I hope all of you had a great Christmas and spent your time sharing the day with your family and friends.
I spent the afternoon at Mom’s house with my brother and sister-in-law, their children and my nephew’s new twins, Jasmine and Belle. They are still soooo tiny, but precious and I’m sure they will steal the heart of Uncle Tim. We had a nice meal and I really enjoyed just spending time with everyone. I’m like everyone else: I get wrapped up in my own day-to-day things and I don’t slow down often enough to spend time enjoying my family. That’s something I need to work on.
I did the text thing with my eldest daughter, Nikki, while she and Jeff travelled to spend the day with Jeff’s parents. Like I do when someone else is driving, she was enjoying the warmth of the car while on the journey. Later In the evening, I face-timed with my youngest daughter, Kelsey, Eron and my granddaughters, although it didn’t last long enough. It never does. They’re leaving early Sunday morning for Florida to spend the week with Eron’s parents. I remember travelling with small children. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
I’ll be spending some time with all of them when Kelsey returns from Florida. I can’t wait to hear all about it – and celebrate Christmas again!
I took some time this morning to post-process the photos from yesterday and uploaded them for the family. Got a few good ones. I’m sure I’ll get a call from Mom wanting prints. I didn’t get any pictures of food or presents. All of the family. I think that’s where the focus should have been.
It’s cloudy and rainy this morning here, and looking at the forecast, apparently it’s going to continue for the weekend. There’s even mention of some sleet and snow on Tuesday. It’s a slight chance, but we can hope. I’d like to see a little winter sometime soon.
The continued rain could cause some flooding problems locally. The NWS issued a Flash Flood Watch yesterday. I sure hope we don’t get the amount of rain that’s being forecast. They’ve also been issuing River Flood Warnings for Tulsa county in both the Jenks and Owasso/Collinsville areas. It could get rough to the north of me if Bird Creek and/or the Caney River flows out of her banks. There’s also a tornado watch for counties to the south and east of Tulsa. This weather pattern is something we’ll definitely keep an eye on through the weekend.
Winter Storm Watches have been issued to our west and that line is licking at my doorstep. There’s even blizzard warnings in the panhandle. I’m not sure what’s worse, winter weather or lots of rain. In either case, I’ll be spending my time indoors for a day or two, even though I really need to get some exercise. Maybe it’s time to get the bike back on the trainer again? I know Nikki would agree. I’ve been telling myself to do that for months now and for some reason I keep putting it off. It looks like this will be the perfect weekend for accomplishing this task.
I don’t know if it’s that I’m burned out on food or that I’m a little under the weather, but I’ve run out of ideas for healthy meals. On top of that, cooking for one is a challenge. I mean, it’s a challenge if you plan to prepare something more than “fry a chicken leg and boil a potato.”
I ordered two cookbooks today to see if I can find a few new healthy recipes that’ll perk up the tastebuds. Both books are available on Amazon if you’re interested. The first one is “Going Solo In the Kitchen”, by Jane Doerfer, and the second one is “The Pleasures of Cooking for One”, by Judith Jones.
Both books should be here on Wednesday. I’ll let you know how it goes. If you have any recipes you’d like to share, please post a comment or send me an email.
I know, that doesn’t help me figure out what to fix for dinner. I may have to resort to the norm, starting with a trip to the market.
As the day progresses, the weather is turning severe around here. A couple tornado warnings have been issued to the SE of Tulsa and Tulsa is under an advisory for a strong thunderstorm moving my way. It could be a rocky couple of hours – or days. It’s a mixed bag of weather in Oklahoma for sure. From Blizzard Warnings to tornado warnings and everything in-between, this is Oklahoma.
Now I’m enjoying a cup of hot green tea while waiting for the next round of thunderstorms to venture into my backyard. This appears to be the same line of storms that produced the tornado warning earlier. Right now there’s an advisory for it. Could see hail with this one. This is DECEMBER right?
I replaced the vertical blinds on the patio door. After 10 years the old ones were slowly disintegrating. Now I really see how badly I need to paint the inside of this place. Ugh! It never ends!
Here’s how the yard is doing. Yes, it’s filling up with water. The ground is so saturated, it’s just sitting on top of the ground. This isn’t good. Already have some water in the garage. I’m glad the heaviest rainfall went to the east of us.
Okay, rain, you can stop now. Please? Pretty Please??
Dinner? I didn’t make it to the market, so I think a sandwich will have to do the job. After that, I’m going to relax in front of the TV with a cup of tea.
I’ll add more to this day if something exciting happens. But, for now, I’m signing off. Thanks for sharing the day with me.
Be safe!