Bah humbug .. 4" of wet snow! A friend in north Jersey already had 6" late last night, and it was still snowing there .. so I guess I shouldn't complain. I think the storm is over, but I don't think it's clearing up just yet.

Good morning!
Astraea, do you still have power or are you on the generator?

Morning, what's everyone up to today? I'm popping in and out this afternoon and am off to my friends 54th. birthday party tonight. Should be great, she throws the best Fondu/Stone parties. Hopefully we'll install that OTR micro this am, since it's been sitting on the living room floor all week!!!!!

Living room floor, dining room table, sound normal places to me.

Astraea, you watch those toes!!

German DD just posted a photo of a big dump of snow they just had as she was about to go do her food shopping. 3rd DD comments back - at least the ice cream won't melt. Guess you have to look for positives in everything.

Night all take care in those slippery conditions.

nitey roo! sweet dreams

well the blizzard pics look breathtaking on the news.....
olldcan, have fun at your par-tay!!!!!!!!!!! and don't feel bad, my white frig is sitting in the middle of thekitchen floor right now. who knows how long that will be the case??? a true white elephant in the room! :)

Well, 2/3 of the driveway is done, and I'm giving my lower back a break. I always worry that if I stop before I finish, I'll be in too much pain to go back & finish later! I really do have to finish shoveling, to get the car out. I really wish my landscaper was more pro-active about plowing/blowing the snow; I never know if he'll come or not .. and it's almost impossible to get people to do it, even before the season starts.

I just read though all of yesterday comments, always feel like i've missed the boat not having as much time here as I used to. Hoping for change, that's for sure.

judyg, your doing your rental taxes......are you crazee girlfriend?

bobbi and linda, good luck a home depot. I know there policy and they can be great. I do have a crappy story to share about Home Depot. Years back I ordered 7 sets of patio sliders for the apt. bldg, the third floor sliders needed to be replaced. They came, measured everything and ordered the doors. When the doors arrived, there install contractor came with his team and proceed to take every slider up the stairs, to the third floor to be installed. Fantastic right??? he called to say they were all installed and I needed to get my manager to sign off on the job so they could leave. Out comes the questionnaire..... all relating to the patio sliders of course. So that evening, curiosity get's the best of me and I drive into the city to check these doors out. To say I was pissed, is an understatement!!!!! The hd contractor and crew dragged the doors instead of carrying them and cut the carpet on every stair tread and landing up to the third floor plus cut the carpet down the hall, into all seven suites. The store manager was called by my husband and basically told, "you signed off" on the job so, too bad. Fast forward 2 years, lawyer bills, etc. The day before were going to court with Home Depot, they decide to settle. There was a lot of B.S that went on in the 2 years, had they offered to repair the carpet immediately ( as it was 7 years old) it probably would have been acceptable but instead they chose to be A H*LES and had to pay out, to have it replace 2 years later. We spend a lot, in the course of a year with all our rentals. The best revenge was me not buying a single item from them for 10 years :). During this time I worked as a vendor and was in home depots on a regular basis. I made a point of speaking to the manager every time I was leaving the store. " Gotta go, having all the counters replaced today" or " well, I'm off now, have to stop by the building, having all the toilets replaced today" or " no thanks, I don't want a quote from home depot on replacing all the windows or all the cabinets"

mp, you and Mal are beautiful, just like I had imagined!!!!!!

So, im searching all OLLD dates from this past week and type in olld 2/7 and the convo caption reads something like this: The OLLDS really got an earful of that tantrum I threw.... I could almost hear them cheering old!!!!..... I never saw that on the post, did I miss something? or did someone have something not so nice to say them removed there comment.

