New rant! (hop on the train, and hold on tight folks...it's gonna be a bumpy ride)

Hiya all. Working on week 2 of Bronchitis, and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better. Unfortunately, according to my doc, no Enbrel injections until it has cleared up. YIKES! I was already breaking out all over with dozens of tiny new patches of psoriasis BEFORE all this started. Now I'm covered in the stuff again. Although I don't seem to be ballooning up with excessive amounts of new inflammation, the old stuff hasn't gone away either.

That is, except for my hands. Silly, silly me. I got some strange bug up my rear and decided that I absolutely MUST have a creative outlet RIGHT NOW...so I got out my old jewelry making kit and started going to it. 3 hours yesterday and a couple today...and my hands are look like a prize fighter's without the bruises. That and the whole fingers popping out of joint and the muscles in my hands and forearms spasming at strange times and seemingly without any reason.

I'm pretty sure I had a mad panic attack about the fact that we have exactly 3 paychecks until Christmas, and one of those will go to rent. Another will go to the trip back to Texas to pick up all the rest of our stuff. Oh yeah...and the third will go to bills. Crap. I have kids that need a Christmas, and a HUGE set of in-laws that have this bizarre "newmas" thing where 35 people show up for a weekend around New Years and celebrate a huge Christmas together. I love it, but buying gifts for 35 people gets a wee bit....um...insane! So I decided to make gifts this year. HAH! In 5 hours I've made 2 bookmarks, 2 necklaces, and started a third. At this rate I'll have enough things made for newmas by....next newmas? But can you imagine if I tried to do more than what I've been doing? Good Lord, I'd probably end up chopping off my own hands to stop them from doing that spasm thing. Of course, I'm also planning to make herb and garlic infused olive oil and spicy terriyaki sauce to bottle up and give as gifts, so maybe I'll have better luck with that. Now what did I do with that recipe....

Tomorrow is my baby's 15th birthday. So on top of all of that (above), I feel old and sad that I can't do more to celebrate for him. 15 is kind of a milestone, or at least it is in my family. I have a couple of small gifts for him, and told him we'd take him to a movie on the weekend. He doesn't want a birthday cake (which I can bake, no problem), but instead wants a buttermilk pie. Huh? Never even heard of it. Allrecipes.com to the rescue (I hope).

Anyway, that's my daily dose of drama. Although it sounds suspiciously like I'm whining, I'm really not. More like thinking pessimistically in print. I'll take a couple of days off the jewelry making, whip up something yummy for the kid for his birthday, and will be back to my optimistic self in no time. Provided I can find those recipes....

I like that you’re pessimistically postulating in print!

Nice one! I love a little alliteration. Makes the wide world wobble!

Gotta do what ya gotta do kiddo! Sometimes no matter how hard we try it just "ain't gonna Happen" as they say. Love you for your direct stick-to-it goals. Every day brings some new crazy thing and it's nice to read that everyone here is really just a normal person under all the plaques and sausage digits :) I feel the same, only a few weeks till the Holidays and I can't seem to get those cross stitch ornaments for the eight grand kids going fast enough. May have to switch to an easier project on the hands and eyes. Hope your "baby ' had a great Birthday!!

Hope you found your recipe! As for individual gifts, my brother in law would wait for Christmas Eve to go shopping to get the best last minute deals. That did not give him much time to shop. So everyone would get the same gift, a scarf, a book, a sweater, etc. Whatever that was within his yearly budget that he could get in bulk. Years later, he keeps with that tradition and it is the laugh of the night. We all look forward to it.

Maybe you could introduce a new tradition into “newmas”. Have you ever participated in a White Elephant gift exchange (also known in some circles as Yankee Gigt Exchange or Dirty Santa). It works best with large groups and you are allowed (if not encouraged) to regift. It is an en event in itself and a lot of fun.

Go Sunsetterdottie... this is so much fun!!! Our family did this a few years ago and it was funny. You would not believe how true the old saying about one mans junk is another mans treasure can really be. We are all "poor" so to speak this year so we agreed to just do what we can in the line of goodies from the kitchen, each person does one favorite recipe for someone they picked out of the hat and make sure we get together for a huge bonfire /sledding party to eat it all. I can't wait....there are over thirty family members in the immediate!!!!!

Yep. They decided to do the white elephant thing this year...in ADDITION to everything else. So now I need 35 individual gifts AND a white elephant gift. grrr. I made 4 necklaces last night. Stayed up until 4 am to get them done, but they are done. Today I decided to do nothing...until I remembered I promised to make the buttermilk pie for my kiddo. Then he begged me to make dinner because I'm such a good cook (ha! this was his way of manipulating me so he didn't have to cook!). So now I'm making him do the dishes...because that is just how I roll! By the way, the buttermilk pie was quite tasty. Easy too. I'll have to make it again sometime. Made a Mennonite cabbage and potato bake for dinner and it was really good too. Especially since I made hubby cut up the cabbage, onions, and potatos. (wicked laugh)...sometimes its nice to have an excuse not to do it all myself.

I know what you mean .. you really can not get away with nothing under the tree for the grandkids, so ii'm committed to them at the very least and trying like made to stitch faster....HAH!

