OT ChitChat | Arthritis Information

Good Morning All-

What's everyone up to?

Well let the Thanksgiving cooking begin! I took the day off from work today as I do every year to start my cooking. I will bake my pies and get as many of the side dishes/appetizers made as are possible. So far I have dried out my bread and boiled the eggs. Next I will roast turkey legs so I can use the juices to make my gravy. My daughter will come after work today but she is going out with friends so -no help. Last night my son helped me rip up the bread for stuffing and he said he will help me with chopping and peeling today. He loves to cook. At one time he wanted to go to culinary school. He changed his mind and now is drifting in college. In my heart I know one day he will do something in the restaurant field. (Hope it's not just washing dishes- LOL)

I got good news on both my mammogram and my recent blood work for the triglycerides- all I can say is eat your Cheerios and find out which of your arms gives good blood! That's all I changed from my last test. I ate Cheerios for breakfast almost every day and I asked the tech if she had a preference for an arm to take blood from. She said no- you pick. So I said use this one- the other one gave me bad results!
My triglycerides went from 976 to 306! My total cholesterol was 289 and is now 239! Still not normal but the doctor just had the nurse call and didn't ask for me to come in.

I'm starting to stress that I'll never get everything done and the house cleaned by tomorrow. Guests will start arriving 9 AM Thursday....

Oh yeah I had to pick up my MTX last night at the pharm and you know how old wannabe is always looking for someone to say- pshaw sure it's OK to drink on MTX! So I asked the pharmacist. He never puts a don't drink with this med label on the bottle. NO WAY he says DON"T EVEN GO THERE! But he says it will tear my stomach up. He didn't say anything about my liver. I'm like the doctor says it can cause cirrosis - oh that too he says. OK what's worse- an ulcer or cirrosis? Now I don't have much trust in him...

To everyone who has Thanksgiving coming up..I hope you all have a good one.

Im ill today..felt like i was paralized when i woke up, i couldnt even lift 1 finger, gradually managed to sit up and take my meds but its been a slow day..I only just got the dishwasher on from breakfast and its nearly 2pm here, supposed to be going to the winter gardens tonight to take the kids ice skating and to do some xmas shopping, maybe if i take xtra painkillers and have a sleep it will sort me out.

I hope everyone is having a good pain free day

wtbraf- please dont drink your mtx....Awww Pin- hope you feel better- sounds like you had some good plans going! wantto! Glad you have a helper-son to give a hand!!

Last night my girls cleaned so I don't have to.. in addition to the "normal" issues, I also have a wicked cold or something going on.. to see the PCP today at 10:40.....

I am off today too.. some last minute things that I need, like milk and stuff that have been used up since my last shopping excursion.... I'll do my breads for after turkey dinner... my Husband will pull the bread for me tonight... and we'll get all the other stuffs together for the filling.. so I only need to prepare at 8 a.m when the bird goes in..

This is a warm snuggly holiday to me.... warm w/ family close and snuggly in the house where it's warm and comfy.....

Enjoy!!!

(and wantto.. I know the desire to have a wine here and there.. that I think we can do.. but take it easy.. we dont' want you to compromise your liver (hugs)_)

Pinnie!! Let's get better so we can enjoy!!!Hey Babs! Good to see you here! Enjoy the warm snuggly family time! So wouldn't you know it! I'm having Thanksgiving here (14 people) and my OVEN ISN'T WORKING!!! So I'm taking all my stuff and going to spend the day baking at my sister's. I always to my turkey in a roaster, so that's covered.

WTB, my new DIL graduated from culinary college last spring. She now works at the Biltmore in Asheville.

Pin, thanks for the well wishes. Hope you feel better soon. You too, Babs.

Sorry Babs that you too dont feel so good but your warm snuggly home sounds like just the place you need to be

G'Mornin' everyone! The turkeys are coming, the turkeys are coming! (And I don't mean my relatives!)

Pin, I hope you get some rest and feel a whole bunch better when you wake up. Linda, I don't know what I would do if my oven died today. I'm glad you have a back up plan. I would probably be making dinner reservations somewhere. Wannabe, congrats on the cholesteral counts - that's awesome!

