This was the first time I did our corned beef dinner in the crock pot. It turned out fork tender and probably the tastiest one we’ve ever had.

I will do it again.

Quiet day because The Curmudgeon had a bad day and spent most of it in bed. He woke up super weak and at one point couldn’t even pull himself upright enough to get back into his bed. I had to enlist the neighbor’s help. I can’t lift him at all anymore without making my back worse.

Therefore, Lucy and I had the downstairs all to ourselves for most of the day. I even had an extra cup of coffee to sip without interruption. I’ll take it where I can get it.

Now if I only had some birthday cake to go with the coffee….

Our corned beef and cabbage dinner is ready to go. All I need do is drop the crock into the crock pot, add water, cover, and hit on.

I broke tradition once in 44 years and it felt so wrong.

So yesterday G took me on an early birthday outing.

First she made sure I got to the license photo place on the east side of town and got my new license before another day passed. I’d not found time and mine expires the 19th.

Then we went in the opposite direction, clean out of town, to the new Outback because that was where she decided I was getting my birthday lunch.

And a lovely lunch it was. We both had Bloomin’ burgers with fries and coffee. Then I spotted something on the drink menu and knowing her finances were tight I told her I was buying us each a drink. I showed her the drink and description on the menu. Meet the Key lime pie martini. OMG so delicious!

Our sweet waiter, hearing it was my birthday lunch, knowing we both said we were stuffed to the gills, came out with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, Oreo cookie crumbs, whipped cream with a final flourish of a lit candle, and two spoons. Yep, I blew out the candle, placed it to one side, and we ate the sundae.

Anyone remember the movie punch line “one more wafer thin mint” …Monty Python? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZPzQESq_0 

Bloomin’ burger

Key lime pie martini

I get to go get a new picture taken for my driver’s license today. Oh, joy.

I do not photograph well so there’s no chance it will look half way decent.

On the brighter side G is taking me out for a birthday lunch afterwards.

Lucy had a follow up appointment at the vet’s.

She waltzed in like she owned the joint and insisted on her pets–she’s such a social butterfly.

As long as they are loving on her they can take her temperature, give her two shots, take blood, and do all the listening to her heart and lungs that they want to do. She returns it all with hugs and kisses.

She’s such a sweetheart.

As I type this I can hear the snow hitting the window AC unit.

Here’s another Nor’easter!

I only hope that we don’t get a ton of snow over night since Lucy has a vet appointment in the afternoon.

The Curmudgeon’s splint was put on so poorly by the PA that I had to redo it today.

I did a better job of it.

Could it be because I’ve had to do my own splints, ace bandages, and bandages since I was a kid?

I was a klutz growing up.

I managed to sprain an ankle at least twice a year.

I’ve broken and sprained fingers.

I’ve had bandages from dog bites, cats scratches, and sheer clumsiness.

Well Lucy has decided that The Curmudgeon must have a toy on his hand.

Every time she spots that splint she’s trying to make a nab for it.

She may become queen of the crate for a week if she doesn’t stop it.

Yep, he only needs to wear it for a week.

They want him to make a follow up appointment with a hand specialist. I’m wondering if that will ever happen as he’s not real eager to do it.

Or something.

Had my usual night of trying to get caught up with things after he’d gone to bed, including setting up his pills for the rest of the month–a tedious task that takes me at least an hour.

Finally crawled into bed a little after 5 a.m. and I know it didn’t take long for me to drop into a sound sleep.

Not even an hour into that wonderful, deep sleep a loud crash upstairs had me off the couch and dealing with a Curmudgeon on the floor we won’t discuss his condition other than his finger was at an odd angle.

By 6:15 a.m. we were sitting in a room in the ER waiting for the results of his x-ray.

Well, he didn’t break it. Nope.

He dislocated it.

Time for me to pull out my phone and start playing my zombie game since they were injecting his finger to numb it so they could put it back in place.

I am not a nurse, I never had a desire to be a nurse. I also find the older I get the more squeamish I get about certain things.

Watching him get an injection and having the finger manipulated back into place is one of those things.

As I watch the daily stripping of our protections and rights by this administration I am sorely tempted to become an Ex-Pat.

What this administration is doing to us is above and beyond all moral constraints. Only a blind and deaf person who lives in a cave or someone with their brains kept in a jar doesn’t see this.

The racist drivel dripping from the mouths of these Cheeto fanatics slime this once great country. It needs to stop.

We are a nation of immigrants hailing all the way back to the Mayflower and before. This nation of ours always was and always will be a melting pot. Get over it and get on with living your lives.

We will never regain our strength and freedoms without diversity and tolerance.

Step up and be counted as human beings not separated by race, religion, gender, and sexuality. We are first and foremost human.

As humans we are here to protect our environment and not destroy it.

It’s going to take us a long time to recover from the economic and environmental damage already done, can we please prevent this administration from doing any more damage?

Turned out this latest Nor’easter was easier on us than the last one.

No wind whipping through peeling shingles from roofs and plucking branches from trees. No felling of trees this time.

I enjoy the “I can’t hear you” game when those annoying callers call me.

I’ve added crinkling cellophane and speaking partial words to them.

Somewhere around here, I have a few whistles that I had handed out tons of one Halloween in the distant past. They make a cartoonish Fwee! sound. If I can find the couple I had left over I’ll add them to my sound effects.

I also have an English bobby’s whistle to use.

Wish I had a train whistle…I can hear that now.

Sound of train whistle…”OMG! It’s gonna hit us!”

Any ideas for more easy to use sounds to annoy the annoying callers will be welcome.