CNN Live is on and OH MY, "Kim Kardashian files for an emergency divorce" Really, is this news worthy. I'm afraid CNN live has turned themselves into a live streaming gossip mag. Where the hell are the Gilligan Islands or Beverly Hillbillies reruns when you need one. Think i'm shutting off the tube and going to make a batch of krawdad whatchmadooey. Micro aint going up this am, arrrgggg!!!

olldcan a frig is much larger than a micro! hahaha! but i understand what you're saying, they are convenient!! i guess i'll just sell the old frig. thought about keeping it out in the carport, just in case, but the new one seems to be running fine.
boy i hope today is better than yesterday. bad bad day all the way around. i should never take a day off.

olldcan, didn't Kim Kardashian just pay millions for her wedding? Hmmm....I wonder if that's tax deductible amongst the rich and famous. And really, who cares about her marriage probs???

It's my guess that Kim Kardashian's wedding was paid for by one of the TV stations, because it was televised as part of their series. Don't know why her divorce is taking so long, but since she's already pregnant by someone else .. Kanye West .. I guess she's anxious to get rid of & forget the other husband, Chris Humphreys. The Kardashians are absolutely shameless at self-promotion .. and getting media attention & paid for it!

agreed, they're shameless and classless. Just seems CNN is not much better lately. Heard the reporter call people "idiots" for being on the roads..... Wonder why the K's are always on the news since nobody gives a tinkers damn about them. Really, there just an embarrassment!!! Oh well, I guess the morning radio DJ's will have fun with this one, it's comedy. As for the reporters comments, guess that falls into classless as well, not to mention she's driving around on the roads interviewing people clearing snow.... who's the idiot here? :( My word, if we all had to stay home cause it snowed, we would be house ridden for 6 months a year.

Just checking in from Sunny California. Used to live in NY and NJ (a smaller amount of time in VA + VT). Somedays I miss those areas, but not today...

OH BOY! What a storm! We have drifts up to 4/5 feet. The wind is incredible. My favorite Brazilians have been here twice to plow. Thank heavens for the generator, which runs automatically off the gas line. I have the crock pot going. Does any one like kielbasa? I have a great recipe to share.

Astraea, you shouldn't be doing that shoveling yourself; if you hurt your back it will never be the same.

What is the difference between a regular divorce and an EMERGENCY divorce? Money? Media?

Yes, doing taxes, but, there is not much else to do, so I am biting the bullet.

I LOVE kielbasa! Recipe will be appreciated.

Just got back from Homey Depot and not too happy. First they tried to tell me the 2 year replacement guarantee was for small appliances - they don't sell small appliances. When I dug my heels in and told them this was the paperwork THEY gave me, they backed off.

So it seems I must have 3 service calls for the same problem before they will even talk about replacement. No problem! Had one on Thursday, scheduled one for Tuesday, and will schedule a third the minute he leaves because it's the same company that was here on Thursday and he already told me there's nothing he can do.

Then they told me they would replace like for like, but oh no! They don't make this model anymore! What a surprise. Well, at the bottom of the paperwork it says I can have a - wait for it - GIFT CARD instead of a replacement. OK!!! I'm good with that! Stay tuned......

MP, I am so sorry to hear that! Did something happen to cause it or was it just a bad turn? Please tell her how sorry I am, for her and for you too.

Are you saying she's an overachiever? Like her Mom? It's tough for type A people to sit and rest and relax. Just be there for her, MP, she has a great support system in you I just know it. I'll say a prayer for her tonight. Be well.

thanks lovey!
everything will be as it should...

i just read what i wrote... "suspension"!! hahaha! my brain is fried today!

j22, this is a crock pot recipe.

One bag dried white beans, rinsed (Navy)
1 large chopped onion
fresh garlic minced (to your taste, I used just a speck)
4 cups chix stock
1 can chopped tomatoes (I use Del Monte Petit Cut)
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 kielbasa sliced length wise and cut into bite size chunks

Mix all together, cover and cook.

When ready to eat, stir into the pot, one pkg of fresh baby spinach, until wilted. Viola!

Think you will like it a lot.

MP, funny! I knew what you meant :))

Judy, sounds good, I'll have to try it.

Got my blood test results and got good and yelled at. Now I have to go in to see her and get yelled at in person. I can't wait!

