The Last installment in the Cataract Procedure!

     Since I had to keep my post-op cataract appointment today in Cooperstown no matter how cold it was, Jeff warmed up the Forester and we loaded up the dogs and off we went around 9:45am!  First we stopped at the bank to get some $$ and then we stopped at Stewarts's to exchange some of it for some gas.  The front passenger door still wouldn't open so I was in the back seat with the Fanny while Zoey sat up front with Jeff.  The ride to Cooperstown was beautiful...sunshine, blue skies, bare roads.  We made good time and I was checking in at the registration desk at Bassett at 10:45am.  My name was called shortly after 11am (my appointment time) and I followed one of the techs down the hall.  After a stop at one station for the first test, I ended up in an exam room at the other end of the clinic.  Another tech came in and I had my near and far sight tested, eye pressure taken and drops administered to dilate my eyes.  I was told the doctor would see me next.  After the tech left the room I checked my cellphone for the time and saw that it was 11:41am.  Not bad.  Jeff came in a little while later...he had stayed with the dogs in the car for a little while to keep the engine running.  Then he had gone up to the cafeteria for coffee and decided to check in on me before he went back to the car.  When he left, I looked my cellphone again for the time, it was now 12:16pm.  (Where did that half hour go??)  After a few more minutes Dr. Lemanski finished her exam in the next room and made her way into my exam room.  She checked the results of my tests in the online chart and was pleased with my near and far sight and eye pressure.  She thought my eyes were over dilated so she administered some drops to help them start to contract.  (It's now 5:07pm and my pupils are still dilated! There is less than 1/8" of brown iris showing around the pupil!  Wonder how long it will take to get back to normal?)  She said I was probably experiencing a 'halo' of light (ah, that's what that was!) due to the over dilation but it would lessen and slowly fade. She examined the back of my eyes and declared them 'healed'.  Then she wrote an Rx for reading glasses for me that I will get filled in Herkimer next week.  I want them in transition lens so I can read and knit outside without having to have a pair of sunglasses.  (The new glasses will be similar to bifocals but the top of the lens will be plain glass.) It will be interesting to see if Fran Baggetta, the optician, can save the frames I'm using now since Zoey chewed the ear piece off one side.  I hope so.  Anyway, we'll see next week when I check with him.
   When I got out to the car,  I found that Jeff had managed to get the passenger door open and I got to sit up front with Zoey between us.  I had promised him lunch at the restaurant of his choice so when we got back to Mohawk he turned into Mona's (the Purple House on Main St).  He really wanted a covered roast beef sandwich but she was all out so he had to settle for fish fry.  I got a shrimp basket w/ff.  Mona makes her own cocktail sauce and it is so-o-o good (and hot)!  We both were well satisfied with our meal.  After lunch I wanted to go to the Ilion library (they had a pile of books for me) and to the Melrose Market in Frankfort to get some Italian sausage but Jeff was getting tired so after a stop at the library we headed for home.  Since we got here, he and the dogs have been napping.  Maybe tomorrow we can do some grocery shopping. Maybe tomorrow the temperature will be warmer, too.

Merry Christmas? Bah Humbug!

   It was Christmas morning and I was nice and comfortable in bed with the dogs curled up beside me but Jeff was standing over me saying you better get up.  Why? I asked sleepily.  The furnace stopped and the house is going to get cold. Bah humbug!
  I sighed, life in the little house in the little woods, got up and headed to the shower.  The bathroom filled warm steam and the hot water felt wonderful.  Zoey was soon crying at the bathroom door (her usual routine) but I ignored her and toweled off and dried my hair.  Gathering up wet towels, I headed to the laundry room to exchange them for clean underwear, jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and a flannel shirt.  Wool socks finished my holiday ensemble. 
  I passed Jeff on my way to the kitchen.  He was carrying wood to the stove and I was heading to the coffeepot.  (Oh, I guess he couldn't start a fire and put on a pot of coffee!)  We soon had both going but that didn't lighten either of our moods.  We decided to rely on the woodstove and the oven to keep the house reasonably warm today and call for help tomorrow.  (The cost of the emergency call to the heating company will still be kick to the stomach but it will be less tomorrow than today and why ruin someone else's Christmas?)  Jeff just made a quick trip to Stewart's to get a couple of bundles of hard wood but decided to get them at Fast Trac instead.  (Stewart's wanted $8/bundle.  He got 3/$12 at Fast Trac). He stopped for coffee at the N Main St Greek Diner on the way home and the owner gave him a pie as a Christmas present!  I think I'll go there this week and buy a cheesecake for New Year's dinner!!
      It will be cold tonight but we'll survive and hopefully, so will our water pipes since Jeff says the cellar is now warmer than the bedrooms!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