I also have a full day of cleaning and cooking, and a little more shopping. Most of my cooking will be done tomorrow, as my dinner isn't until 6:00 pm (so my daughter and SIL can also have Thanksgiving with his family). That gives me all day tomorrow to get ready. I already cleaned the dining room, washed the tablecloth and some of the glassware that had gotten a tad dusty on display

Hope everyone has a Thanksgiving filled with lots of laughter, spending time revisiting wonderful memories of the past, and making some new ones.

May your turkey be juicy, and your gravy be smooth; I hope your taters are creamy and biscuits are light, and you get through your dinners without 'nary a fight!

Lincnn- I've had the oven conk out on me before- we had to roast the turkey in the gas grill outside! It worked tho- ours has a thermometer so we just made sure it was on the right temp. Cooked it in the roasting pan. Good luck!

Sno-have fun decorating! I do that the day after Thanksgiving. We usually get our tree the Saturday after. I am thankful for my good labs/tests and I'm thankful for the people on this board who make my life more enjoyable!

HH- Love your sign off well wishes to all! May they all come true!

Even though I feel great I'm not getting myself into the Thanksgiving frenzy of cooking. We're going out. Our families aren't here for Thanksgiving; they'll be arriving later in the winter to enjoy a few weeks of sun, surf and sand. No, I don't miss the preparations the day before and the day of. I do miss my own stuffing!!! Think we'll buy a half a turkey and we'll cook Thanksgiving dinner next week just for the two of us.

It sounds like all of you are going to have wonderful Thanksgiving days, even you Linda without an oven. I'd be panicking about now but you seem to have it under control.

We'll start decorating on Friday but even my Christmas decorations have all changed in the last few years. My Christmas tree is decorated with mostly handmade Mexican ornaments and bright pink flamingos. We have brightly colored lights up and flamingos with Christmas bows around their necks. Hope that everyone's Thanksgiving is as special as all of you are. Lindy

Yesterday the other gramma came over and cleaned for me.

A few weeks ago we lent her a small amount of $..(she is absolutely perfect at repaying, so its not a problem, shes had to borrow a little every now and then) anyway last week she came to me and made an offer.. She cleans houses on her days off. She asked if I would be offended if she offered housecleaning services in payment for the debt. I was thrilled, and actually had been planning to ask.

Anyway yesterday she got the downstairs perfect and ready for tomorrow. It looks great. And because its been done I can keep up with it and it wont be as hard for her next week.

Soooooooooooooo I'm going to go downstairs and bake pies, make jello, make sure we have everything, get bread torn for stuffing, etc..

get ingredients for things ready. I may make a couple dishes ahead of time.

I was appalled at something I read in the newspaper about a shortcut for gravy.

For crying out loud, its Turkey drippings, water, salt, pepper and flour cooked until the raw taste is gone and everyone is standing over it with spoons for a "taste" I usually make like twice as much as necessary, since I have people who would eat my gravy on lettuce if thats alll that was available.

Ha! That's cute Sno!
Crap I just about wore myself out today. It feels so good to be finally off my feet- they do not want me standing on them any more. I've been cooking since whatever time I did that first post and now it's 9 PM. I have no room left in the fridge so I had to stop. I am making a ridiculous amount of food I now know.....
Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

All the food sounds so tasty.

Snow, if nothing else my tree is really colorful.......also love the poem. I've not read it before. I'm getting ready to send out an email to friends and family and am including it - thanks. Lindy

wanttobeRAfree,

I take my MTX on Monday night and will have a few drinks Friday night, Saturday and sometimes Sundays. I love my RED wine and few glasses of Richard's Red when I'm out with friends.

I have had a sticker once on my MTX meds that said "Do not Drink" but out of the 10 prescriptions that was once I ever saw that sticker. My Rhuemy says one glass of wine a day is OK but I told him I'll save them for the weekends.

Hopefully this doesn't hurt me in the long run but right now it's keeping me feeling more normal.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving My U.S. Friends

from your Canadian Friends!