Chat #2 (preg & children may be mentioned)

Grrr...I had that ad problem taken care of but now it's back. I increased my privacy more so hopefully that helps.

We love our deep freezer. We have so much stuff in there. We buy meat when it's on sale so it's packed with that. A lot times it's cheaper to buy a whole loin of whatever cut of meat and have the store cut and wrap it for you. That's what we do with a lot of our steaks. It can be $1.00 or more cheaper per pound to do so. We got a small little deep freeze for our lake house and we had that stuffed in the summer with stuff.

Cinnamon sugar almonds sound delicious. You'll have to share your recipe. Reminds of getting the candied nuts on the street in NYC.

DH fixed his grill because we are cheap. The grill is probably 10 years old but is in perfect condition since DH takes such good care of it. Through Sears the burners were going to be $40 a piece (x4). For that price, we would've replaced the grill. DH found the same burners for $9 a piece on amazon.com. With your DH being a saver you probably will be able to retire early. DH is a huge saver/investor and he's planning on retiring by the time he's 55. I think ppl expect us to spend money like crazy, but just because DH is a physician and makes money doesn't mean we have to spend all we have. We are very practical people. I coupon and will search for the best deal on everything. It's only my time and if I can save a few bucks I will. I'll even go to a different grocery store in town to get something there if it's cheaper than the one I'm at.

cooking spray
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups whole raw almonds
aluminum foil or parchment paper

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Spray the stoneware well with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Set this bowl aside.
In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together the egg white and vanilla extract. Pour the almonds into this bowl and stir well to coat. Add your cinnamon mixture to the top of the nuts and toss with spoons to fully coat (too many nuts to do the plastic bag toss---you'd have to do batches).
Put the almonds into the slow cooker and cover. Cook on high for 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes or so to keep the almonds on the side of the crock from getting too crispy.

When the nuts are all hot and toasty, let them cool fully on a length of foil or parchment paper. When fully cool, store in an air-tight container.

Thanks! Those look yummy and not too hard. Is it hard to find raw almonds?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by meggyrn

Thanks! Those look yummy and not too hard. Is it hard to find raw almonds?

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I bought them at costco but I have seen them at the grocery store.

DH just talked to his brother who lives in Virginia and they are going to be coming Dec. 26-30. It will be nice to see them since we haven't seen them for 2 years. They have 6 kids. He's in the Army and is going to be deployed to Afghanistan in June. He also talked to his mom and they are coming on Dec. 24 until idk when. His sister and her family are coming Dec. 28-Jan. 2. We are going to have a full house for a couple nights. I need to find places for 14 extra ppl for two nights. We have enough beds for the 6 adults and the kids can sleep anywhere. During this time with all the extra ppl here I'm hosting Christmas for my mom's family. I'm already starting to stress a little about it all. But it will all work out fine in the end and we'll have a good time.

I went and did the hand sculpture unveiling today. Those things are amazing. It was so neat to peel off the mold and see the hands. They are so detailed, down to the veins and wrinkles in the hands. Then you have to perfect them by going over all the little details with tools and filling in little air bubble holes with the plaster. It's a really neat thing our hospice program does for it's pts and families. This was the first time I did this part and I'm a little nervous and cautious. I'm sure I'll get more confident over time and just doing them.

The almond recipe looks awesome!! I hope to try that sometime this month.

Good luck with all the company, Meg. It would drive me crazy to have my house that full. That is really cool about your brother in law. I hope they have a nice time there. Also kudos on helping the dying and their families. I don't think I could really do it.

I just discovered that I am on call tonight. Somehow I totally missed that on the schedule. And I have a 7am meeting tomorrow where I will be introduced to the medical staff... anyway, I am going to need some major TLC this weekend. I am exhausted!

Tiffany

That stinks you are on call tonight. It always makes it worse when it's not expected. When I worked in the hospital my schedule had change from what was normal for me and a night I normally had off I was scheduled to work. I didn't realize it until I got a call at 7pm asking where I was. At that time I had to drive over an hour to work. The night was so long since I hadn't prepared and slept for my upcoming shift. What does your call entail? Hope you can rest up over the weekend!

DH was actually able to sleep all of last night. His shift ended at 8am this morning and the last time he went in was about 9pm last night. It was so nice for him. He was off today and is off again tomorrow. Today we chopped off some evergreen from some trees at my parent's house to add some decoration to our big pots outside. We added some floral stuff also. It looks a lot nicer than having big bare pots.

I just saw on the news tonight that hunters found two bodies in Iowa. There are 2 young girls missing from Evansdale, IA since July. They haven't postively indentified the bodies but they are thinking it's the two girls. They were cousins and were last seen riding their bikes around a lake. I think they were around 10 or 11. It's a sad ending but now the family can hopefully have some closure and find some peace.

Meg - I remember the story of those girls from the news. Good that they found the bodies but it must be so hard on the families.

When making the almonds I actually tripled the recipe and used my 6qt slow cooker, and with spraying the slow cooker there is NO mess!!! I was shocked my first batch. They are yummy but I have to be careful due to my jaw.

I saw that story on the news as well. It was a strange case.

Call has not been too bad. I did have to call a patient at home and tell him to go to the ER. The patient's wife was a little incredulous at me telling her to get him out of bed... but when the radiologist calls you at 9:30pm at home, the news is not good.

My cousin just learned her dad has stage IV cancer... I am assuming it is lung cancer based on his smoking history. I'll be calling her today.

My mentor is also going to introduce me at the medical staff meeting today at 7am. I honestly have been in bed at 7am most mornings lately since I get such fractured sleep at night. I've been awake since 4:30 at least anyway. At least my hair will be dry.

Tiffany

So, this mornings test was not showing 2 lines...not too worried, symptoms are still crazy.

Super busy today and we had a ton of snow yesterday. Won't be on my tomorrow during the day....craft sale after I get the boy to school.

Tired but will drag myself through the day.