    Here's my honey clusters.  I thought the recipe made more than this but maybe I cut them smaller in the past.  Anyway, it's all done and sitting in the refrigerator  so the honey will harden.  My cookie tray looks pretty good even if I cheated and  bought the pizzellas.  The tray is sitting oven (cold) so the puppy can't get to it!  Here's the goodie box for my 

 All I have left to do for dessert is to make the chocolate pie and decorate it with Cool Whip and maraschino cherries.  Dinner will be easy, too.  A pork loin on the rotisserie, with gravy, green beans and scalloped potatoes.  I think I'll make baking powder biscuits, too, they always go well with gravy.  Jeff's sister has decided to heed the weather forecast and stay home.  We're suppose to get 3-6" of snow tonight and again tomorrow so I don't blame her.  I checked the forecast and it looks better for New Year's Day so I invited Sherry to dinner then.  I'll ask Ed tomorrow if he's free and probably do an Italian dinner for a change. (Ravioli, meatballs, sausage, and antipasto with maybe cheesecake for dessert.)  It will also give me another week to get their Christmas presents knit.

cousin to take home with him.  It doesn't really have a lot of cookies but he lives alone so it should be enough for 1 person.

The Day Before the Day Before Christmas

   I spent the morning baking cookies for my Christmas dinner dessert tray. When my mom was alive and family and friends (18-20 of them!) came to our house for Christmas Eve dinner Mom would always have a tray of Italian Christmas cookies and a plate of honey clusters for dessert.  My ladies would all bring their special cookies and what a tray we would end up with! As time went on and the numbers went down we made fewer cookies each year until in the years just before she died we 'cheated' and just made 1 recipe, split it into thirds and added extra ingredients to end up with 3 different cookies. That's what I did this morning. I used an egg cookie recipe from an old 'church lady' cookbook and by adding chopped nuts and maraschino cherries to one third of the batter and chopped nuts and cocoa to another third I ended up with 3 different looking cookies. 

(I'll frost them later and arrange them on a Christmas plate.) I bought a package of pizella a couple of days ago but it disappeared overnight (explaining why I waited until today to bake)! I got another package yesterday but I hid it and will put them out at the last minute! Eventho I use Stevia instead of sugar I don't think Jeff should eat these cookies to his heart's content for a day or two. (He is Type II.) There will be only 4 of us for dinner on Christmas Day so there should be enough cookies to go around. (I'll make up a package of cookies for my cousin to take home, too.) And I promised Jeff a chocolate pie for dessert, too, but I'll use sugar-free pudding for that.  Tonight or tomorrow I'll make honey clusters.  I love them!  It was always a job cutting and frying the dough but now I don't mind.  I did just 1 recipe last year and made one cluster for us and a small one for my cousin Ed.  Think I'll do that again.  Jeff's pretty good about staying away from it...the honey really drives up his blood sugar!

  I've been a little upset because my sock yarn order got lost in the mail somewhere.  I've been tracking it online and it's been stuck in Stow, Ohio for 3 days!  Finally yesterday it started to move and now the USPS Tracking site says it's been delivered!  Jeff went to town a little while ago and picked up the mail on his way out.  Can't wait until he comes home with my sock yarn!  I wonder if I can get 1 sock done by Christmas?  I'm not even going to start Jeff's socks.  I'll do them the week between Christmas and New Years.  We'll see how fast I can knit!

We Didn't Go To Cooperstown Today Afterall

    I've been listening to the weather forecast for the last couple of days and finally decided to heed the warnings and postpone today's trip to the eye clinic in Cooperstown.  Seems I was not alone! The girl on the phone said it looked like Dr. Lemanski would have a very light day today as I changed my 1pm today appointment to 11am next Friday. (Let's hope the weather is better then!!) It was snowing lightly when I called but it was suppose to get heavier and then change to sleet and then back to snow as the day progressed. Good ol'wintry mix!! Just love the weather in the Great Northeast!