@Judy – I was thinking about you, and how much snow you must have gotten! You mentioned the generator .. did you lose power from your electric utility?

I need to get a more reliable person to clear my driveway & shovel the stairs! My guy comes .. sometimes, and if I have to go out, it’s just easier to do it myself, and be done with it! I was glad to be finished early, because it was nice & sunny, and the driveway dried off in the afternoon. I think it’s good exercise, and I usually break the driveway into 2 or 3 chunks, with a rest inbetween. The roads were all fine around here, but you have to be careful where the snow melts .. then refreezes overnight.

@Bobbi – Hope all works out at Home Depot for you; I hate when they try to get sneaky about coverage!

olldcan - that is so funny out of all my lengthy comment on 2/7 those lines were chosen. Read my second last comment, the reply to Dave. I was talking about the tantrum I threw when the builder made my shower recess too small.

It is rather interesting in a way, I would have thought those snippets of comments would have been from the first or last lines, now I wonder if someone actually edits them to spice things up. Hope they are not trying to turn this website into E News.

Bobbi, glad your blood test came back fine, even if you did get yelled at doing things you know you shouldn't. While she is yelling at you don't forget to ask her why you feel like you do. Will probably blame d and flip it off but don't accept it, that is the easy way out. It is very hard to keep to diets and stay focussed when you feel like crap. Ask her to refer you to a dietitician or nutritionalist and have a sit down with them. It is amazing how easy it is to slip into habits we don't even realise and other professionals can pick up on things no one else even thinks of.

Oh and don't forget your sleep - or lack of.

Never heard of kielbasa so had to Google it - I don't think I have used Google so much since I have been an OLLD - but thought this really interesting. So which kielbasa do you use?

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Mystery-Of-Polish-Sausage---What-Is-Kielbasa?&id=757771

@roo: interesting article. I didn't know kielbasa meant sausage. Where I shop kielbasa means one type of sausage. Polish. Smoked. Horseshoe shaped. Usually beef/pork or now comes in turkey.

I follow an old Martha Stewart recipe for an open face sandwich. I think Martha is part Polish. I simmer the sausage in water for about 15 minutes (some Kielbasa is precooked, but this helps get rid of fat) and then put in 375 oven for 20 minutes or until skin crackles. Slice thin and serve open face on rye bread with beet horseradish on top. Yum.

Aren't we becoming educated. I have to Google all the things you guys talk about that I have never heard of but then I find interesting things to send you to expand your knowlege.

Looks like the original kielbasa was pork but as the article says people just change an ingredient here and another there and it changes the whole product. I try to stay away from that sort of thing because of the fat level. When my joeys were little and we barbecued sausages for them a bit, I used to boil them first to get a lot of the fat out, which wasn't really good for barbecuing but because they were boiled, they only needed browning to give them the barbecue flavour. Haven't heard of beet horseradish either, not supposed to eat horseradish so usually ignore it in recipes. Any spice sausage like that I like to add tzatziki, the cucumber has a lovely cooling effect like with curries.

I love tzatziki. The Kielbasa is not spicy to me. Flavorsome & garlicky, a bit chewy, but kinda bland.

Garlic is good, and I do like spices that add flavour without necessarily adding heat or bite. Probably have to go to a specialist shop to get it here. I put tzatziki on everything, I am totally addicted to it.

Do U have a recipe 4 the tzatziki?

j22 - I am a kitchen avoider. I make as little as possible, especially things like this when I can buy such nice tubs of it that last for at least a week. I think I have collected a few recipes for it over the years but I just find so many things aren't worth making.

Yes, Martha Stewart is Polish .. 100%. My grandmother, with whom we lived, came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, saying they lived "outside Vienna". When my Mom died, and I found my grandparents' passports, I realized she must never have looked at a map! They were so "outside Vienna", they actually came from Poland (LOL)! So at 50, I went from being Austrian to Polish, in the blink of an eye!

Everything is relative, Astraea.

I'll start 2/10 and hit the sack.

I started 2/10 .. hope you found it!