Isn't the... I"ll cook but you gotta clean... a great rule? I use it all the time. It does occasionaly back fire when my son, the would-be-chef cooks and I have to clean up his mess!!!! Can you post that recipe for the Mennonite supper? It sounds delicious and easy if you have someone to chop. ;-)

I have never had a buttermilk pie, I'm from up north in the pine trees and I can hardly get someone to share a good Pecan pie with me.They are so stuck on apple and Huckleberries.(yuk,tastes like horses smell) I think I'll make some homemade chicken noodle soup tonight. I'm feeling a need for lots of different veggies,might make some cheddar bay biscuits to go with if the hands hold out long enough!!.

Take it easy when you can and when you can't- take it in your stride... have a good one.

Sorry, crazylady. Haven't been on for awhile and didn't see your post. Here is the Mennonite Cabbage and Potato Bake:

Mennonite Cabbage Potato Kielbasa Bake

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 8 servings

1 small head cabbage

2 cups diced potatoes (I didn't measure this, just had hubby peel and cut a bunch of potatoes)

1 (16 ounce) package smoked kielbasa sausage, (I used turkey kielbasa) sliced

1 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 slices bread, cut into cubes

1/2 cup butter, sliced

Directions

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. 2. Remove and wash outer leaves from cabbage; line a 13x9-inch baking dish with the leaves to cover the bottom entirely. Shred remaining cabbage.
  3. 3. Mix shredded cabbage, potatoes, and smoked sausage in a bowl; spread atop the cabbage leaves in the baking dish.
  4. 4. Whisk milk, eggs, salt, and pepper together in a bowl; add bread cubes. Set aside until bread absorbs some liquid, 1 to 2 minutes; pour over the cabbage mixture. Top with butter slices.
  5. 5. Bake in preheated oven until the potatoes are tender and the top is lightly browned, about 45 minutes.

I almost skipped the bread part because, lets face it, soggy bread is just disgusting. But I didn't and I'm glad. The mixture that you soak it in makes it toast up beautifully in the oven. It was, quite possibly, my favorite part of the whole thing!

Update: I now have 8 necklaces made, 4 bookmarks, and have the plans in mind to make a bunch of beaded Christmas ornaments in the colors of the sports teams of choice for the guys. Only 4 more necklaces/bookmarks to make! (The girls get the necklaces or bookmarks, the guys get the ornaments).

Kiddo's birthday was uneventful, but fun. I made the buttermilk pie and it was easy as....well...pie. He ate the entire thing except for two very small pieces (one for my hubby and one for me). We ended up taking him to see a movie at the $2 movie theater which was a lot of fun and very economically friendly. I also made him his favorite Spaghetti for his birthday dinner. I have a cake mix that I bought at the same time, and plan to make it for him when he least expects it...just to surprise him. :)

We have instituted a new dinner policy around here - thank GOD! Now every other day I make something truly unique and yummy (with chopping help) and on the off days we have leftovers and ramen noodles. Our grocery bill had been getting way out of control, and leftovers were going uneaten. Instead of $250 every two weeks, I spent $306 for the month. The kiddo knows which days he should and should not invite friends over to eat (the Ramen Noodle nights are off limits for non-family), and things are starting to slowly look up. Keep in mind that if I were making Thanksgiving dinner, that budget would have been shot straight out of the water. This year my hubby and I are flying back to our old hometown on Thanksgiving day. We will spend Thanksgiving packing the rest of our stuff and eating a store-bought dinner with my parents. Friday I have a dr. appt with my rheumy and the rest of the day will be spent finishing packing and loading a huge moving van. Saturday (provided everything gets done) we head back North. Luckily, my niece her hubby, and their brand new baby boy are about 1/2 way between Pharr, Texas and Oklahoma City, so we will stop there for the night and get back home on Sunday. Believe it or not, it is 700-750 miles. Never knew Texas was such a huge place until I lived there!

Thanks so much. I am so tired of eating the same stuff all of the time and like you I am the only one that eats the leftovers and I get very tired of the same thing five days in a row.

Sounds like you are a very busy lady in the next few weeks,. glad to hear you are up for the challenge. I thought Washington and Montana where big but my husband says they are flies in the bucket compared to Texas and California length wise. Have a good and safe trip and enjoy yourself . hug that little one as much as you can.... it cheers you up even if you don't think it will!! Meanwhile I think I'l whip up a little dinner......

crazylady: I invited you to be my "friend" (like you aren't already, right?!?), so that I can share some of my recipes with you. I have tons. And...since I've already tried them out I can only send you the yummy ones and can give you some "fixes" to make them PsA friendly as far as prep.

I made homemade cannelloni the other night, and while it was AWESOME and hubby and kid dove in making appropriate grunting and humming noises (with pleasure they say), I will never make it again. By the time I was done, I was in so much pain I couldn't really enjoy eating them. I also ended up in bed for the rest of the night because my back was spasming so badly (and that was after sitting while stuffing the stupid things!)

I got sick and tired of hamburger helper right quick. That stuff will make ya sicker! So now I've dug into my old cookbooks and browse allrecipes.com regularly to find things that will appeal to all in the household that I can make without killing myself or breaking the bank. (For instance...tonight is hot tamale pie YUM!) whipped it up in less than 30 minutes, and now it bakes for an hour. I (of course) added stuff to make it hotter and spicier than the original recipe because we like our Mexicanish food HOT.

Hmmm...maybe I should start a PsA friendly cooking thread in here. Then I could actually feel like I'm making some sort of impact on the rest of you folks who have been so incredibly supportive to me. My sister has started alternating between calling me Martha (Stewart) and Betty (Crocker). She calls me every couple of days to see what I've been cooking so she can ooh and ahh (but she refuses to branch out in the kitchen herself...)