   Although I had cancelled drive to Cooperstown today due to the weather conditions, Jeff thought it was safe enough to go to Hannaford's and get the few things we needed and stop at Rite Aide to refill his Rx's. He took it easy driving to town because the road conditions were not very good (so glad we weren't driving up Vickerman Hill!) and even stopped for gas at Stewart's in Herkimer. That's when the trip went sour...the car wouldn't start after getting gas. I called the AllState Motor Club number on my membership card and was told they would send someone to jump the car 'as soon as possible'. Jeff decided he had better move the car away from the gas pumps and while he was pushing it, a guy who had been shoveling out his driveway across the street came over and offered to help move the car. Together they pushed it away from the pumps, and when the guy asked what was wrong and Jeff told him, the guy...a perfect stranger to us...offered to jump start the car. He went and got his car...another Subaru...and the Forester was soon running again. (Jeff offered to pay him but he refused. There are still good people in the world/Herkimer.) We drove the car around Herkimer to the tobacco store on Main St (left it running while he went in), and then back to the auto parts store on the corner of State and Bellinger Sts, again leaving it running while he went inside. Jeff's decided we need a new battery and he wanted to price one ($159, installed). The current battery has a label on it that says 'Manufactured by Subaru USA' meaning it's the original battery...and the car is a 2009!! I guess it is time for a new battery.
   I'm just disappointed that this year Santa chose to bring me a new refrigerator and a new car battery. I can think of a lot of other things for that much money that I would prefer to getting for Christmas.  I don't know if the choice of presents means I've been naughty or nice.

Email Christmas Cards

     I've always wanted to send email Christmas cards but never had the nerve till now.  Tuesday after I sat here and wrote out my Christmas card list and looked at my check book, I went to bluemountaincards.com (Blue Mountain Cards) and joined for $4.99/month.  Then I went thru the choices they have for email Christmas cards and picked out the ones I liked and sent them to the email addresses I have for family and friends.  Everyone did not get the same card...something I was afraid would happened.  I found several very nice cards with touching poems that fit the bill for family and friends that no longer live close enough for a holiday visit, a couple of others for the pet-lovers among us and a lovely sentimental card with religious overtones for another.  My favorite card was the one I 'created' or personalized to send to Jeff's friend, Doug, who arranged for us to get Zoey.  (It's an animated photo of a dachshund wearing a 'Santa' hat and a red scarf standing in front of a dog house in a snowy yard.  In a girl's voice the dachshund says ' my cousin, Zoey the beagle, asked me to wish you a Merry Christmas and to thank you for sending her to Mary T and Jeff's house.'  It goes on to say that while Zoey has Jeff wrapped around her paw and I'm not totally in her corner yet but leaning that way!  It's a really cute card that both Jeff and I laughed about...especially when the dachshund said Zoey was ruling the roost!)  It was so easy to send the 18 cards...with personalized messages...and the price couldn't be beat. (I sent 1 card to an old friend who isn't an emailer and that cost me $4.97 at Wal-Mart for the card and .49 at the Post Office for the stamp!)  There were even spaces to check if I wanted to be notified when the 'card' was 'delivered' and 'opened'.  And I didn't have to stand in line at the Post Office to buy stamps!  I was actually a little proud of myself for doing it this way.  But now I'm having 2nd thoughts...while all 18 cards have been delivered only 4 cards have been 'opened' so far.  I'm disappointed...but I don't know with whom/what!  My attempt to keep the holiday spirit going without spending a ton of money or people who don't check their email.  Oh, well, maybe next year I'll just skip the whole process.





Found that several email address I have are out-of-date!  I've  checked addresses and recent those cards!!  As of 12/24/17, 10 of the 18 have been picked up.  I really must have screwed up the addresses!!

