, I remembered J. Paul's. About twenty of us went over one night, and the next, too, and I think for lunch at least once. We called it "the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Free Lunch" and later someone (I think it was Ron) made up buttons for all the attendees.

Lenox has changed quite a lot since we were there last; it's expanded and of course the stores have changed. There's no longer one bookstore in the mall anymore. :-( I remember how we would go to the BDalton on the first level on Friday nights when I still lived nearby.) However, you can still find lots of parking near the entrance to the food court, so that's what we did. :-) We did visit the Microsoft store, which looks a lot like the Apple store (which we tried to get in later, but it was full of people getting the new iPhone; in fact there was a line outside!). Lots of shiny new computers, but very stark and cold, and there was nothing there that was even tempting.

We stopped at the little kiosk that Starbucks has, and shared a slice of pumpkin bread and a chocolate-chip frappucino, and walked around some more. Bought James some bed socks in Brookstone, and wandered about both Bath and Body Works (with some interesting new scents) and Williams-Sonoma (full of fall-motif foods).

By the time we arrived home, there was enough time to change and tidy up a bit before starting dinner. I made chive-and-parsley turkey thighs basted with white wine and James fixed the last of our Yukon gold potatoes with a little butter and chives. Yum! And enough left to make a sandwich for work!

We spent most of the evening watching the next-to-the-last disk of series four of Murdoch Mysteries. Wow. Can they torment William Murdoch any more than he's been tormented this season? He got a stunning shock early in the run of thirteen episodes. In two of the three episodes on this disk, he faces two more horrific losses. I've heard of character torture, but this is ridiculous!

Labels: books, food, Hallowe'en, memories, restaurants, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:40:00 PM

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We had supper at Vincent's Italian Ristorante tonight. It's gone wayyyy past the day we first went there and had terrible service. Our waiter, Jeremiah, was super, and supper equally so. James had lasagna and I had rigatoni with meatballs. The other half will make a nice lunch next week. The pasta was cooked perfectly—marvelously al dente.

The music was great, too. They didn't have the usual Frank Sinatra/Rat Pack junk Italian songs, but music I grew up with: Jerry Vale, Connie Francis, what sounded like Al Martino or Enzo Pinza—and even Lou Monte. They played both "Lazy Mary" and "Pepino the Italian Mouse." Other kids grew up with "The Wheels on the Bus" or camp songs. Me, I grew up on Lou Monte and "Pepino." LOL.

After supper went to the Barnes & Noble at West Cobb in the forlorn hope of finding Country. So few places carry it! Bought a copy of Ballet Shoes because I've never read it, and a really cool remainder coffee table book about the making of The Wizard of Oz (I'm not a crazy Oz fan, but this talks about the progression from book to screen and talks about the silent versions of the books, etc. A few great shots of Terry, who played Toto.)

We also stopped at Hallmark and found the Webkinz turkey—what a great Thanksgiving decoration! He's so cute, with crossed eyes to boot. Maybe I'll call him "Clarence."

Watching more Muppets tonight. I notice Disney has pared those original ITC logos off...

Labels: books, food, holidays, restaurants, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:45:00 PM

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I'd say it was a useful day, if not exciting at all, except at one point.

We went to WalMart. The lines weren't too bad and we found the small low-carb whole wheat tortillas instead of the huge ones. I also found a pair of flip-flop slippers in my size that were blue instead of pink (they're always pink! I despise pink!).

We went to BJs. Since we'd done the herculean after-Christmas cleaning and survived, we bought some lobster ravioli for supper. Excellent stuff, and we have another portion that I think we'll save for Valentines Day.

We made a short stop at Kroger and couldn't find what we wanted, which was how we ended up at WalMart.

We found out the wi-fi on the Gadget works fine.

We finished the afternoon off reading the paper.

No, the "exciting" part came at the beginning of the day. We'd been planning on Sweet Tomatoes for breakfast, but since all our errands were in the Smyrna area we just ate at the Waffle House on South Cobb Drive near the Kroger.

My advice: don't, since I'm notifying someone at the health department about them tomorrow. It was so near lunch that I had pork chops and James had an omelet and we were both about done eating when a small roach waltzed out from under James' plate and wandered under the napkin holder. I wasn't very hungry after that. We left as soon as possible. In short: ugh!

Labels: computers, insects, restaurants, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:17:00 PM

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