The New Refrigerator

     We waited (not too) patiently for our new Amana refrigerator to be delivered this morning.  Robinson's in Mohawk had left a message on our machine yesterday saying they would call before they came up so that means we'll be home till they do. We have blue sky, frigid temps and snow on the ground today. Wish Santa had come up with something a little more glamorous than a refrigerator for this year's big present. I had a guy in the shop yesterday buy his wife a $225 Amethyst necklace for Christmas. He said it was only the 2nd time he bought her something that expensive in the 42 years they've been together.  (The 1st was her engagement ring.) I asked if she'd question his motives...had he done something he had to atone for?  He said he'd just say she was worth it.  Some people have all the luck, huh? Well, at least I can knit while I wait for my refrigerator!!

   The new Amana was just delivered! And it's not noon yet!!! Now to get rid of all the junk Jeff moved in front of the sink...he wanted to renovate the kitchen...move cupboards...I said NO!! The kitchen is a mess and all we did was get a new refrigerator! He moved the small dresser we were using as the base for our small refrigerator and Berkey water filter and just left it.  I eventually moved it to the porch (whether he likes it or not!).

   Well, the new refrigerator looks good in the kitchen (at first it's only had milk, Sunny D, butter, eggs and a steak that was thawing). The Berkey water filter, needing a new home, was moved to the dining bar and one of the bar chairs got moved across the room but the kitchen looks pretty good. Don't know how long that will last...but right now, it's fine!
After a quick trip to Hannaford's the refrig began filling up fast!  Jeff talked to the butcher there and learned of the weekly special ($1.85/lb for top round) and suddenly...!  And he's got to go to the Melrose in Frankfort for sausage yet!! Oh, and there's a pork loin in there for Christmas dinner, too.
   We went to the Greek diner on N. Main St for a late lunch and had some of his great chicken soup with our burgers and fries (and onion rings for Jeff)......and got to share a free piece of cheesecake for dessert! All for less than $20 (and we even brought home a little brown bag with four cups of rice pudding!) After that stop at the grocery store  the dogs and I were dropped off at home and Jeff took the car to Jiffy Lube where $45 dollars later he had had the oil and filter changed, the chassis lubed, air filter changed, and all the other liquid levels checked/filled. I had misread the sign...thought it was $31 for everything but Jeff felt the extra $11 for the air filter was worth it.  (The rest was sales tax.) The Forester is now ready for winter!


The shop donated a percentage of our Nov. sales  (total $269.98) to the local Food Pantry this year and it was matched by the Scriven Foundation making it a very nice donation indeed.

edited Sun., 12/17/17

New Hats

     Here are some of the new hats that are now sitting in my stock bag waiting for their trip to the shop on Thursday.  The top one has a group of snowmen around the hat with some snowflakes falling between them,  the middle one is a Christmas rose and the bottom three are snowflake patterns.  All are hand knit in Red Heart acrylic on US7's and are machine wash and dryable.  They will fit a child 6mos to 1 yr.  Next Saturday(Dec. 16th) some of them will be with the shop's display at the Chamber of Commerce's 1st-ever Holiday Artisan Festival at historic Templeton Hall on Pioneer Street and then again they will be part of the shop's display at the vendor's show at Bassett Clinic next Tuesday Dec. 19th.   Of course, if they sell before then.... (I can only hope.)

Time for a New Refrigerator

   Well, today we went shopping for a new refrigerator...not something I like doing so close to Christmas but we have been leaving food on the porch for about a week now and it was going to be get another can of Freon($30) to put in the refrigerator we have or buy a new one.  We've already  added Freon twice.  Jeff had been to Robinson's in Mohawk looking for the parts he needed to put Freon in the first time and was impressed with the small store.  Mom had bought many appliances there over the years and had always been pleased with the appliances and the service.  I was satisfied going to Lowe's but Jeff wanted to check out Robinson's first so we went there today. 
   We were shown several top label refrigerators...Amana, Frigidaire and others...and the prices were competitive with what I had seen online with Lowe's.  Then Jeff told the guy (Kim ?) that we wanted a smaller unit and he showed us a couple and we picked this Amana.  The price was right ($499), delivery would be free, and the unit was guaranteed for a year.  We picked the one we liked and it will be delivered on Wednesday.
   Then we stopped at the Herkimer Library and I printed off the distribution form for my deferred compensation fund, filled out and faxed it in requesting a payment.  That was the easy part.   It hurt a little to spend that much money on a kitchen appliance but I had set up the DCF for just that...car repairs, septic tank draining and kitchen appliances.  It would have been much more fun to spend that much money on some yarn or jewelry!!